Unfortunately, as I wake up and look around, I can see that the house and yard have gone to hell in the proverbial handbasket while I have been in my winter stupor. I realized finally that i hatehatehate the yellow color we painted the kitchen, and ditto for the color combination in the dining room. Sigh. So, I went to Lowes, my favorite store on earth, spent about an hour thumbing through wallpaper books, and settled on this:
I love that it has birds in it! The color of the lovebird, the pumpkiny tone, is the color of the bottom half of the walls in the dining room and the entire turret-shaped wall where the windows are in there. This wallpaper will go on the top half of the wall. The paint chip is what we're going to paint the kitchen. It's Laura Ashley Gold 3, and matches both the wallpaper in the dining room as well as the original 1920's wallpaper in the entryway, plus all the tile work I did in the kitchen before we moved in. I'm REALLY excited! The colors in these two rooms were such a mess when we first moved in (the kitchen in particular, which was GREY and FUSCHIA, for the love of God!) that redoing them was almost overwhelming at first, like I could find things that I knew I wanted to do, but then the trick was finding things that would look nice with those things, if you know what I mean. The yellow we picked for the kitchen is actually pretty, but the lighting in there is weird, and it all ends up looking really greenish-yellow, which isn't pretty at ALL. It looks like a lemon mirangue pie exploded in there or something.
So, today I will go to Lowes and return the wallpaper book, order the paper, and buy a can of paint. One gallon should do it for the kitchen, since there isn't a lot of wallspace in there (there are four doorways and a lot of cabinets). I'm hopeful to start on the painting tomorrow afternoon, but unfortunately....
my mother is coming this weekend, so along with needing to take a lot more Zoloft in preparation, I have to clean the mess of a house. Sigh. I spent all morning cleaning the basement level of the house, washing the windows on the main level, and doing laundry. Ya-freakin'-hoo.
I've also been kicking my own ass in the yard, doing hours of work out there both Sunday and yesterday. It's starting to look a lot better. I cleared both the garden area and the adjacent part of the yard that really has no purpose whatsoever - it's on the side of the house, but because of the location of the stone wall on the property and the dining room window outcropping, and the wrap-around porch and lilac bushes coming around from the front, isn't really useful for much of anything, so the previous owners had let it get all overgrown and had apparently thrown a LOT of trashy stuff in there. Yuck. I ripped up all the gross Lamb's Ear plants, which had died over the winter and were looking like piles of rotting newspaper, and dug up all the giant rocks that the owners before us had used to decorate the 'water feature' area they had had, and moved the rocks to where the Lambs Ear used to be to discourage doggy digging. PHEW. I love yard work, actually, so I'm not complaining, but I AM pooped!
I can't wait to start on the kitchen and then put that wallpaper up, though. I'm so excited!!
13 comments:
I am so envious of people with a green thumb. At work, the person who used my cubicle before me left her plant behind. I tried so hard to take care of it, but it died within months.
The wallpaper is so cute. I love the colors! (but I'm totally thinking of having a grey and fuschia kitchen now. that sounds awesome! lol)
I am so jealous of the redecorating! Im seriously feeling the need to do a little around here too, but I just keep coming up with reasons not to. Maybe Ill just suck it up and pick up some paint next time Im out...
Im not a big fan of wallpaper but Im seriously loving the print you picked out. I bet it'll look fabulous!
gray and fuschia? OMG that sounds repulsive! i like the chocolate/bird wallpaper.
how long is your mom staying??? i hope you survive. also--on the lambs ear--do you not like that plant in general or just where it was. we saw some at lowe's this weekend and the kids and hubs loved it. i was thinking of putting it in some pots i have on the patio.
Oooh, I can't wait to see the pretty kitchen makeover!
that wallpaper is beautiful! i love gardening too. I can't wait for it to warm up here.
My God, woman, you're a maniac!! Why not come on over and help me, too??
I've been doing a heap of work around my house as well, preparing it for sale. It's amazing what a difference a can of paint can make, and the right colour makes it all the more awesome.
I lovvvvvve the wallpaper.
My mom did the same thing with yellow paint once, and it was a headache-inducing color. She repainted a very similar yellow to the one you've chosen, and it was like a million times better that with the citrus thing going on.
It truly is amazing what a gallon of paint can do for the walls, and the soul!
Ok, so yesterday when I read this the sun was on the screen and I didn't SEE the bird. Today, much better. And more power to you for wallpaper; I hate wallpaper. Too much work.
We don't have enough spring yet to start yard work. We still have a 5 foot snowbank in the front yard and lots of snow elsewhere. BUT, we are seeing some daffodils popping up. Hooray.
I'm ready to add some more organization to my house. I've been pouring thru my magazines looking for ideas.
The wallpaper is beautiful.
And I've been cleaning the house too- can't wait to tackle the front yard though. Over winter the weeds just go crazy and everything needs a good cleaning up.
You LOVE yard work? Ohmygosh, I will finish cleaning your house from top to bottom if you will come clear out MY nasty flower beds! I LOATHE yard work!
Wow, you are making me tired with all that wallpapering and painting energy! Great colors though!
Would you like to come apply some that energy to redecorating my house or sprucing up my yard? Um, please?! It's a sad state of affairs in these parts, but we're too bogged down in LITTLE kids to deal right now!
Post a Comment