Chestertown Buff?

I couldn't leave it... I went back to the paint store. I found Pottery Barn's Chestertown buff, pictured here, top right.



Here are some rooms in it... it's versitile. I like that.







Can I handle a whole big room in yellow? Do I dare try again?

Back to Square One

Impatience. I would have known if I'd only waited a bit. But no, I had to go around the room painting big splotches of color all over the place - YES! this looks great on this wall! Yes! It looks so good over here by the window with this light! Yes - look how it goes with the mirror frame! Yes!

And then I went to pick Luke up from school, and then we went to the park for a couple of hours of play time with one of his new friends... and when we got home, it was Luke making the exclamations. "MOM! SOMETHING HAPPENED TO OUR WALL WHILE WE WERE GONE!!!! MOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!"

It was awful. A really dark charcoal was splotched all over my beautiful lavender blue. Kind of the color of the smoke stained rocks on the fireplace… only darker. I spent the next hour going over it again with my #1438 to hide it all before Frank got home. I think I'll just leave it for now.

Of course there was no hiding the many purple splotches in the bedroom - I think I'll be priming that room white today so I can start fresh with a new round of trials. Who knew picking out wall colors was so difficult? And why do they NOT match the little color cards???

Wistera

Rhymes with Hysteria. I'm painting my living room again. I think. The grey-er one on the right next to the fireplace. Wisteria AF-585 by Benjamin Moore.

Sharp Left (or Right?) Turn

My fun and light and bright Swedish decor has taken a swift turn in some direction - a darker, exotic, more natural direction. It's really kind of a problem having an open mind and liking so many different styles, isn't it? Ah well... I guess that is what the word "eclectic" is for. Here is the living room in a stage I can leave it for now - at least until the other remodeling stuff is done with and I see how much money is left over for new couches and chairs, etc. Notice the blank canvases on the walls... they will get some paint smooshed around on them soon I hope. Unless I change my mind about the wall color - it could still happen. What color would YOU paint this room? Just curious.










Now to move on to the master bedroom. I *think* it's going to be purple. Let's hope I only have to paint it ONCE.

The Fruits of My Labor

I should be clear here, no labor was put forth by me. In fact, until a couple of weeks ago, I didn't even realize I had fruit growing on my trees. Then again, if I had put a little effort into it, there might be more than 5-ish pears. The plums are plentiful and delicious though.





This pink beauty looks to be about the last surprise of the year - but I could be wrong, there are still a couple of months left before it will have been a full year of watching this Magic Garden of mine.

Book: Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes

I picked this book up for Frank the other day -
Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes, by George Nash. It looks like a really great one and shows how to do all kinds of things he's going to have to do sooner or later, like repair the foundation, fix some old windows that are missing their sash cords, repair siding, put on a new roof, fix the gutters/drainage, refinish the old floors... etc. etc. A treasure trove of information, and it talks about doing it the right way to preserve the integrety of a historic home. Nice!

In the Pink

I found these photos today - til now they had not seen the light of day. This is our, ok, it WAS our, third bathroom. I had started priming it to paint white, thinking that would do until someday far, far down the road when everything else in the house was done we could figure out what to do with the pink tiles... when Frank started coming through the ceiling and wall chasing the water damage from the bathroom above. Today it has no walls at all in it, and no sink even. Ah well... it's still waiting for someday far, far down the road - just not in the state I'd expected.

Decorator Pam

I found a swatch of this at the fabric store today and fell in love. Of course it says it's discontinued - which is bad and good. Bad because they don't have more of it, good because I got to buy the swatch for $1.99 and it's big enough to make a pillow with. Good too, because with the info on the tag, I was able to find it online and it turns out it's Susan Sargent. But bad in the end, because that means I'll have to pay full price instead of hitting a sale at the fabric store.


