Sprucing Up

A Fresh Start 

On Friday night I was heading upstairs to go to bed at about 10:30.  As I was turning out the lights down stairs, my guest / main floor bathroom caught my eye.  The hunter green walls (leftover from the previous owner) and I had a stare down. I just stood there, contemplating the better, brighter colors that I could put in there to make it seem more like me.  And then I remembered that I had some leftover Dolphin Fin grey from my guest bedroom remodel last fall.  I looked at the clock. I looked back at the green. I looked back at the clock.  I looked back at the green. And then I took off light switch plates. I removed the shower curtain. I relocated soap dispensers and bathroom rugs. I got to work. I didn’t mess with taping it off.  That takes too much time and never really works for me. So I free handed it. I cut out the edges. I rolled the middle. I cut out the edges again.  I rolled the middle again. Fortunately, most of the wall space in that bathroom is either mirror or tile, but there were lots of little difficult spaces to make up for it (i.e. behind the toilet). Finally, around 2:30, I finished, took a step back, and I silently celebrated my victory over the boyish hunter green with a soft, neutral gray. 

 Before

 After 

I know, I need something to hang on my wall. I'm contemplating my options.

Here is a shot of the rest of my bathroom.  Not much paint on that side of the bathroom, but now you get the full picture.

Sometimes, even in the middle of the night, you reach a breaking point and just can’t take it any more. I fought the green and the grey won.

I normally despise bathroom mirror pictures, but the majority of this post is about a bathroom so I took one anyways. This is just proof that I am a messy painter. And that my hair is not going grey. It's just paint. Promise.

My Own Little Corner of the World

I’m a little behind on the whole plant flowers, update your outdoor space, get ready for spring thing. Remember, I was scared of my patio for a while after my crash with the concrete. Last summer, I did a patio remodel, though, so I have been excited all winter long about getting my patio back to that. Last spring I painted the concrete a refreshingly bright, neutral concrete color. Because I didn’t sweep it all winter long and just let leaves sit on it, plus the fact that the entire thing is shaded, the concrete is now a nice shade of greenish grey.  Ew. One of my friends saw a picture and said “Oh, I like the green concrete. That’s cute!” Yeah, sure. Let’s pretend that was intentional…

Anyways, I planted my flowers and pulled my weeds and even planted two little cherry tomato plants, courtesy of my boss’s garden leftovers. Despite the green concrete, I love it back there. I love to sit on the glider and read. I love to eat dinner out there after work since I finally have sunlight hours to enjoy again! Last week I even dozed off on the glider. It probably isn’t the best idea for me to fall asleep in random places like that due to my history, but it happened. And I liked it.

Speaking of garden plants, my parent’s have a real garden again this year (because my sister and I begged them to). So guess what I get to do when I go home to visit? Hoe.

At least this weekend I will get to go home and enjoy some of the veggies.  Our squash and zucchini are in! 

Remember how I mentioned eating fresh blackberries in my last post? Recently I was explaining to a coworker that I had gone home and was "so excited because our blackberries are in".  To which she replied, "Blackberries? Really? I thought you were an iPhone girl."  Welcome to 2012, Emily. Next time I discuss blackberries, or apples for that matter, I should clarify whether I am referring to a fruit or an electronic. Here's a hint, though. I'm usually talking about the fruit.