Decorating Diaries: The Hall

We're long overdue for a Decorating Diaries post. So in an effort to entertain readers and drive Blair to the edge of madness, I've decided it's time to paint the hall.

This is no small task. Our hall runs the length of our home and I get cold chills at the amount of cut-in work that's going to be required to get this puppy painted. Still, I'm desperate. Years ago a designer convinced me that the hall should be beige. Every instinct I had fought against it, but she rationalized it by saying that since we wanted color in all our rooms, the hall should remain a neutral so that the colors could be off-shoots and not clash.

We painted the hall beige and it's been a dead zone ever since. No life. No light. So clash-smash. I'm throwing some color up on those ten-foot walls and not looking back. 

Unfortunately, as long time readers of this blog and anyone who has ever seen me dressed in public knows, I am not the most color-coordinated individual. Hence the rainbow hall that you see here. Blair said I could use this part of the hall for testing. I quickly outgrew my testing space though, and moved on to the wall opposite. 

I can not be blamed for the ugly colors you see here. THAT IS NOT WHAT THE PAINT CARDS LOOKED LIKE. There is some sort of Lowe's conspiracy where the paint in the can never, ever matches the card sample. Hence the neon yellow, baby-turd gold, and bright pink you see above. 

But I think we've found our color. I'm digging this "Pumpkin Harvest" color on the top in the photo to the left. I'm going back today and getting a sample a shade or two lighter, but this is pretty close to it. I have visions of our hall feeling year round like a fall harvest on a bright sunny day. Or else it's going to look like someone threw mustard on our walls and we were too lazy to wipe it off. Either way, I'm only painting this hallway once. 

First my hair, now the hall. What else can I destroy with color?

What's Your One Thing?

Spring fever has hit and I have the urge to clean... not just the house, but clean the body, mind, and spirit. Start over! Begin anew! Climb those mountains with a can-do attitude and become the self-actualized person I was put on this planet to be!

Okay... coffee just wore off. I'm back now. 

But I am in the mood for a little "get things done" attitude. Blair and I were going over a wish-list for the money-pit (aka, "the house") and we decided we want to build a deck and screened-in porch on the back of the house. For those new to this blog, a little heads up that we've been talking about building a deck and screened in porch on the back of the house for almost 8 years now. Something in the process seems stalled, yes?

So we decided to apply the "What's the One Thing That Must Be Done" strategy to our work and home lives. The "One Thing" method is where at the beginning of each day you ask yourself what is the ONE thing I must accomplish today? If it's something that takes 8 hours and you must ignore everything else, so be it. If it's something that takes 20 minutes and you do it and blow off the rest of your day, good enough. You got your ONE IMPORTANT THING done for the day. Blair and I just started using this in our work days and I must say, I'm finding it effective. Definitely brings into focus where my concentration and effort needs to be.

So in relation to the porch/deck, we asked ourselves, what one thing do we need to do today to move this project forward? The answer is measuring. We need to go outside and figure out how big/small we want these additions to be.  So tonight we will walk outside with a tape measure and check our ONE THING off the list.

As for today's goal, I need to spend 3 hours novel writing. I have a two-page list of tasks that need addressed, but for me to feel good about my day, I need to do this creative writing. 

How about you? What's your ONE THING for the day?

Dena's Writing Room: The Unveiling

Note the sour apple green ceilingOn a scale similar to that of the transformation reveal on The Biggest Loser, today's blog proudly brings you (pause for heralding trumpets and distant "hurrah's")... the unveiling of Dena's new writer's room!

As you may recall, our poor woe-begotten writer was feeling less than creative in her beautiful upstairs office, necessitating a change of view and entire room re-do. What used to be the downstairs guest bedroom is now Dena's new writing room. Note the word choice: WRITING room. Not office. Not a place dominated by invoices and paperwork and conference calls (although, as you'll see, those all have their place). Instead, a room meant to provoke thought, inspiration, creativity, and--God willing--a completed novel by year's end.

First on our tour is color. Working off the map, we chose a classic turquoise for the walls and a yellow/sour apple green for the ceiling. [Props to Blair for scraping the popcorn sh** off the ceiling--what were people in the 70's thinking?]

We picked out neutral carpet and brought down the green and purple plaid chair from upstairs with the intention to slip-cover it, but I'm kind of diggin' the contrast so for now, it stays. 

My intent is to fill the room only with things I love that inspire me. A whimsical lamp made by a friend, blown up artwork of my book covers, a cat mat we found almost a year ago that's been sitting in our closet, the pillow my sister gave to me for Christmas one year when she about 8 and I was 14, chimes that used to hang in my grandparents home. If it doesn't make me smile, it doesn't get in the room.

One thing making me smile wide is the desk Blair built for me. There are a number of abandoned thick wooden doors in our attic. Blair took one, sawed it down to size, added legs, stained it, and put a glass top on it. Voila! Instant writer's desk. I'm mad for it.

 And of course my very favorite thing--Lucy cat snoozing in the corner.

Now, back to that office business. The fact is, it doesn't make sense for me to keep a writing room and an office--too much stuff spread over too many areas. My solution is to divide this room into quadrants. The desk Blair made me faces the front window and is the writing desk. NO OFFICE WORK done at this desk. Only pen, paper, laptop, warm light, and coffee mug. Anything else is a distraction.

Behind me, in the corner by the fireplace and side window, will be the office space. I'll set-up a second desk with file cabinets, printer, stapler, three-hole punch... the works. We're still desk shopping at this point, trying to figure out how to best utilize that corner space. An L-shaped desk would be ideal, but there isn't much room between the fireplace and the wall.

There are plans for the room. Blair is going to build me bookshelves next to the writing desk. I'll need to get curtains at some point, although I'm loath to close off any part of the sun and a little nervous that adding them may overhwhelm an already overwhelming room.  But I'm in no rush. Part of what "blocked" me from writing upstairs, I think, was that it was so perfect. Everything in place... an ideal little set-up that I wrote not a creative word in. I had to leave the house and go to Panera for that. When I set up a card table in the front bedroom, surrounded by boxes and beds and unhung pictures... bingo. Words flowed. So I'm being cautious about insisting that everything be in place.

Meanwhile, I am loving the new space.

Suspicious Noises

I'm sitting in the family room and watching as one cat runs into the front bedroom, suspcious noises emanate from said room, the cat runs out. One minute later the other cat runs into the room, same noises, runs out.

As a cat parent, I have innate instincts for knowing when trouble is brewing. And as a cat parent, I prefer to be kept in the dark. So I ignored the little buggers for 10 minutes and watched them run in, run out. Curiousity finally got the best of me so I walked in, half expecting to see a mouse or cricket. No, it was something better.

Carpet samples.

I'd brought home carpet samples and the kitties were having a little carpet fiesta, running in, scratching them up, then running out. How I will explain the shredded remains of the carpet remanant to the people at Lowe's, I don't know. But at least I have a solid idea what my soon-to-be-new carpet will look like in a month. Thanks, girls.