Getting Closer To Painting Time

After talking to several friends about my paint choices for the interior of my house, all shared that I really needed to have paint samples and try them out on the wall.  The light and shadow of house can really alter the color of a paint.  One friend said that when she was trying out an eggshell white on her walls, the color came across as pink.  She said that she knew pretty fast that it was not the right color for her house.  So tonight after work I went to Home Depot to pick up samples.  My camera is really distorting the color a bit.  But I am going to put them up on the wall and live with it for a week and see what happens.  I am also going to put up a new chandelier and have it narrowed down to two or three.  I am figuring that I have to remove the current fixture and paint all the way to the box anyway, so I might as well get it all done at once.

While I was waiting for the nice man in the paint department to mix my samples I was thinking about my kitchen and living room.  I plan on painting the living room a more light yellow color.  I have two arched doorways from the living room.  One leads to the kitchen and the other to the hall to the bedrooms.  The arches were one of the things I fell in love with.  I was thinking that it would be really nice to free hand some sort of scrolling pattern on the inside of the arch.  But I am too chicken to do that.  That was when I looked over and saw that Martha Stewart (I heart Martha) has stencils in exactly what I pictured in my mind's eye.  I think I am going to do this between the kitchen and living room as a cool feature.  

It was so funny because while I was in Home Depot I ran into the nice lady that sold me my house.  She is a delightful person and we said that we are going to have to meet for lunch soon.  I told her how much I love my house.  It was funny because as I was going into the store I was thinking that I would have to call her soon, because I am thinking about installing a small island in my kitchen and was wondering where she got the crystal granite counter tops for my kitchen.  She gave me the name of the company in San Jose and said it was the only place she and her husband do business with.  She also gave me the name of the actual pattern.  It is so pretty.  I started to tell her how much I love the old single panel interior doors in my house.  She said that she was in love with them, too, and had to save them because the original plan was to demolish them. They have so much character.  (My house was built in 1964)  She said that she had been looking for the old crystal knobs for them, but was having trouble sourcing what she needed so she put in antiqued doorknobs. I have often thought the old crystal knobs would look perfect so I will have to keep my eye out in the thrift stores.

We had a nice visit and she thought the golds I was picking out would look beautiful in my kitchen.  She and her husband flip houses but do it very tastefully.  My friend who is an engineer checked out the structure of the house before I bought it and said that he could not believe how many nice touches they put into the house.  He said that most flips are done as cheaply as possible, but mine had really nice custom windows, elegant granite, self closing drawers in the kitchen, custom cabinets and nice appliances.  He was impressed with the higher quality of materials and touches.  

Now I have to share a story with you that I am a total dork.  When I got home from Home Depot at about 6:30 it was already dark.  As I got out of my car I looked up because there was a large silvery white disk in the sky, and it was just staying in one place and there were lights flashing on it.  I caught my breathe wondering if anyone else was seeing it.  It seemed really large and very close.  I just stood there watching it.  All of the sudden I remembered that the AT&T golf tournament started at Pebble Beach yesterday and there is always a blimp every year for overhead shots of the tournament.  It was hovering in the direction of Monterey Airport, probably waiting to land.  This was not one of my bri+ghter moments.  LOL  

So now I am getting closer and closer to my vacation.  It will be really fun to do the work on my house at my own pace.  I am also planning on going to HomeGoods in Gilroy to pick up some pretties for the house. I think it will be a great birthday present to myself to have my home be in a really great state when I go back to work.  It will be my perfect sanctuary to return to after work.