I hope I haven't killed the rhododendron. Like the magnolia in the front yard, it has suffered years of bad pruning. It's also been unfortunate enough to be covered with ice time and time again. I trimmed perhaps half of the growth off of it. The plan wasn't to go quite so far, but that's what it took, and it looks so much better for it.
The magnolia is another matter. For the most part, it is healthy, but again, we have the issue of bad pruning. It is considerably bigger, so it's harder to work with. I've tried to address the branches that are rubbing against each other, but at the same time, not leaving too many open spots. I trimmed off one mostly healthy branch that had some significant rot, only to find that the rot went back into the trunk.
Hopefully, when I get home, I'll find that there has been some progress made on the removal of the truly dead trees. If they're in decent shape, they'll be good for firewood.
I've started looking at the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. While his style is a bit closer to art nouveau than I can afford, I really think that I can gain some insights from his furniture, which was often painted. The built-ins in the guest bedroom and the baby room are both painted white. I've noticed that there's some nice arts and crafts furniture at auction that has been painted, too - and it sells for much much less than it's unpainted brethren.
As much as I'd like to strip the paint off of the woodwork in all these rooms, there's only so much of my life that I can spend stripping paint. There are the places where it simply must happen - certain doors and trim - but there are many areas where it would merely be nice.
Mackintosh did so much great work with wood that was painted white. Yes, he worked into that, with various painted floral and other designs, but I can learn that. My hand is steady enough with a brush. And there's a lot to be said for work that can be done inside, without the worry of disposal of the waste paint.
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