Sunday, March 18, 2007

Saga of the Paint Pans

After moving into Sweetheart's house almost three years ago, one of my chief goals was to remove every trace of mauve that I could. Sweetheart's ex seemed to have a serious fondness for that color. Not only was "her" room (the spare bedroom that she used for a dressing room that is now Son's room) trimmed in mauve with a wallpaper border of pink, gold and green flowers--you know the kind, those huge cabbage-sized roses--but the main bathroom was sponge-painted mauve over white (with another of those huge flower borders), the dining room was sponge-painted mauve over white, the walls in the kitchen were solid mauve and the countertops were mauve also.

Yes, folks, even the countertops.

It was kind of scary, and probably some of you are wondering why in the world I'd move into a pink nightmare, but I had pluck, by God, and I saw potential.

And now, three years (almost) later, I've almost reached my goal.

First we repainted Son's room. Crumb-cookie white (what kind of white is crumb cookie? heck if I know, but it's a nice, creamy, non-sterile white) with Lava blue trim (that's navy for those of you who haven't studied your paint chips lately). Then I moved into the bathroom and painted that tiny, cramped little space a bright, light, happy turquoise (the official name escapes me at the moment). Then I took on the sponge painting in the dining room with Spiced Pear (a light, peachy tan) with more Crumb Cookie trim. Then the sterile, hotel-white living room had to go. I chose a fine shade of Toffee Crunch (this color, depending on the light, runs the gamut from maize yellow to light orange) with, again, Crumb Cookie for the trim. While I was at it, I Crumb-Cookied the hallway as well. Brightened it up considerably.

That left the kitchen. I spent about a year messing about with paint chips, trying fruitlessly to match something to those horrid mauve countertops. And then, a miracle of sorts happened. The kitchen faucet started leaking onto the counter, which made its way into the backsplash and warped it. Oops. We got the faucet fixed but the backsplash is bowed out from the wall in a couple of spots.

I'm sure you can tell I wasn't too distressed by this turn of events.

Anyhow, I abandoned trying to match the counter and painted the kitchen proper Pewter Tray (a striking blend of pale gray, blue and green) and the larger sitting area Quiet Moment (a rich teal with gray overtones). It doesn't match the counters at all, but I don't care because they'll be gone by the end of summer, and replaced by a lovely laminate countertop called Nirvana (or for those of you in the know, 1792-60).

I think that's a fitting end, don't you?

1 Comment:

Spy Scribbler said...

LOLOL! I bet you're just loving that turn of events! I think I'd've been doing the "yes! yes! yes! yes! yes!" dance!