Normally our projects don’t take this long; I’m a gal who likes to get things done and cross things off her To Do list. But we have been gone more than we’ve been at home the past six weeks. Once the walls were painted and the 830lbs of IKEAness assembled, our project took on a much more hodge-podgy pace while we toured our suitcases around four states and two countries. Not to mention a new computer that needed to be set up with 9 days’ worth of cloud-based file transfers. Yes, 9 days. We’re seriously considering ditching our boonies-based 1 Mbps DSL for something involving satellites.
Decorating was the last make-over task so I’ve actually been using our new office set-up for a few weeks now. Rob is probably tired of me saying thank you and explaining yet again how much easier my bill paying duties for our church are now that I have copious flat surfaces to spread out all my binders and folders and receipts. With our old set up, I was using a chair and the floor as my primary work surfaces. I’m embarrassed it took me so long to realize how ridiculous…and painful…that was.
I absolutely love how everything turned out. I will admit I have found myself just sitting in our new office admiring things. I am especially pleased with the lighting – it is very warm and soothing.
I am also relieved the Silverado purple walls turned out just as I imagined. My visionary skills are somewhat limited so this is quite an accomplishment. I wanted a color that helped me relax and focus. My gut told me that a dark color would make me feel cozy and secure and would help me keep my attention on task. With a few weeks surrounded in Silverado I can say my gut was on point.
I’m actually quite proud of myself for finally having the nerve to put so much boldness on all four walls of a room. Although much of Woodhaven’s walls have color, the bravest ones had been saved for accent walls. And even that’s quite a departure from Life Before Here.
As a kid, I never had anything but white walls in my bedroom. Some of that was due to us living in rentals, other due to my not wanting anything to clash with my Superman, Miss Piggy, or kitten posters.
As an adult, Rob and I lived in our Ode to Ecru house in California for at least five years before we mustered up the courage to paint anything. We high-fived our boldness when our guest room walls finally changed from white to whitish yellow. Unless the lighting was just right, it was pretty much impossible to detect we had changed anything. But we were proud. Baby steps.
Later, when my back pain ramped up and I was spending a lot of time in the bath tub, Rob painted our tiny bathroom a serene sky blue so I could pretend I was bathed in sunlight instead of Epsom salts. We really thought we were living on the edge with that sky blue bathroom. And relieved we could easily close the door when all the color got overwhelming.
Somehow, though, when we moved to Woodhaven, we got really gutsy. Many of the walls in our new home were slathered in Old Lady Floral wallpaper. That was scraped off and walls were painted before the furniture arrived. Since we had to paint our bedroom, two bathrooms, a dining room, and a kitchen nook anyway, we decided to fully embrace all the changes we were already making. Why not add colored walls to the list?
We’ve slowly been painting room by room, some by ourselves and some with our checkbook. Only one bedroom remains the drab white with pinkish undertones that greeted us 11 years ago. The other walls around Woodhaven are pale yellow, sunny yellow, tan, sky blue, Wedgewood blue, sage green, mint green, neon green, burgundy, and now dark purple. As psychedelic as that combo sounds, it really does work. When we embrace change, we embrace change!
I’m not sure when we will paint the remaining bedroom, nor what previously unthinkable color its walls will be. But I am sure that I will get that itchy feeling to breathe life and energy and mood into that room at some point. And then all I will be left with to paint is closets. People paint closets, right? Hmmm.
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