Changes

I have yet to write about my monthly resolution for June. There is a good reason for this which demonstrates how effective said resolution has been. My small change for June has been to Just Get on and Do It. I have been getting on and doing it... at the expense of my blogging time.

My biggest Get On and Do It challenge has been to redecorate my hallway.

It is taking forever because I only get short bursts of time between school drop offs and pick ups and making tea and sorting out fights between the kids etc.. but slowly, the amount done is surpassing the amount left to do. The scales are tipping in favour of completion and it is looking really good.

I can't help wondering if my menopausal mentality has caused me to reject the blood red statement decor in favour of a subtle, understated neutral but it has given the house a complete facelift.

Goodbye blood red...

... hello neutral.

It may not have been the most efficient of makeovers but I am thoroughly enjoying it. I find painting with emulsion fantastically relaxing (de-stress by roller) and the focus and concentration required to apply the gloss evenly and cleanly takes me to an almost meditative state -  Zen and the Art of Decorating! I love the paint smell too - it calms me in the same way that the bleach smell from a good clean does.

I bought some picture frames today. Finally, after living here for more than seven years, I am going to get some favourite photos hung up. I could tie myself up in knots trying to choose what goes where but in the spirit of my June resolution, I'm going to Just Get On and Do It.

Soothing White

I can still remember the master bedroom of a house I moved into back in the late eighties. It had woodchip wallpaper painted dusty pink with a pale pink ceiling. I remember lying in bed looking up at that ceiling and wondering why anybody would want a ceiling any colour other than crisp, light reflecting white. I'm sure there will be many that disagree with this opinion and think I am missing out on a world of decorating possibilities by limiting my colour palette, but for me there is nothing to rival a clean, white ceiling (with the possible exception of the Sistine Chapel).

This weekend, my husband laid a new floor in my en-suite bathroom. We opted for wood effect vinyl which is a massive improvement on the existing carpet that had got soggy that many times it was starting to smell. In readiness for the new flooring, I glossed all the skirting boards and painted the ceiling. The ceiling had a few small cracks so I used a basecoat that promised to not just fill the cracks but prevent them ever returning. It did a really good job of providing a perfect finish to top coat. It is only a small room and it does get somewhat steamy in there so my final job before I let my husband loose on the project was to apply Brilliant White moisture and steam resistant bathroom paint. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to get this done so I entrusted my husband to buy the paint and finish off while I took the children shopping for new outfits for a forthcoming wedding.

My husband is colour blind.

I'm not sure colour blindness is really an excuse for what he did.

Instead of Brilliant White paint, he bought Soothing White. I'm not entirely sure why it was the 'soothing' white that found its way into his shopping basket rather than any of the other romantically named shades from the 'whites with a hint of ' range or an even bigger mystery, why he didn't just buy the bog standard (and cheaper) Brilliant White that I wanted. Nevertheless, that is what happened.

I would have imagined that as soon as he opened the tin he would have realised his mistake - or if not, then surely when he began rolling it onto the pure white base coat.

If he did notice the discrepancy between his white and my white, he chose to ignore it and painted the whole thing. He didn't actually paint it very well either.

When I came home from my shopping trip I was horrified by the transformation of my flawless white  ceiling into a patchy, tinted mess. I could have cried. 

I didn't cry. I fumed a little but I didn't cry. 

As luck would have it, Soothing White is the colour my daughter has chosen to paint the bathroom in her new house so I can give the nearly full tin of paint to her and feel that it wasn't a complete waste of money.

Today, I bought the Brilliant White moisture and steam resistant paint that I wanted from the start and the Gods were smiling because the Dulux variety was half price in my local Wilkinsons.

I repainted my ceiling.

With every roll of the roller, I felt my calm return. 

I did have a bit of an "oh ****" moment when I over extended to reach a corner and inadvertently allowed the paint tray I was holding to tip up. It made a quite lovely sound as the contents of the tray splopped to the floor. Thankfully, I had covered the new vinyl properly with dust sheets which protected it from my mishap completely.

I may need a second coat to obliterate every last trace of the Soothing White, which quite frankly, did not soothe me one tiny bit! Brilliant Whiteness will soon be restored to reflect light back onto my now smelly carpet-less bathroom.

Christmas Decoration?

Just before Christmas, my eldest daughter was handed the keys to the house she and her boyfriend have bought together.

Currently, they are living in a brand new, pristine two bedroomed flat so I was quite surprised that they opted to purchase an older property that was in need of some work to turn into a home. I absolutely love the house with its high ceilings and original features that add character. I am especially envious of the Minton tiled floor in their rather elegant hallway, which although in need of some restoration, is going to be absolutely beautiful.

So, this Christmas, as well as the usual entertaining - eating, drinking and being merry - I have been spending a lot of time helping my daughter get a good start on the decorating before they move in.

I really enjoy decorating and having owned six different houses over the years, I have become reasonably proficient at it.

Back in the nineties, I couldn't get enough of the home style programme Changing Rooms with the wonderfully flamboyant designer Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen. I think I stencilled and 'paint effected' every room to within an inch of its life. My favourite project was a dungeon inspired dining room. It was a painstaking process to create the trompe l'oeil stonework effect but it was a labour of love and I certainly did love that room. A little of it is visible in this photograph of a wedding anniversary dinner with my first husband which, if my memory serves me correctly, was a miserable affair!

The decorating style I have adopted now is much less ambitious but I do still enjoy picking out colours and love the painty smell of a freshly decorated room. Once my daughter has finished with me at her house, I will turn my attention to my own and give the rooms a much needed freshen up. This does of course rely on me having an ounce of energy left - otherwise I will be joining my two little ones on the sofa!