The fabric of things...

The painters are here for, like, the 179th day. I've come to think of them as familiar, yet troublesome. Every damn day, at 8:00 sharp, there they are, "which color this", "which color that". "Can you move all 500 of these books right now so we can paint in here for a little bit before we leave for the day? And when we come back tomorrow, we'll paint somewhere else that you won't be expecting..." So my house is torn up---in a very major way. And they have the damn TV pulled out so Robert actually expects to watch TV in our bedroom---helloooooo? The family room is your room, along with that spiffy new sitting room. The rest of the house? That's mine.

Sigh.

Spiffing Up
So things do look really good and I do think they might finish up sometime next week. That's pretty cool, eh? Here are some progress shots:

Freshly painted master bedroom and sitting room walls in this lovely warm gold. It is really beautiful and I am more reluctant than ever to go elsewhere. Why would I? Great TV, good music, the computer in Rob's sitting room, best bath ever...I can send the kids to fetch a drink so I'm pretty much set here.

One of the three storage ottomans we bought a couple of weeks ago. They actually sit on the opposite wall, under a big window. I love the fabric of the shade I made; unfortunately it is really difficult to capture its luminescence with a camera. The drapery fabric is called "Reflections" and they really do shimmer and glow with just the most faint light behind them. The curtains that hang on exterior windows in the master suite are double hung with gold linen tab top panels---its very sophisticated and elegant. But not stuffy.

Room with a View


Haley's room paint is completed so I have a lot of work to begin building her a wall of custom bulletin/fabric/chalk/white board like one we saw in PB Kids. Wish me luck...


Family Room/Kitchen
After ten years of contemplating how to manage the big-ass wall (BAW) that extends 2/3 the width of our house, from the family room through the kitchen, we finally took a big leap into lots of color. What began as a tentative toe-dip with this color scheme accenting a single wall on the west side of our house has become the color for the entire big-ass room (BAR). I'd show you other photos but the painters are down there now and they give me dirty looks if I go down without a handful of 50 dollar bills.

Rob probably thinks I haven't noticed that this color scheme pretty much forces my hand in changing the display of photos I've had for this space (which he has always hated) but I have, indeed, noticed. What he doesn't know is that I've already attached myself to a replacement that he will likely disapprove of equally. Oh, life is good! One of the things I actually envy about my parent's marriage is that my Dad limits his opinions on house decor to budget (though those discussions would probably drive me even more insane). Its pitiful having grown up in a home where the HOMEMAKER made the HOMEMAKING decisions to find myself always having to negotiate my plans. But the flip side is lovely: he has great ideas MOST of the time and we generally agree. But the family room has been contentious for, oh, about a decade. I may give up---I do kind of claim the rest of the house...

Bathrooms...
So after the BAR is completed today (?) or tomorrow, they move on to the baths. Yes, Dave, the bathroom painted in anger is being redone by professionals and I'm sure there's more than one reader out there who has lived through the raging hell that is our downstairs powder room decor. It will match (smoothly, seemlessly, smudgelessly) the paint of the family room and kitchen.

Most exciting is that the guest/girls' bath is being redone in a more 'tween-ish scheme:


Walls to be painted what I'd call the most-olive of the colors in this curtain. But Duron calls it grape-green; should be a very funky, cool kid bathroom. If they manage to keep it clean... sure to wake you in the morning when you are our guests...

The master bath is being completely redecorated: paint to match the suite, and a general spa like decor---taking down the big-ass mirror (BAM) and replacing it with two reasonably sized ones will give us some wall real-estate for storage or decorating; out go the ultra feminine miniblinds and valance bought in early possession fervor for privacy (do you know how many windows there are in that room???), to be replaced with a very classic "flipper-topper" and perhaps wooden blinds in a dark stain.

Window Treatments
My favorite decorating element is window coverings; you can do so much in a room with fabric draped over a door or window---I feel the same about towels---little, inexpensive (ha! unless you're me) changes that can go a very long way to making a room feel updated. Now that I have Mom's sewing machine (thank you thank you thank you), I'm quite itchy to move on with making some stuff. I found this really great resource:
It has great photos, design options and directions for a zillion different kinds of things to hang on your windows--fabulous. I've got the fabric and diagram ready for my bathroom "toppers" but I'll be damned if I didn't leave the store without the Kraft paper to work up my pattern. Oh well---another day to revel in the delightful fabric before it becomes work...


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