Tag-Archive for » home improvements «

Phase One Complete!

17
Oct 2010
By

Things are slowly starting to fall into place with our home improvements. After two solid days of painting we downed brushes at 6pm last night and surveyed our work. The verdict? Not bad.  Hardly the work of professionals – there are lots of dips and daubs along skirting boards and cornices, but we have done our best. It’s a bit like a Monet* – best viewed from far away to get the full effect. Or you can squint and just turn your head slightly to one side. Here – take a look.

DSC02915DSC02995

DSC02994photo 2

*Yes I am aware I just compared my painting skills to one of the best artists of all time. What of it???

The colour I chose for the lounge room was darker than that of the hallways and dining room.  I also added it to the wall near the stairs to the dining room to be an accent. However in some lights it seems to be exactly the same, thanks to the twists and turns of our walls causing all kinds of hocus pocus with the shadows. So my ‘feature’ wall’s most astonishing feature seems to be that it matches all the other walls. Ah well.

Add in some new lights and new floors (being done as I type!) and it is all starting to look schmick as. Can’t wait to spend next weekend just sitting and admiring it.  My arms and legs are far too tired to do anything else.

Category: Domestic Thinks  3 Comments  Tags: , ,

Painting the Silver Screen

10
Oct 2010
By

interior-paintingI have recently come to the sad realisation that nothing in life is like how it is in the movies. Late in life to work this out, I know, but there you have it. Most folk can guess that indulging in light stalking of a bloke in Seattle will probably get you an AVO not a romance. Smart people know that small children left home alone will probably not foil would-be burglars. And yes, someone who spends most of their time “whispering” horses probably stinks like manure.

I did hope however that some things would be a little more like their celluloid depictions. Painting for example. For the last few weekends my husband and I have been painting several deceptively large rooms in our house.  On Saturday I stood brush in hand in our semi-demolished dining room while the penny dropped. These weeks of inhaling paint fumes, climbing ladders, stretching, grunting and cursing were nothing at all like how loving couple paint in the movies.

Being a loving wife, I called him on it. “If this were a movie, we would not be spending our time moaning about the other’s lack of proficiency at ‘cutting in’ and the state of commercial radio playlists. You would reach down from your ladder and lovingly wipe a smudge  of paint from my cheek and I would playfully swipe a daub onto your nose. Then we would laugh and kiss and sigh among our artfully draped matching dropcloths.”

“Ah,” my husband replied pragmatically. “But then the bad guys would swoop in and shoot up our house, and you would die in my arms, and I’d be recruited by a government agency to track down the evil scum and avenge your death.”

“What?”

“Come on, whenever they show a couple painting a room, usually for a new baby, the wife always dies and the husband has to avenge her death. I’d probably hook up with some hot scientist or government agent though, so there would still be a happy ending. For me, at least.”

“Right… Hey,  you’ve splashed some paint on the cornices! And I can’t believe they’re playing freaking Nickelback again!”

OK – so maybe it’s a good thing that life isn’t like the movies. But a girl can dream. What part of life would you like to be more like in the movies?

Category: Deep Thinks  5 Comments  Tags: , , ,