So, in between visits to and from crazy family members, we’ve been busy over at the new house, getting it ready for our upcoming move-in this weekend.
This place was a bargain. Mostly because it needs a complete overhaul. When he wasn’t at work or talking me through family-related crying fits or buying me fabulous Christmas and birthday presents, RegularDad spent the better part of December over at the new house looking like this:
Just about every doorway in the house had large cracks in the plaster, like this:
So for weeks, the new house looked like this:
Not very pretty. And in spite of all the work we’d done, it still looked like we hadn’t made much of a dent in the whole project at all. Which made it easy to feel discouraged. (And I haven’t even shown you pictures of the bedrooms, which is a whole ‘nother post.)
But yesterday, it all finally started to come together. We were finally at the point where it was time to paint. RegularDad cleared the rooms and put down drop cloths and got started on the ceilings:
And of course, when you paint ceilings, it’s good to have a long-handled roller extension. Not just for the ability to paint ceilings much more quickly without using a ladder, but also because it’s good for those moments when you just need to stop and play some air-guitar and mosh along to some Machine Head in the CD player:
It’s good for morale and all.
And before you knew it, that dreary patched whitewash on the walls was disappearing under this fabulous golden brown I’d picked out:
And as he was putting up the color, the sun came out for the first time that day and shone on the walls just to prove that the color was good and golden. This was the one color I’d picked that I wasn’t sure about, you see. This was the color that I was really nervous about. But it’s going to work just fine. In fact, as more of that golden color went up on the walls, we began to feel better. More cheerful. More at home. There’s something definitely Western and Santa Fe about it. And that helps with the Colorado-homesickness more than I would have believed possible.
Pretty soon, the kids came bouncing and galloping in to see the walls, and to offer their assistance.
So, we’ve reached that pivotal point, finally, where all that prep work has paid off, and instead of feeling discouraged at how much left there is to do (and, believe me, there’s a LOT), we now feel warm and fuzzy because we can see how it’s all gonna look fabulous in the end.
We sat in this half-painted room for quite a while, just soaking up that color, feeling at home for the first time in a long, long time.
Love that brown! Just think about how awesome it will be in the end. We had a house like that. It was a life sucking vortex. But we all survived, and it looked mighty good when we were done. Keep on keeping on, regular folks.-k
Love that brown! Just think about how awesome it will be in the end. We had a house like that. It was a life sucking vortex. But we all survived, and it looked mighty good when we were done. Keep on keeping on, regular folks.-k
love the color LOVE THAT FRONT DOOR WITH THE SIDE WINDOWS still love the light fixture. sure you won’t keep it?
It’s so nice that you have time to do that work before you move in! Color makes such a difference.
When we were fixing up our house before moving into it, there was a lot to be done. Plumbing, sheetrock, windows, electrical, the whole bit. The job I picked was Painting, and I played Dingbat Woman on the rest. “Did you say the red wires hook to the black ones.. or was it yellow… what are these white ones?” I picked painting because not only did that let me choose all the colors, but that is also the job that has the most visible outcome. No matter how you rearrange the walls, windows, doorways.. even flooring, a new coat of beautiful color feels like a whole new house.
Love that color. Bet you didn’t even know you had so much taste
Thanks everyone.
As for the light fixture…well, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens during National Amphibian Awareness Month, or whatever it is.
MamaK, can I just say that my new favorite phrase is “Life Sucking Vortex.” I plan to use that in as many sentences as possible this year. It’s my New Year’s Resolution.
That brown is a nice color. We had those cracks in our first house. It had settled over the last 83 years. I’m excited for you this weekend and wish mine would sell so we could move on. We do have someone looking at it tomorrow.
So great to see part of the inside! I love that warm color…makes me feel like I just had a nice bowl of hot soup on a chilly day.
Oh BTW did you talk to your landlord about GFH? What ever will become of him???
Alas! We will have to leave the GFH behind.
But I’ve got Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket, and I’m planning on buying a new GIANT FROG HEAD for our yard. Heh heh heh.
You have made incredible progress. I know it seems so much more special with any labor of love. That warm brown color is beautiful.