How I Spent My Spring Break

Knowing that I would have five days with no work and no kids (and no husband, for that matter), I have been dreaming about Spring Break for some time now. And all of the dreams have been painting dreams. I truly enjoy painting. It fills me with happiness and a sense of accomplishment. Yet, with kids and work and all of that, painting stays at the very bottom of the To Do list. This week, it was right at the tippy top!

So, here's how it went:

Alone and caffeinated, gleeful me headed to Home Depot to stock up. Color selection has been in the works for a very long time, but my final decisions were made two minutes before purchase. That may have been unwise, as you will see...

Room #1: The Living Room/Family Room (the place where we always are)
It has been a dingy sort of off-white since we moved in 2+ years ago:
Color #1: Sable Brown
This color should have been named "Fecal Brown". It reminded me of that scene in that movie about the Marquis de Sade where he goes insane after they take away all of his writing implements, and then he writes all over the walls with, um, whatever he can, um, produce, if you get my drift.
I let it dry, thinking it might look better. It didn't. So, I decided to go a different direction.
Color#2: Sea Fare
This ends up being kind of a long story, because I was looking for the perfect color that was a bluish-greenish-grayish blend. Chad is not a fan of turquoise (some Miami Dolphins/Miami retirement community issue, or something), and neither of us wants anything to do with pastel colors.
This one looked great in the can, but in the sunlight it was sky blue. Could I seriously be this unlucky with color???

I sort of liked the way it looked from the kitchen:
And it was certainly an improvement over Crap:

But the skyblueyness of it was undeniable, even after a good night's sleep:

It was then that I realized the problem. Thing is, we didn't really want a brown living room or a blue living room. What we wanted was a red living room, but were afraid of the overkill factor. I mean, c'mon, look at the couch. I decided to go for it anyway. Third time's a charm, right?

Color #3: Red (I forget the exact name, because I was delirious from paint fumes by this point.)
The only teeny, tiny glitch was that red is a beast of a color to paint with, especially if you already have brown paint on one and a half walls, blue paint on one and a half walls, and both brown and blue paint on half a wall. I'd advise against my unintentional multicolored-primer approach.

Two days, three gallons, a paint headache, and an aching hand later, the room was cherrylicious:
Yippee! LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Sleep was next, followed by another trip to Home Depot, and to the grocery store for coffee filters.

Room #2 (technically not a room): The Hall

The hall would probably win the dingy award for the whole house. It just looks white in this picture, but take my word for it:
Color#4 - Del Sol
Yellow and I aren't particularly drawn to one another, but Chad convinced me that I could live with it in the hallway. He was right. Rock on, mellow yellow!
It was so easy to work with, compared to the dastardly red, and I was starting to feel like the Karate Kid by this point – brush up, brush down, brush up, brush down– so this hall was really my happy place. Oh, and I can't believe I've failed to mention that all of my exploits were set to a fabulous soundtrack, courtesy of "Eighties on Eight" and "Seventies on Seven" satellite radio.

You may have noticed that the whole house is beginning to look like a pack of Life Savers. Check out the red/green/yellow vibe:
And the green/yellow/orange awesomeness:

With a few hours left before bedtime, I decided I could do a bit more.
Room #3: The Bathroom
Color #5: Inkberry
The purple we loved in our pre-green kitchen got moved:
I didn't manage to finish the bathroom (or get a decent picture), but I'll pick away at it. Purple always puts a smile on my face. And, what better room in which to smile than one that has a giant mirror?

I'm pretty proud of myself. And the paint headache is gone. Color me beautiful.