To get a better idea of it, it's this, only in blues and teals (this is also nice and would go with the walls in a less matching, more eclectic, brighter, more peppy way, which I found online for half the price of the first one, and would let me bring in some lime green and pink and cranberry, which would be fun too.):



I'm thinking for curtains. In my lavender blue living room. I showed it to Luke and he jumped up and down and said I'd found the perfect one. He was so excited about it. Do you think we are right? Or would it be better to get something more solid that blends into the walls? I really have no clue, I'm rambling... I'm NOT a decorator. Perhaps I should hire one? Luke after all would love for me to hang beaded or sequined or slivery mirrored curtains up - anything that sparkles or has lots of color. My eclectic decorating taste is turning Swedish on me... which is a little surprising. I wonder, is it because it's in my blood, or does the house have a Swedish soul under all these historic greens and golds it's been painted with? Do I sound like I've had too much coffee today???

Life is Good, Exhausting, but Good.

What a long, long week last week was. We got the water in. Well, Frank got it in. I am so proud of him. It took him about 5 times longer than he expected, but it was done perfectly - no leaks or oooop's when he turned the water back on. It's clean, fresh, clear and drinkable now. So exciting, these little things!

And then the dishwasher arrived and not only is it super beautiful, it works amazingly well. Here is a photo - doesn't my kitchen look just like the one on the ASKO website I posted awhile ago? Ok, I know, not if you compare them side by side, but close enough. Notice the new faucet Frank installed. It wasn't our first choice, but then the first choice stuck way up higher than the windowsill and took up the whole kitchen. This one works and looks just fine, and fits my tiny kitchen perfectly.

When it rains, it....

Well, it's not really pouring. It is drizzling and I'm happy about that, but the fact of the matter is that it's pretty dry. Especially inside the house where all the running water is turned off and the switch-over to the new pipes is taking a bit more time than expected. It was supposed to take 4 hours. I expected 8 and so was not surprised when 12 hours later, Frank called it a day, saying he only had about 2 more hours of work left. It was a good place to leave it and get a night's sleep.

Except Luke woke us up at 3:40 AM crying "Mom.... Mom! Mom, I don't feeeeeeeeel good". And then proceeded to get sick. In the house with no running water. We've managed and made it ok so far, the worst of the sick part seems over and he's on the couch with his required ginger ale and saltines. He's so cute - first words out of his mouth were "I don't think I'm going to do school lunch for awhile" and then "I always get sick this time of year" and "I'm going to go lay on the couch and I need my throw-up bowl and some ginger ale and those crackers I like when I'm sick, Mom." "And can you put on a movie please?" He's got the routine down pat from that first year of preschool where he picked up every bug possible and was sick every week. A boy who knows what to do when he's sick. The only twist this time was no running water. It worked out surprisingly ok, especially since we had tons of back up water stored up in the tub for flushing and stuff. Good idea, Frank. (This is my life - isn't it crazy?)

So after a bit we all fell asleep again and I actually got to sleep in til 9:00 AM. A first in oh, at least 6.5 years. It's really been that long. Too bad it wasn't just sleeping in after a full night's sleep hu? And here it is 12:30 PM and still no water... Frank's running around to the hardware store looking for the last plumbing thingys he needs. It will be up by dinner time I think. If not, we might just check into a hotel for the night. But I don't think so, I still have faith it will all go smoothly here on out. If he ever gets back from Home Depot that is.

More Paint and Some Plumbing Too

I repainted the blue - it was too.... shiny. And too bright. I thought I was toning it down to a greyer blue but you probably will think I didn't paint over it at all. I did though, I promise. It *is* better. Benjamin Moore Lavender Blue #1438. Now I need drapes. And new furniture. And a ladder that will reach the ceiling so I can get rid of the rest of the taupe.





This is the weekend new water pipes are supposed to go in. Of course, as seems to happen every time, there is a hold up of some sort. This time around, it's a leaky sink in the only bathroom left working in the house. Frank has been working on it all night and has run to Home Debit twice now but it's still not done, and probably won't be tonight since the store is closed now and he needs to make yet another run. He feels really bad, but I told him it was no biggie, at least we have a kitchen sink, right? And the strangest thing? I really don't care. I'm beyond caring about having a stupid bathroom sink. Who needs such a thing? I've been living for months without a dishwasher. Without two of my three bathrooms, without ice or drinkable water... without hot water for my clothes washer... who needs a bathroom sink? Seriously, it's over rated. (I could just about cry, but I won't let Frank see it.)