Back to Normal

Things are getting back to normal here at the little gray house.

There was a slight altercation today in the driveway and I decided to paint the living room before Thanksgiving, both indicators that life is returning to normal. Of course, these two events had nothing to do with each other.

It's been just over a year since I last painted the living room, so it's high time. I do love the rich, deep color of chocolate almond that you helped me choose last October. I loved it more when we had off-white furniture and tan carpet. But last December, when we mistakenly brought Hazel into our lives...she ate the couch and ruined the carpet. Since then, we've burned the couch and pulled up the carpet. Instead of replacing the carpet, we painted the subfloor the same chocolate almond color as the walls. After burning the couch, we were given a pair of black leather couches.

So, I'm not loving dark brown walls, dark brown floor, and black furniture. It feels all wrong. For me. For us.

Jon announced today that we needed to paint the room yellow. Right now.

But I finally, finally bought curtains for the room from Ikea and I love them. And I paid a lot for them and yellow simply would not go with them.

So, I am off on a mission to find the perfect lighter, brighter color that will coordinate with the curtains, purchase it, and paint this room before Thanksgiving.

We've done this before, this mad dash of inspiration/motivation just before a gathering. Like the day I decided to paint the living room the day of small group. Selected, purchased, and painted (with three small children). I was cleaning out the brushes when the first of about 30 people showed up that night.

Then there was the year that we painted our kitchen subfloor the Sunday before a big Thanksgiving gathering at our house. The paint was floor paint and took four days to dry. We were actually supposed to give it five days to dry, but I have no patience with those matters. We couldn't even get into the kitchen those four days. The refrigerator was moved into our entryway. Imagine getting ready for a party that way. It was a joy.

So, this project should be no big deal. Right?