Color My World or Bleeding Money

    This week I did nothing but spend money. We knew that it would be a flood of money out the door (or in the door, depending on your perspective) during the last third of the construction, but it is staggering.

I ordered hardwood for the floors.
CA-CHING


I ordered tile for the bathrooms, laundry room and foyer.
CA-CHING


I sent in a deposit for cabinets.
CA-CHING


I ordered a stove vent insert for said cabinets.
CA-CHING


   Now that's not exactly true. I did do something else. We started painting. Did I mention I bought 75 gallons of paint?
   Now let me say right off, that between the cloudy days, my camera, this computer and fate in general, the colors don't show true. This may or may not be a good thing, depending on how tame you are about color in your home. I personally, am a color wimp,  but with therapy and a supportive spouse I have begun to accept paint as my friend.


 
  
  We started by painting the corners first, so we could roll the paint. Ed has a old but fully functional airless paint unit, which saves us hours of time.  We also bought a power roller from a paint supply place. That thing is slick. No more coming down from the ladder to dip the roller in the paint tray. Just pull the trigger and keep on painting, which is what Ed did.
   Now kids, don't try this at home. This is definitely not a recommended or OSHA approved method of painting a stairwell. Ed is a trained professional.

  
My job was to use the other ladder (in the more traditional method) and paint the corners and cut in the wall colors. The first day, I made over 250 trips up and down the ladder. The second day I could barely move and my knee was swollen up like a grapefruit. But through the miracles of modern chemistry, I kept painting. The knee is still swollen, but the cutting in is done. I rarely make a personal appearance, but I was wearing a Sherwin-Williams tapestry and thought I'd share. Fortunately, the walls look better than my clothes.

  Now here's the thing. Craftsman colors are traditionally earth tones, tending toward dark. We took that tendency and just stretched it a little. They honestly look much better in person than they show in the photo. I must admit I had real misgivings, and some downright panic about using red.  There will be cabinets below the red to either side of the fireplace. The fireplace surround will be slate.
  

 

The red carries into the kitchen. Here I painted the entire wall red, just because I got carried away, but most of this will be covered by refrigerator, cabinets and that butter yellow 1922 Magic Chef stove.

   By now most of you have formed into one of two paint camps:
        1. Wow, I love it!
        2. What was that woman thinking?!
  I'm still on the fence.

  
 Upstairs in the family room and library, I decided on a very soft green. The more I see it on the wall, the more I realize it is a very warm, cozy color. It also leads the eye out to the green outside. Above the fireplace is the same camel color as the foyer hallway  and stairwell.

  

  The two guest bedrooms are a soft cream. Even if the sun isn't shining (yes, we do occasionally get sun), these rooms have a wonderful inviting feel.

   This morning Ed is finishing the green.
We may need to make a trip to Seaside this afternoon.  After all that, we still need two gallons of Metro Mist, one of Crabby Apple, and two of Tatami Tan.
 CA-CHING