Last Friday morning, when I woke up, I was the proud and perfectly contented owner of a green dining room.
Sure, the paint job was at least ten years old and for the past few months, I've been considering change. But mulling my options had not led to any great epiphanies or game-changing ideas for that space.
Not yet, anyway.
Because sometime during that fateful day, a brilliant, inspired and, dare I say it, genius idea took hold of me and shook me till my teeth rattled.
The green must be transformed to white and covered in a grid of gold isosceles triangles, a la the amazing Mandi of Vintage Revivals. Not only do the gilded peaks give a shout out to geometry, one of my current favorite decor themes as well as a classic favorite of this math teacher, but the bright basic white satisfies my craving for brilliant natural light. A half-gallon of leftover Bleached Linen has been kicking around my bathrooom, waiting for a new home, and Mandi's bold DIY, which clearly spelled out all the how-tos, was already loaded on my phone.
This is how great ideas feel. So elegantly obvious, so within arm's reach.
By Friday night, I was so excited I could barely fall asleep. Just you wait, I told myself, the day after Christmas, you can grab the closest paint roller and have at it. But to take this project on before the holiday would be madness.
Mmhmm. This is how good intentions sound. So perfectly practical and rationally reasonable.
I was innocent enough to be fooled by those thoughts just long enough to fall asleep. But when I opened my eyes on Saturday morning, the truth flashed through my brain in an instant. My Christmas dinner MUST be eaten in a white room with golden triangles. MUST. Anything less would be a major disappointment and an insult to Baby Jesus.
{Just kidding. Jesus loves me all the same, no matter what color my walls.}
But I knew what I had to do.
I threw out my entire agenda for the day, which involved lengthy and deserving Yuletide chores such as addressing the Christmas cards, learning to use a wood burner and then making three dozen homemade ornaments, and rearranging the living room to make room for the Christmas tree, due to arrive on Sunday.
Instead, I dragged my eight dining chairs into the living room, dumped the contents of my dining room cupboards onto the table, and moved all the furniture to the middle of the room.
Then I hauled out the drop cloths, painter's tape and rollers, and went to work.
No second thoughts.
No looking back.
No regrets.
Sixty hours later, I'm still working. Those bloody triangles take a lot of measuring and re-measuring to come out perfect but they are worth the effort.
See these pictures? This is how great ideas look. And in nine days, when my family gathers in this room to enjoy a holiday feast, surrounded by these glowing walls and metallic lines, I will be very happy indeed that I took this project on.
Not when the timing was convenient.
Not when I had carefully slotted it onto my to-do list.
No day but today.
P.S. For some reason, I love that this video has Spanish subtitles. The added layer of confusing detail feels just like my house looks right now.
* * * * *
Read more about my getting-ready-for-Christmas adventures:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please comment...I'd love to hear from you!