Painting-A Daring Adventure

One of the things that Dan and I have always agreed on, is that we like color in our house. This house has been our most daring adventure. When we bought it, it was covered in dark serious wallpapers. They were perfect for the family that lived here before us but just didn't fit us. For example, the hallway wallpaper was dark green, brown, and black. For real. The hallway, living room, and dining room are all done and a few months ago we started working on the kitchen.

I have to say that Dan didn't even flinch when I first mentioned I wanted the kitchen to be the colors of watermelon and cantaloupe. Maybe he was too busy cursing the wallpaper in the kitchen that had to be removed small piece by small piece. The wallpaper was finally all down and painting day was here. The painting began on the day after Thanksgiving. I really was excited to see that first stroke of pink go up. As soon as Dan started painting, I started having a panic attack. It was awful! Like someone had puked Pepto all over my wall.

I'm worrying and Dan keeps calmly painting. While he has no problem painting whatever color I want, he DOES have a problem changing gears. You wanted this color, you got it. As he is painting though, some of the paint is drying and getting darker. It doesn't look quite as bad. So, on Friday, the sections I had designated for watermelon, a.k.a Hibiscus Pink were done.

On Saturday, he began painting the orange, a.k.a. cantaloupe sections. That started out much better. I liked that color right from the get-go. By Saturday night though, my eyes were in shock. Who paints their kitchen bright orange and pink? Why did we get a semi-gloss? Why couldn't I have just picked white or something?

Entering my kitchen on Sunday morning, I had my first feeling of hope. It looked okay. Paint is the first layer of a room. Once things were back in place it was going to be fine. At Target I bought some new coffee mugs to celebrate. Later at an antique store I found two crewel works that I just loved for the kitchen.

Now it's Wednesday morning. I'm still putting stuff back in and cleaning. I like it even better. I actually feel a little proud of us that we tried this. Our kitchen holds artwork from my Mom, my children, and me. In its own way, it celebrates our family.