Tuesday, July 04, 2017

No "Greige" Here, Thank You Very Much

In the two weeks since my last post a carload of stuff - clothing, dishes, books, household decor, paintings, has been either been placed on the freecycling table downstairs or carted off to the Sally Ann. The china hutch, dining room table and chairs, sofa and book table have gone to new homes, either to a friend or to a Syrian refugee family.  

Ian came over on Friday and Saturday, despite not feeling very well, and gave us an enormous amount of help. We went sofa shopping on Friday. On Saturday we boxed up several large boxes of books and small paintings, everything off the kitchen counter, and cleared out the pantry so it could be moved. Ian finished a glass-fronted sideboard I’d bought months ago, installing the shelf and hanging the doors. 

The sideboard is teal in colour, and I’m building my colour scheme on it because I already have most of the elements I need. The new sofa is light grey, the walls are white with a pinkish undertone to warm it up. One wall is painted pale aqua. I'm planning on buying red chairs. A pillow or two or a throw in the right colour(s) should pull it all together. Here’s a picture I pulled from Pinterest with my accent colours. Obviously I’m not going for this eye-popper, but I’ll use these saturated colours in small doses as accents against the greys and whites "bones". I'm not one of the "greige" school of decorators. 
  
Our friend Mohammed recommended a painter, Kamir, and we hired him. Kamir and his helper Sayid finished painting the place a couple of hours ago. Painting took them two days, and the difference in the rooms between dark walls and light is astounding! It almost feels as if we’re floating! 

The cats spent yesterday freaking out because of the noise and mess; clanking ladders, the snapping of plastic drop cloths, and a very nifty but noisy machine which simultaneous dispensed and taped a 25 cm (10”) wide strip of brown paper to the top of the baseboards. Smokey settled down after a couple of hours but Hobbes spent the entire day screaming murder and running from place to place to hide. Smokey tried to comfort him, and had some success, but we couldn’t get near him. It took a couple of hours after the painters left for the day yesterday for Hobbes to quit hyperventilating and slinking around like a furry snake. They were a little more laid back about the whole thing today. Hobbes took up a hermitage under my rocker, Smokey spent the day sleeping next to me on the floor. 

Now we are left with stacks of boxes and undifferentiated piles of household rubble on the kitchen floor. It’s staying there for now. I am too tired to spit. I mean it, I just tried. It went nowhere. 

I still have to buy shelving for the living room, new chairs, ottomans and a few odds and sods. The new beds and mattresses are bought and are to be delivered, hopefully they arrive before our guests or we bunk on the floor, which is not as much fun at 71 as it was when I was five!   

Despite the very hard work it will be worth it when the place is finished. Or so I keep telling myself.  Please someone tell me that your decorating re-dos turned out well and you didn't just want to commit arson afterwards. 

Film at 11:00 (of July) or maybe a picture or two. We’ll see, the camera’s been acting up recently. 


4 comments:

SMM said...

You seem almost to the finish line. Keep the momentum and then enjoy the new surroundings.


I may not be redo-ing the appearance of my studio but passing on some art supplies ( read boxes and boxes and boxes) and sorting what remains has been a chore. My goodness this space has a floor. No more tripping. It has been great. I keep at it and one day very soon I will sit down and create and love that I made space to exspress myself.

I do look forward to seeing photos of your space remade.

Deb said...

Dear SMM,
At this point the finish line appears as a distant speck on a far horizon. But I'm still aglow from the lovely colours of the paint. Cannot *wait* to have everything in place. And we'll have a guest room, hint, hint, for when you make trips to the OC.

I'm glad to hear you're still working at clearing out your studio. Some people find chaos inspirational, but I find it distracting and off-putting. I hope you get back to painting, you're so talented. :)

A wave from the OC

Linda P. said...

I'm just catching up to posts I've missed this last few months. I did have a remodel that worked out well, and I hope you end up loving the results of your remodel/redecorating plan as much as we did that one. I imagine that you're visiting with your son now or have just finished that three-week visit. How wonderful it must have been to have him under your roof. I'm so glad, too, to read that you were able to secure the medications you need from a new manufacturer. How scary that must have been!

oklhdan said...

Deb we have had our share of disasters in the remodel/redecorating arena but I must say over the years we have found some really good subcontractors. I recommend that when you find someone good make sure you keep their contact information. I think if we have anymore done in our house we will know who to get to do the work. Good Luck!