Living In It

Today is crunch day. The Mr.'s last day off and I'm off too having worked the weekend. The Sweet Pea Bathroom (now that the paint has dried it's not very zucchini) is in the home stretch. This is where one must push the Mr. or he decides to take a break and by that I mean indefinitely. I got home last night and refinished the vanity, doors and drawer fronts. Second coat on the vanity this morning and the doors and drawer fronts are in progress now. Medicine cabinet, over-the-john cabinet and new light fixture are hung as is the drop ceiling moulding. The Mr. will install the new floor today if I am successful in my "gentle" encouragement. Then the final touches; towel & tissue racks, curtain and a good final scrub down. We don't shower in this bathroom so I am not hanging a shower curtain right now. It's a small room and I like the open tub with it's bright white tiles to show. This is the fun stuff for me, seeing it all come together. I will keep my eye out for towels, a bath mat and one small piece of art for the wall. Crisp sweet pea green, white and black. Truly beautiful for a bathroom that has been three vegetables and one holiday since Wednesday.

That's the way I tend to decorate. My mom has been asking me for over a year what my decorating plans were and I've had several generations of color chips lying around before the final paint went on the wall. Oh, and one gallon that went into the basement closet (tomato red.)

The two bedrooms were a quick decision but since then I've just kept saying, "I have to live in it." The living room went from peach to gold. The bathroom went from gray to blue to tomato to sweet pea green. The alcove from terra cotta to buttery yellow. What remains is the family room/kitchen. That started in a linen beige and spent some time in a deep gold. For a few months it's been pale green. Of course, this is all in my head. It will stay as it is until spring time because we are out of money and that is going to be the $$ redo. We want to install hardwood floors and it's a fairly large space.

The only change we've made in there is replacing my gramma's formal chandeliers with pendant lights and the shades we chose are combinations of coppers and golds and bronzes. So today the plan for the family room/kitchen is to paint the walls a warm beige and the soffets (how do you spell that?) above the cabinets a burnt deep orange. We will repaint the kitchen cabinet fronts black and then attempt some fancy paint/stain combo to do the doors and drawer fronts in beige with a black stain over. The floors will be a distressed hickory finish. I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it! There's some saving to be done until this all comes to be and who knows if my plans are final or if there will be another set of paint samples on the counter.

How do you decorate? Do you have a plan that you start and end with? An idea from five years ago that you still dream about? Does your style change with the trends or are you consistent in your taste? Have you redecorated and now can't stand it but you are tolerating it?

My gramma was elegant and understated for her entire life. The walls were white or beige. Now I think of my house in terms of a candy shop or a treasure chest filled with deep warm tones. I didn't know that was where we'd end up but here we are. In a few years I might change to all cool tones. What fun that will be to cover up our walls!

One thing I know, my gramma would not like what's happening to her house!

Then again, maybe she'd see the joy in our hearts and like it more than I realize.