Baby, Change is Good!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

Baby, Change is Good!

I got a new look!

Hey, I get bored. I can't help it. I rearrange furniture, move drapes & lamps back & forth between rooms, change out rugs & throw pillows...cut, grow & color my hair & try new make-up, so it only seems right that I would freshen my blog's look too, since it's been around awhile now.

At least my husband & children won't stub their toes here. I'm sure they will, however, roll their eyes & not see the point in the change.

They never understand why I move the couch around the living room either. They don't understand why I want to paint the walls every few years. I explain, or at least I try to, that I'm bored. I need change. I feel invigorated when something is refreshed...it refreshes me.

They don't get it.

They look at me like a deer in headlights.

"If it makes you happy," my husband says. Underlining that sentiment is the unspoken, "But don't ask me to help."

Let me demonstrate...Here is the living room of our home as it was purchased. It's an odd color that changes color depending on the light. it might be blue. It might be gray. Here, it looks lavender. All are cold.

And here is our living room after my sister & I painted & the furniture is moved in & we live in it...pretty different vibe, right?

Yeah, I know red toile isn't for everyone...red ortoile is enough to put a lot of people off, but this is our home & we like it.

Except that I got bored, so I swapped the furniture with the family room. It never worked for me that we had the large furniture in the small room & the small furniture in the large room. (I've also never been a fan of the cherry coffee table that goes with absolutely nothing else we own.)

So then we end up with this...

Well, this is 'in the process of' that with which we eventually ended up.

And on the flip side of that, the family room went from this beige & bland (just pretend you don't see the clutter piled on the coffee table, ok?) dark, crowded, tiny room with oversized furniture to this...cheerful, sunny & something more appropriately scaled...

And while I acknowledge that it is quite the pain in the kiester, I think it is well worth the effort. The problem, (& isn't there always a problem?) is that I am bored again. And I already cut (donated all 8 1/2 inches) & colored my hair so now I'm thinking maybe I ought to paint the living room again...because I'm kinda bored with the red & I spend a lot of time in there. But...(isn't there always a 'but'?) I already tried to tackle this mess.

This is the upstairs hall bath, in the state it was in when we moved in, but for my children's toothbrushes & other toiletries.

I don't know what's the worst. Everywhere you look is an atrocity! So I started peeling paper...& hoped it wouldn't be too terrible as it was already lifting at every seam.

And hope was lost...Why, you may be asking. Look closely, my friends. Look closely. Do you see the squiggly lines? 

Oh, you want to know what they are? I can't say for sure...but I know what they were meant to do: Last forever is my best guess!!

Seriously, people, never ever ever never glue your wallpaper seams down with anything other than wallpaper paste.

And pleeeeease, prime your walls before applying wallpaper. I'm begging. Pretty-please with sugar on top? Because much as one might believe otherwise, stripping wallpaper isn't a lot of fun, but peeling the drywall...? That's a real m-effer.

Yeah, sorry I can't turn this the right way...

Oh, & you know what else? Don't put that rubber baseboard stuff around a tub. It is impossible to get the dirt & hair (yeah, eeew) out of the groove. Plus, it's cheap & ugly & didn't help with the water/mildew issue at all. So thanks for that.
Oh, yes, I have opened the proverbial can of worms... & I'm ready to get moving. 

I have the paint colors picked out. I have the shower curtain & trash can & all the accessories waiting. I purchased the new flooring... I just need the walls to be repaired so I can work on it. And I'd like to put them in before the girls outgrow pink & leopard...

And I'd like the kids out of my teeny, tiny little bathroom. You know the old wallpaper in there isn't in great shape either....