Fixing up a home is a process. Like childbirth. But in dog years.
Both are filled with glorious phases that are much more palpable, even entertaining, when you are no longer in the middle of them. I am in the house painting phase, which is the homeowner’s equivalent of morning sickness. Random, pukey colors thrown up everywhere, on the hope that in the end they will pull together to form something wonderfully beautiful. Or at least something that doesn’t make you want to cry. As much.
And like my real childbirth experience (that they promised I’d forget), I find I have no cravings, but nauseating aversions to nearly everything in front of me. Everything is so intense even when I really try, I mean really reeaallly try, to be subtle.
Case in point:
Ocean View and Seven Seas with Planetarium trim. My first attempt, granted. I could paint giant flowers on it and turn my backyard into a daycare. But that’s not quite the effect I’m after.
Take two:
Lower colors: Winter Lake, Regatta Bay, and Twilight Chimes. Upper colors left intact to make sure I appreciate how far I’ve come. Neighborhood watch secretly calling the housing inspectors, *just in case*.
[Editor’s note: to whoever comes up with these ridiculous names, I hope you are sitting in a coffee shop somewhere enjoying your $7 mochalattichino buddy, cause there ain’t room in this economy for both of us. And one of us knows how to use power tools.]
Take three — tired of running to The Big HD, I decide to put my Photoshop skills to the test:
The navy taketh over. Hey, notso bad. Don’t know what color it is, but I kinda like it : ) I’ll call it… Midnight Aura. (Just kidding. I’ll call it “Blue”. Cause *that’s* novel.)
Still not sure what trim, but my good friend Vinty sent me this great link on painting blue houses: http://architecture.about.com/od/paint/ig/Blue/ (Truly, you can find ANYTHING on the internet. No matter how mundane.) I did like this line: “midnight blues suggest quiet dignity.” YES. That’s what I’m going for. After I go through labor, I want my quiet-frickin’-dignity.
I’ve also decided that if I had my dream house, it would look like one of these:
(Just kidding. My dream house is now officially brick.)