Refreshing

I don’t know if this is a standard thing, if I learned it some where, or made it up, but I think you need to redo your interior about every 20 years. If you move it happens naturally, but if you stay in your house forever, like us, then you need to look around and say, “Is this room getting tired or outdated?” When Russ and I bought our house in 1994 we didn’t do much to it right away. He was in business school and we knew were were going to put an addition on so we waited for that to paint and decorate the whole house at once two years later.

The problem with doing it all at the same time is not only is it expensive, it means it all needs to be redone at the same time. Well, that did not happen at our house, especially with a child in college. So before Carter went to college I redid the gathering room and then breakfast room. While she was in college I redid the kitchen. And now that she is out of college I am redoing the entry, all the hallways, living room and dining room.

Redoing is not really the right word. Basically I am painting, and recovering. I did get new window treatments for the Iiving room a couple years ago and a new rug last summer so those are staying. The big thing is I want to do some dramatic color changes

I have been contemplating getting rid of my red wallpaper in my entry for a while, but was unsure which direction in color to go. Then I got a bold Idea for the living room color and an even bolder one for the dining room. So I settled on painting the entry the same color as my big room, which is buff color, or not too much color at all, but warm.

With the color ideas made I called my painters thinking I needed to get on their radar so they could work me in. That was Thursday. Daniel came by Friday morning. My timing was perfect. They had a big new house that was supposed to be all finished and ready for painting, but of course it is backed up a little. He could start today! Today, Saturday. So I ran to the Ben Moore store and got samples.

Early this morning Daniel, his brother and cousin came in to strip wall paper and prime. Then they put up the color samples. The first dining room one was a definite no. On no, what if this bold idea is a bad one. Second sample, good. Sat and watched paint dry and it was a definite yes.

The color in the living room went the same way. First color, NO! Second color, better, third color just right. Then they painted the two colors side by side just to make sure the flow from one room to the next would not be jarring. They went together well. So here we are in the middle of painting. Poor Russ thought he was going to have a nice quiet long weekend. He was already sad that I am going to be teaching all day Monday and now he will be home alone with the painters. Somehow I am getting out of living with this since I will be away all week teaching. I pray I like it all when I get home.