Skip to main content

The Hall - Part I

My project began at 8,9, actually 10 o'clock.  But don't think I was laying in bed.  I got my husband off to work with packed breakfast and lunch, made breakfast, made kids brush teeth, which hasn't happened in about a week, and then got caught up in my new book.   I had a plan in mind to paint the hallway,  and this is what it looked like to start.
So, I took down Christmas (tear) and then began.  I thought I would just paint the wall over the stairs in one of the paints we already had in the basement. 
I took out my old paints left from other projects.  By the way, I always look for mismixed Mythic paints at the store.  They sell for about $10 a gallon (bargain!) and they are eco and family friendly.  I can usually find something to do with whatever color they have!  We didn't have a full gallon of anything, except the paint I had used in the closet and Annie's room were mostly full, so I got creative and started mixing.  It was fun playing mixologist, or so I thought, except that this is not like mixing colors in kindergarten.  Back on Labor Day weekend, when I spent the entire weekend in the paint store, the kind paint man told me how pigments are much different than just mixing paints.  I guess I only partly paid attention.  When you mix paints, it's not the ratio you have to worry about, it's the amount of pigment.  The color I ended up with today was much more of a purple brown than I had planned, but I love it!  It's dark enough to make a statement, it's definitely not beige, and it welcomes and warms what was a very cold space. 

Well, after I finished one wall, I got so excited I kept going.  The wall going up the stairs will still be a feature wall with all the pictures, but the whole space had to be painted.   
It does make the white wood work pop!  I just wish there was actually room to sit there and enjoy it!  Still, when we all came home after an evening out tonight, we really felt warm and welcome!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tomorrow We Will Make Coffee

We are all searching for guarantees.  The guarantee on shipping from our website order, the guarantee on the newly-purchased mattress, the guarantee that when we wake up the electricity will still be on, the guarantee that the weather will get nicer soon, the guarantee that my car will still be parked where I left when I get back, the guarantee of a healthy pregnancy, the guarantee of an easy child.  All the things we expect at the beginning of the day to go our way, the meeting, the conference call, the sales pitch, the ruling, the game, the score.  I see people searching for schools, looking for a guarantee that the choices they make, the selection of this school over that school, will guarantee that their child will thrive, be successful, and maybe happy.  They want the guarantee.  They expect it when they walk in, as if they were going to a car wash, that the car will be perfectly cleaned when it comes out the other end.  As if kicking the tires will gu...
7 comments
Read more

What Is Grief?

 What is grief? It is standing in the shower and  you are suddenly crying and then you are sobbing. And you barely thought about it in the two days since you heard  your Uncle Rich passed. You thought about your dad and your cousins and your aunt and how sad they must be and you checked in on your dad. "I'm so so sorry." And you went to work and you did what you had to do. And now you are ready for another day and you are thinking of all the things and then you are crying and you are little again and vulnerable  and your heart hurts. And you remember everyone. Medford Lakes and a swimming pool and laughing so hard  and dancing around a Christmas tree and fireworks by the lake at night. And you can see his face and all their faces smiling Aunts and uncles and cousins and brothers who aren't here. And you remember his voice, deep and laughing, and you remember his kindness and his advice. "Are you taking vitamin C, Joannie?" You see all their faces and you mis...
6 comments
Read more

Nesting

This morning I am creating a nest. I am building it from scratch with spare parts that have been left around from another owner. We are vacationing in a house on a lake near Grandfathers, since that currently has no running water. We love it up here. It is a place that is carved in our hearts and our stories.  Since this is a foreign house, I am trying to make it feel like home. We have been here for 2 days and now I see the needs and small fixes I can do to make things more ‘ours’.  I have brewed coffee and put away the dishes from last night. I have placed a small rug by the door to catch our shoes that are caked in pine needles and fallen beech leaves and sand from the beach. I have moved the ottoman away from the chair it belongs to so that we have an extra seat. We have more people than it sits. Charlie made a chair with two pillows and leaned them against the end table. We are all working to build the nest. I am using pillows and blankets which I found in an upstairs clo...
Post a Comment
Read more