Paint in my hair and joy in my heart

Posted on | August 16, 2006 12 Comments | e-mail | print

We’re redecorating our bedroom this week — a long and tedious process when you have a job and a toddler.

The walls were the same putty-poop color they were when we moved in, with the added attraction of a giant bare spot where Iain started picking at loose paint. Plus no art on the walls and a hulking piece of furniture that sucked up all the atmosphere from the room. I decided it was time to lighten up.

So Saturday I drew up a plan and bought some primer; Sunday we painted the room, Monday we started priming and painting the wood veneer furniture which was handed down to us from my mother’s neighbor. The goal is to redo this room for less than a hundred dollars, and once I return the impulse-buy featherbed, we’ll be on track.

Last night we painted the drawers before House came on (my new favorite TV show. Anyone else think House is kind of hot?) and today after work I hope to vacuum and arrange furniture and spray-paint the drawer-pulls a glossy black.

I have high hopes that the finished product will be nice-looking; I’m going to go all apartment therapy on that room and majorly weed out the crap, keeping things nice and orderly and streamlined and happy. It’s funny; I’m twenty-six years old, and this is the first place I’ve ever lived where I could do what I liked as far as decorating. When we moved in, I was six months pregnant and we were house-poor (it is Baltimore, after all, such a housing market) and only now, two years later, am I actually getting to decorate. It is only “design on a dime” decorating, and not totally what I wanted, but still.

It feels really good to turn the place I live in into somewhere I actually enjoy living in.

And this is the best before picture I can find, and it only shows a part of this room. Even when I took this, I cropped out the bad patch and the rest of the room because they bothered me so much. Actually, the paint doesn’t look so bad in this light, but trust me on the excretory associations it musters.

Anyway. That’s what we’ve been doing this week. That, and sleeping on separate couches to avoid the paint fumes. I’ll be so glad when it’s all done!

Category: daily grind, house

Nearby posts: « previous: What to do with a pile of scraps? | next: So long, summer »

Comments

12 Responses to “Paint in my hair and joy in my heart”

Mayberry
August 16th, 2006 @ 10:11 am

You and your craftiness are truly amazing! I can rarely be bothered to make my bed. But it is going to be so satisfying when you are done. Can’t wait to see the results.
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Sunni
August 16th, 2006 @ 10:25 am

As a fellow cheapass decorator - I would like to spare you from the “for fuck’s sake” moment of refinishing furniture. When spray painting your hardware make sure you also apply a clear lacquer (satin finish if you don’t want it to alter your paint finsh). I recently redid our kitchen cabinets and the handles look like shit less than 6 months later. Happy spraying!
Oooh! And don’t forget to take off your glasses! I am still scraping the green dots off mine!
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candace
August 16th, 2006 @ 12:25 pm

You’ve got me beat. It’s been nearly seven years since we moved in and we’re JUST getting to changing things. Of course, as is typical with us, we’re pretty much doing everything at once. I think we like to make ourselves crazy.
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katie
August 16th, 2006 @ 2:01 pm

oh my god, Hugh Laurie is just about the FINEST man (and most talented) in the universe. I can’t wait for the third season.
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Malnurtured Snay
August 16th, 2006 @ 4:17 pm

Supa. We need to get you some taste in television. LOST is good. HOUSE? Puh-lease.

Seriously. Watch “Studio 60.”
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melissa b.
August 16th, 2006 @ 5:17 pm

Oh how I hate painting. I hate painting and oh yes, I hate painting. We’re about to do the same thing to our bedroom. I loathe the starting day already.
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Elizabeth
August 16th, 2006 @ 6:27 pm

The blue looks great, sorta greyish? Pretty. I bet you’ll love it when it’s done.
We’re doing tons of work on the house, finally… because we’re trying to sell it! HAHA.
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nana
August 16th, 2006 @ 8:20 pm

I, too,am hooked on House! I absolutely LOATHED the show and the man til I saw him on a talk show and realized how totally opposite his character he is. My bad for thinking he was as obnoxious as House! So not a Tom Cruise! Although I love the medical mysteries, I am not infatuated with the actor like Katie is…And by the by.. you two are doing a great job redecorating!!
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LetterB
August 17th, 2006 @ 12:09 am

Oooh - can’t wait for the reveal. Good luck.
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mothergoosemouse
August 17th, 2006 @ 2:41 pm

Very nice! I look forward to seeing the results. I remember renovating our old apartment (we owned it) and while it took FOREVER and created tons of dust, it was absolutely worth it.
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Natalie
August 22nd, 2006 @ 9:53 pm

I love Hugh Laurie, as House and from Black Adder. What a contrast.

I do think he’s hot, but only for the challenge…you might need to be a sadist to pursue him…ala Dr. Cameron.
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Heels
August 29th, 2006 @ 2:59 pm

Oh, mah Lawrd, my brain is so off-kilter right this second that I just spent many seconds looking at the first photograph (upended drawers on the deck) and worked really hard at figuring out why you have so many odd little tables for one room.

Sometimes it is physically painful to be me.
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