The next big -thing- ...

So today RJ and I splurged in a big way and bought almost $500 worth of paint and painting supplies. The paint is mostly Ralph Lauren and it's supposed to be quite the challenge to work with ... but hey we figure ... having NEVER painted a single room we have lived in ... why start small right?? ~laughing~

I was telling RJ last week while we were at work that I have never painted a single room that I've lived in my entire life. We moved a bit growing up but I was never allowed to pick the colors of my room and even as an adult, I have never moved into a residence and painted a room the way I really wanted it to be. My sister, Jennifer is a champ at this. She paints immediately when she moves in or gets an idea and I've always admired her courageous spirit. Maybe I'm just lazy and it always seemed to be so much work ... or many it's just that I always simply accepted what was there and worked around it. Last week I finally told Rich that I was sick of always having white walls and of never putting my real -mark- on our home. So ... we started planning ...

We have lived in this house for three years ... when we first moved in it seemed plenty big. Of course now, it feels way too small. We only have two bedrooms in this house and it's laid out in a pretty strange way. I won't get into all the deficits ... there are things I love about this house. We rent it because it's on the grounds where we work, but we have always been free to decorate it however we wished ... we just haven't done much beyond hang pictures and get furniture. Anyways ... we have used the second bedroom as a -guest room- for three years. Only we've had guests to spend the night a mere twice since we moved in. Once my sister and once my parents. Otherwise, the room acts as a command center for our going back and forth to work baggage. We just come home from a week at work and dump everything in there and live out of our suitcases in that room. The second room is the ONLY room in the house that our 5 furry babies have NO access to.

Now for those of you who don't live in a home managed by cats ... you can't really understand what I am getting at here. Our cats live here more than we do and frankly ... they let us know frequently that they are being highly generous by letting us stay here part of the time. Nothing is sacred to them and no surface is safe. I can't have any live plants in the house because they will eat them in a most disturbingly short time period. I can't leave unfinished things lying around because as they chase each other around the house, any surface is fair game and anything sitting out may well be an obstacle that gets clipped by a flying paw or tail with no looking back. We always come home from work to stuff being on the floor and I basically have to put away or put up very securely anything that I really must save from the potential destruction that is our wild kingdom. The cats are also kinda spiteful and they get annoyed when we aren't home enough so some damage is strictly to announce their general or specific displeasure with us. At any rate ... I can't leave stuff out that is valuable and I can't leave any projects ... -in process- so to speak because they have this uncanny way of sensing what is important and well ... standing there looking at you while they inch it off a table one nudge at a time, their definant gaze never leaving your face.

Soooo ... long story shortened a bit ... I want a study. I want a place to paint and write and read that isn't in the grand safari traffic pattern. I have very expensive painting materials that I must pack up and un pack every time I use them and that makes for a less than inspirational environment believe me. I already have to spend time mixing my ink and getting into the right mood but who wants to unpack everything from being fully put away before even starting on a project? And of course my babies feel that they need creative outlets too or simply MUST taste the colors on my palette so ... I can never really paint in peace elsewhere in our house. Mostly I hike it all to work and try to creat there. Rich and I agreed that after three years of no real company ... keeping a feline free bedroom just isn't a high priority for us. We want that space. I NEED that space ... and I need it cat free! ~grins~

After some debate and misgivings because I've never really designed or decorated a room just for me or rather for US ... that will have a specific purpose ... we have made the big decisions. Our king sized bed is so old it pathetic but we've hesitated to part with it because of course, it's big enough to share with all our furry babies. It's going. We are moving the kingsized bed to the curb, moving the brand new queen sized bed into our room ... gutting the small second bedroom and making an Asian themed study/ reading room/ art room. And I'm thrilled. We are painting that room red with black trim and I'm going to put tatami mat on the floor, a bonsai (Japanese cherry blossom), some Japanese art that I have, a low table for painting, a chair and good lighting for reading ... and bookshelves in there. I can't wait!

Since we are in for a penny now with one paint job on our plate ... we figured ... hey let's just dive in ... so we are painting our bedroom also ... it will be a light purple with a suede finish and dark trim. Likewise, we are going to paint the dinning room a bamboo green with dark trim also with a suede finish and our family room is going to be dark blue accent walls with opposing white walls for the Navy theme that we already have going there. It's going to be a huge undertaking but ... I figure ...we may as well go ahead and make it what we want it to be. We don't plan on moving soon and I think our home needs to be more -ours- and less like a motel we come and stay at every other week.

Today we bought all the paints, tons of storage bins for our junk that is now going to have to be carefully sorted, discarded, or stored in the attic as we are going to be losing our junk room now. There is a lot to be done ... but I am pleased that I am finally stepping out to put my mark on a space ... and I'm praying that it doesn't look hideous when I am done. If it does ... thankfully RJ isn't a complainer and he has been very supportive so ... we'll figure out a way to fix it!

Wish us luck!