Ok, that's not the truth. Truth is, it started a long time ago. When we first bought a house and I knew it needed to be painted something other than the renter's white which currently coated the walls. We made the mistake, however, of moving in before we painted. And then, well, it just became work to think of moving furniture to paint. Not to mention I had no idea what color I wanted or even how to paint a room.
I felt as though a light blue would brighten the space, but no one paints their living space blue. That hue is reserved for bedrooms and bathrooms, or maybe your little boy's room (like ours currently is), but certainly not the living room. Living rooms are varying shades of brown or sage green, and, for the trendy, gray. I thought, then, that gray would work for us. But my heart wasn't in it and we went five years with nothing. Nothing but indecision.
And then my back started hurting, and I knew we needed a way to fit a more supportive seating option into our living room, like that Guatemalan rocking chair in our bedroom that we never sit in. To do this, we would need to re-arrange things. And if we were going to be moving the furniture anyway, we might as well paint the entertainment center white (another item long on the to-do list) while we were at it. And since we were painting that and moving all the other things about, we might as well paint the walls (because a white entertainment center can't sit against a cream-colored wall).
And the next day, I noticed on Better Homes and Gardens a photo of a blue living room. It felt like permission. And that was all I needed. So, since we were finally going to be painting the walls, we were going to paint them blue. And we were finally going to make this the living space I've desired.
For five years.
For a little perspective, these are vague views of the living room before (since I always get in a hurry and forget "before" photos, these pictures of us dancing back in May will just have to do).
This was "during" - we spent a lot of time outside and watching movies in Mommy and Daddy's room, as there was no space in the living room for about a week.
Two weeks after we took the first bite (pictured above), the walls are still a work in progress (painting one wall every two days, during nap-time and after the kids are in bed makes for a slow process), but it's all coming together. Five years of dreaming coming into fruition. What a joy!
This is how things look now. Of course, there's still more to add to the wall over the sofa and possibly a rug someday, but I'm kind of happy. (Also, I artfully left out the parts that are unfinished - to be done in the next week or so, let's hope.)
(And that white dresser in the corner next to the sofa, now holding video games and VHS and blankets to keep us warm? That's this dresser below that I got for $10 at a garage sale. Love great finds.)
1,000 Gifts:
831. A lunch time guest
832. My big brother turning 30. When did we get this old?
833. Her, with a giant slice of watermelon, pink running sticky sweet down her chin
834. A little boy running to the potty
835. Another little boy on the verge of crawling
836. Tomato, sliced bright red, fresh from Gram's garden
837. Smiles in the dark
838. Her curly hair, damp with sweat, in my face as she whispers, "I forgive you." - Mommies need to hear it, too.
Whole 30 -
Day 27 -
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Banana
Lunch: Watermelon (I should have eaten more, but the afternoon got away from me)
Dinner: Chicken Fajita Salad
Day 28 -
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Fresh-Squeezed Orange Juice
Lunch: Leftover Mexi Salad
Dinner: Shashlik, Green Bean Bacon Bundles, Sliced Tomato
Worst Part of these Days: Not eating enough for lunch on Monday. My body needs its protein. Yet, somehow it survived without making me double over in discomfort.
Best Part of these Days: Feeling like I can finally veer from the meal plan - having the knowledge of what to eat enough to throw things together last minute and still have them fit the "program." We're learning.
I really like the color! It isn't a "smack you in the face" sort of blue and seems like a really cozy color for a living space. Happy. :)
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