He's Out Of The Closet

Yup. It finally happened. After over a year with 5 of us crammed into our 2 bedroom town home and Nathan sleeping in the closet, our basement is done and Nathan is in his own room!!! Wade has spent the last 10 months framing, insulating, wiring, plumbing, sheet rocking, taping and mudding, installing an egress window, painting, and nailing up trim. All of his hard work has paid off. We now have a beautiful room for the girls downstairs, as well as a TV/toy room, too. And can I just say I am in love with brand new carpeting.

Maybe I'll post some pictures when we finish decorating and putting everything in its place...and when Wade decides where he wants to put his flat screen TV!

Pick A Color, Any Color

Having just gone through the paint dilemma myself, I have great empathy for my friend Nicole who is now facing the same challenge. She's ready to tackle her white bedroom, and an entryway which boasts some beautiful woodwork and a door with stained glass. She's posted some pictures on her blog and is looking for suggestions. So all you decorating buffs, you're invited to take a look and offer your opinion. Let's give her some great ideas to choose from!

Over the Hurdle At Last!

What was looking like a basket full of Easter eggs just 2 days ago is now looking cheery and inviting...thanks to just 4 more (ugh!) trips to the paint store (to make a total of 8 now), some more money wasted on a few more 'no go' colors, and finally an afternoon of help from my friend Pam the artist. (Many thanks and kudos to you, PW!!!)

OK, so I had complained about the bad curb yellow in the hallway, which is where it all began. Not sure if it was PMS or what, but the yellow has really grown on me since my last post. Thankfully Pam agreed--nice warm yellow--no hint of curbs involved like previously suspected. Phew! So PW and I moved on past the hallway and then she saw my next dilemma--the freshly painted "terracotta" room turned out to be a 'beachy salmon.' OK, once again, not what I was going for. Pam says "Wow, you picked a humdinger of a color [to find the right shade of]...we have to fix this." So we piled all of her kids in my van and accomplished all but a drive by shooting as we snatched up every last available color swatch in orange-ish brown left in Hudson. We settled on one, staking all of our hopes on it. Bingo--love it!

Now we just learned it may take 2 months to get carpet in...can't believe we didn't think to order it early. Normally I'm such a planner. Well, what can you do? (Any suggestions?) Buy direct?

For today, I am just thankful to have the paint dilemma solved. Thank you, Lord! And Pam! FYI, the pictures below are the final product. (So if you're thinking Easter eggs, don't say it.) The blue and green room is the girls'. The terracotta room is the toy/tv room. I'm lovin' them both! And the yellow makes me happy every time I'm near it!

Paint Schmaint...I Give Up!

I've been to the paint stores 4 times in the last week and it's not over yet. I'll begin with that and back up...(prepare for a long read)

So we've been living in our town home just a few days shy of a year. So glad to be back in Hudson, but tired of having all 5 of us cramped into two bedrooms (with Nathan in the walk-in closet) while we finish the basement. There's no play area, and I've got bins stacked 3 high in the kids' room along the walls. Even when things are picked up it doesn't really look or feel neat & tidy. (I'm not a fan of piles and clutter.) And it's getting to me. I want to 'seek first His kingdom'-- not the stuff of earth. But I do have such a desire to make our home feel like a home. To feel settled, and for things to have a place.

We're nearing the end, though. Wade has done an amazing job and the next step (my only step, really) is to paint, and then it's just carpet and trim! Sounds simple. We've done the paint thing many times before. In fact, I counted 12 rooms I've picked colors for and painted, over the span of 3 'houses' in our married life. We've done every color of the rainbow: reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, purples, and browns. I've liked most of them. But occasionally I've picked some doosies. (SP?) Like the crazy green in my bathroom. Lime Rickey turned into Bright Lime Yucky. (I even had professional help choosing that one!) Anyway, back to our basement. We've got two bedrooms (one will be the toy/TV room), a wide hallway area, and a stairwell. Got the girls' room painted a pretty blue and green. Done. Planned on painting everything else a warm and cheery, yet muted, apricot yellow. A color I had seen as a backdrop at a furniture store . Somehow I ended up with a muted version of curb yellow.

I'm stumped. I had gotten all the color swatches, tried them in different lights, on different walls. Even got the big 8x11 sample sizes to compare. So next I went to Sherwin Williams for expert help. I don't think the guy there knew much more than I do about picking colors. After an hour of agonizing, using their light box (simulates natural/artificial lights) and chasing my children out from under the paint cans and greasy paint sprayers, I left with a quart sample of a beautiful blue that the rep talked me into, and I went to Wal-Mart to get the lighter yellow he recommended. Wade hated the blue. And the yellow looks peach on the wall. Back to the drawing board. So now I'm thinking terracotta for the toy room, but I just don't know for everything else. I wanted to avoid the beiges and neutral greens this time around. I like color. I like unique, but not weird. And we're not going to be here forever, so it has to look OK for resale. I've actually lost sleep over stupid paint colors! I think I may have found a few shades I like, but it pains me to think of wasting even more time and money. Man!