DIY 2009

First of all, wanted to say that I have been keeping my Lenten Gratitude Journal every day this month. Just been a little shy about posting any of the entries because my lists tend to be either sort of personal or sort of boring. You understand, I'm sure.

This week, for the first time since being laid off, I started to feel okay about life. I credit the glut of home projects for keeping me busy and productive for the past five or so days. Being productive is a key to my mental health. There's nothing that makes me feel more "blech" than feeling like I am not contributing anything to the world (either immediate or at large).

Its been almost a year since we moved into our condo. We haven't done much in the way of decorating at all since then, except hanging a few frames here and there. Dan and I agreed that we would not do anything major right away and let ourselves settle in and come up with ideas slowly so that we didn't rush into anything. We also needed to save up money to buy the next round of new furnishings and fund further decorating.

Well, the time has come to start some projects - with some money saved and plenty of time on my part to do much of it myself and bargain hunt for the best prices. There's a couple things completed or in the works so I'll do a post about each over the next few days.

First up, and so far my favorite, the new red accent wall in our kitchen! Every single wall in our home (really, all of them, even the bathrooms) is same color: Manchester Tan by Benjamin Moore. It's actually a great non-white neutral color for the main hallway and living areas but after almost a year I was feeling downright desperate to break free from the attack of BEIGE! and add a little color to our lives.

1) OLD WALL:

2) TAPED AND READY TO PAINT:

3) PRIMED (this was the day that I learned that gray primer is used under deep, bright colors - who knew?):

Then it was time for the moment of truth and I will admit that, when I opened the can of red paint to begin slapping it up on the wall, I initially panicked - big time. The color in the can looked very different than what I thought I was signing up for and I wasn't sure I could go through with it. I know it always looks different when it dries after a few coats, but I started to think that maybe I was making a huge mistake. After a deep breath and quick prayer, I decided to go for it. Worst case scenario, I'd have to repaint it later and I'd already done all the prep work so it was sort of too late to turn back anyway.

4) BEHOLD: RED WALL!

5) BETTER VIEW OF RED WALL:

Do you love it or do you LOVE IT? (or if you hate it, that's cool too) I love, love, love, love, loooove it. It is exactly what I wanted and the color matches my other red kitchen accents perfectly. I seriously could not have asked for it to turn out any better. And it feels even better because I was terrified as I began painting; was pretty much sweating and palpitating in terror every moment until it was fully dry and I could step back and fully appraise the situation. So its somehow more satisfying because I was so nervous about it.

Moral of the story: I am so glad I took a risk and picked a super-bold color (Mai Tai by Ralph Lauren) and just went for it. Could have been a disaster, but my gut instinct proved to be right. Which is a first for me when it comes to anything artsy or creative. I feel inspired!

Next up: new living room rug and chair (being delivery Tuesday), some backyard changes (Dan is outside with a saw and power drill right this moment) and a newly painted wall in the downstairs den (completed yesterday, pictures to come).