Decorating Diaries: The Blue Lagoon

We had a slight setback Friday night in the decorating process when we attempted to push-pull-shove-curse the almost immovable bookshelf in the exercise room away from the wall. This heavy piece was in place when we moved here and we're told it was formally used in the chemistry lab at the old high school.

I was pulling (i.e, straining my back but not making an inch of difference) and Blair was pushing. To give himself a little more leverage, he braced himself against what he thought was the window frame but which, unfortunately, turned out to be the window itself. "One-two-three!" we said and there was an ear-deafening shattering-tinkling noise.

The window is history. Luckily, no one was hurt. We picked huge impaling shards of glass from the window frame and vacuumed the little pieces out of the carpet. Not an auspicious start.

But things picked up when our neighbor Joey stopped by and we begged him to pretty-please go pick out some wall color for us. A neighbor (actually, the woman who went to Kiawah with us) had paid Joey to decorate her home while we were gone. He went all out and when she got back her front room and dining room had been transformed into these stunning rooms of rich gold and deep chocolate.  He has wonderful taste and we don't. "Please help us," we begged.

He ran out to Wal-Mart and brought back paint chips. On my own, I never in a million years would have even looked at the colors he brought back but we trusted him, went with it, and I am loving the room.

The fireplace wall is what I'm calling a sky blue but being honest, it's pretty darn close to a true baby blue. The other three walls are kind of a tawny tangerine. I know, I know... I hate peach. But it's nowhere near a flat peach. It's much more...mellow... melon... cheerful.

The room has been transformed from a dark duck pit to a playful, energizing space. We did two coats of wall paint yesterday and I'll hit the trim today. That's what takes the longest. We'll easily go through a gallon of white paint to do two coats on the trim. We've got three panelled doors (front and back), 6-inch floor trim, ceiling trim, and multi-paned windows. The trim will probably take two days. But then it will be done!

The cats are itching to get into the room. Lucy stands outside the closed door and sniffs at the crack, most likely getting high on paint fumes. (That would explain a lot in her behavior.)

As for me, I'm blowing off any form of paying work today in order to devote myself to the trim. Just me, a paintbrush, some tunes, and a yowling cat outside the door. It's shaping up to be a pretty good day.

Decorating Diaries: The Blue Lagoon

Well friends, it looks as though the blue carpet in the exercise will have to stay. I stopped in yesterday to talk to the carpet store guy and he said with both the bookcase and the weight machine, it's highly unlikely they'd be able to stretch out a new carpet as needed. They can do a cutaway around the bookshelf, which doesn't thrill me but would be serviceable. However, the weight machine is huge and a problem.

I'm ready to let it go. This room was never meant to be a redecorating "project." I just wanted the ducks off the wall. We could look into calling the people we bought the weight machine from out here and pay them to disassemble and then reassemble the weights, but that's more money (and time) than I planned on spending.

Blair is not one to give up the fight, however. Last night he pulled the installation instructions out for the weight machine along with his tool kit. And although he hasn't touched it yet, there are wrenches and hammers and drills lying all over the place, terrifying me to no end. I'd prefer a working weight machine on blue carpet to a busted weight machine on beige.

We still haven't reached a decision on the walls. I'm wondering how a chocolate brown and turquoise would look. Two walls of each color, symbolic of earth and water.  I want to get this thing painted by Sunday. A timetable for completion would look like this:

• Thursday, day: Attempt to repair cracks in plaster using massive amounts of my favorite homeowner's tool: spackle.
• Thursday, night: Explain to Blair in no uncertain terms that if he thinks he can do a better job of covering the cracks then he's welcome to it. Storm off in a huff when he points out the blobs of spackle falling off the wall and onto the carpet.
• Friday: Ignore my promise to Blair to redo the spackle and hope the primer covers all mistakes.
• Saturday: First coats of paint go on. Stare at wall in misery, wondering what on earth prompted me to select these colors.
• Sunday: Decide, "Screw it. It beats the ducks," and apply a second coat.

I doubt I'll get to all the trim, but let's just watch and see how close reality comes to the predictions above, shall we?

Decorating Diaries: Exercise Room - Part I

Here are a few pictures to get you started. The first is of the exercise room, pre-wallpaper ripping. Note the lovely duck motif that coincides so well with the dark orange trim and blue carpet. It's hard to believe we've lived with that for almost 12 years now. (We get to things in our own time.)

BTW, the dark blue carpet is staying due to the fact that we would have to hire someone to come in and disassemble the weight-lifting machine and the bookshelf. The bookshelf can be slid across the floor but doesn't fit through the door. We suspect the last owner moved it in the room before they put the windows in.

Moving on. These next few photos are of the exercise room as it now stands. Festive, no? I'm looking forward to bonding with some primer and paint next week. BTW, any color suggestions? It's an exercise room, so we can go a little wild. The only "must" is that the trim be white or off-white, to go with the rest of the house. Me, I'd love to split the room and do a dark blue on the bottom and orange or yellow on top. Blair is not so big on the dividing the room idea. He is willing to go with a bright color though. Or maybe it should be beige. Who knows? I hate picking colors.  It's a west facing room and doesn't get a whole lot of light.

Click on the photos below to enlarge. Thoughts, anyone?

     
 

Last Long Run of the Year

Only time for a quick blog entry. It's 6:33 am on Sunday and I'm getting ready to leave the house to do my LAST long run (10 miles) of the year before next weekend's marathon. Whoo-hoo!

My neighbor and I have been doing cold, dark morning runs and both of us agree -- this is the last December marathon, ever. I'll still run this winter, but I've about had my fill of dragging my butt out of bed for a freezing cold run that has to be done. The thought of some short, quick noontime runs is sounding lovely.

That being said, I am SO excited about the marathon. And nervous. I alternate between "I'm going to knock this sucker out of the park" and "Oh my God, what have I done?" thinking. So far, the weather forecast for next weekend in Kiawah is perfect - starting in mid-30's and getting up to high 50's. That's some prime running weather.

In other news, this blog will soon convert to a new "Decorating Diaries" series. Blair and I decided for no apparent reason that the 3 weeks before the holiday season would be the best time for us to rip down the duck wallpaper in the exercise room and do some painting. So now my front bedroom is filled with all the books and furniture from the exercise room and the cats are beside themselves in a panic, wondering what's behind the closed door.  It just wouldn't be the holidays without some major demolition work occurring in the Harris household.

Off to run. Have a lovely Sunday morning.