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Happy Sunday everyone! I don't know about all of you but I am ready to rest today! A week ago I bought my husband a 50" TV as a gift for his retirement. He retired in June after 40 - yes 40 years of teaching middle school. The man deserved a gift. And what better gift for a man than a big screen TV? Here lies the problem with the new TV and the reason I am so exhausted. We brought the TV home a week ago, but where would we put it? Our old TV was a 29 inch. It lived within a wooden entertainment center with doors. The 50" needed a home to equal it's impressive size! We found a perfect cabinet at IKEA. Hubby and our son got it all together within a couple of hours because, well you know why, it was a big screen TV and they are men. That poor cabinet looked so lonely.
We returned to IKEA the following day to purchase matching book cases for either side of the TV case. You realize, of course, that IKEA sells unassembled furniture. My dear husband had gratefully put the TV cabinet together. He was even quite cheerful as he assembled the new book units. They look just beautiful together. They're a creamy white. We've been making a transition from oak to off white pieces. I was thrilled with our new furniture as they sat looking so lovely against the old paint.
Now, surely you understand the natural evolution of my situation. New furniture, old paint. New furniture, old paint. My dear old sweetheart agreed to paint so our family room would be fresh and new. He even went with me to look for the paint. Ummm...I'm feeling --- raspberry! You know, Lowes has all kinds of lovely new paint ideas. I quickly found a faux granite look I thought would hide all the imperfections in our nearly 37 year our old painted paneling. Little packets of sparkles were even available to add to the textured paint. Sparkles! With my sweetheart still in TV Heaven, we bought it all. The special paint brushes, special rollers, a gallon of faux raspberry granite paint, with sparkles! $86.00 for one gallon of paint and the means to get it on the wall. After the hideous job of prepping the room to paint, Sweetheart globs it on the wall. Globs. Globs everywhere. The wall looked like strawberries had rolled around in sand, then they'd been blessed by fairies with pixie dust and thrown onto our family room wall. I denied it fervently as Hubby grumbled and mumbled about the biggest mess he'd ever seen, but I must tell you - it was the biggest mess I'd ever seen.
Whew! How fortunate that we had brought other paint samples home with us. We picked another shade of raspberry out of the samples and poor sweet Hubby went back to the store to make another purchase. Dear as he is, my man started putting the paint on the walls immediately - well, after he scraped the sandy, pixie dust laden strawberries off the wall. Ahh, it was only midnight and the room was finally finished with the second paint choice...the walls looked so good!
Have you ever noticed how different color looks at night than it does in the daylight? In a darkened room shades of raspberry can look rich and luxurious. In the daylight it can look garish and hot pink.
Did I mention how smart we were to bring home several paint samples from Lowes? The next day Hubby, not quite as cheerfully, made another trek to Lowes. He was home again shortly with a third shade of raspberry. My sense of style and decorating couldn't be so far off, could it? Raspberry just felt so right! I couldn't watch as my strangely quiet sweetheart painted one more time. He had either found a happy place or he was near a psychotic break. Wisely, I found work to do at the opposite end of the house. When I knew the first wall had had time to dry I ventured out into the family room. I didn't know which I should fear more - raspberry walls or a fuming man with hot pink fingernails!
Oh joy! The newest, deep shade of warm raspberry on my family room walls is perfection! Confidence in my sense of style has been restored! Pictures will be posted Friday for Show & Tell...
But you know how you feel when you get some new pieces of furniture and you get a new color on your walls? It all looks so fresh and new, and then you see how old your sofa and chairs look. It's so nice how now that Hubby is retired we can shop in the daytime during the week!
Our new sofa and two easy chairs will be delivered in about 6 weeks.
Sep 26, 2008
The Old, the New, and the Faux
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9 comments:
GLORY---that's quite a retirement gift---well actually all that it led to---pretty funny from my end of not having to go through it all. Years ago I painted a living room yellow and even during the day each of the four walls looked a different color because of how the light hit it. Picking colors is so hard---because each home's lighting, natural or otherwise is going to affect it so much. When we built our home I prayed the most over paint colors. Thankfully all of them came out. I have soft colors now but I have been craving a red room. But I don't think I will ever go there. I've had several friends who have tried red and it NEVER worked for any of them. ENJOY!!!! By the way, "well done" to your husband. 40 years in a middle school setting--WOW!
Your raspberry wall sounds fabulous! How pretty and oh how I can relate to your experience! At least you did all three coats of paint at once. I tend to change the colors every two or three years for one reason or another. We've lived in this house for six years and painted the living room twice and half of the bedroom twice--the top is one color and the bottom another color with a chair rail dividing them. In addition, Hubby knocked out the wall between two bedrooms to make it one room for me to have a studio/office so that meant one half of this now bigger room was being painted for the third time and the other half for the second time. The only rooms we have never touched since we moved in is the kitchen and dining room but it's coming. I often do the painting myself because Hubby doesn't like to paint as often as I do, and I really don't mind. I look forward to seeing your raspberry room on Friday. I suspect the white shelves against the raspberry walls are quite stunning!
Sounds like you two are having fun! Is your hubby rethinking retirement at this point??LOL. I can't wait to see the final results it sounds beautiful and new furniture to go along with the new color, lucky girl!
Hugs~Kelly
I should have been warned before I started reading...almost had a run and dash if you know what I mean!!
Hilarious. I can just can see hubby mumbling under his breath...something about there was nothing wrong with the walls in the first place...etc, etc.
Can't wait to see it!
Oh my, your post made me laugh. It should not be so difficult to choose a paint color, but with all the choices, it is hard. And it's so true that one small project always leads to more...and more things we see that we want to redo. I will look forward to seeing pictures of your room. I'm sure it looks very pretty with the white furniture and raspberry walls.
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and leaving such a kind comment. I hope you have a blessed week.
Wanita
Oh Yeah, your husband deserves more than a gift, he deserves a golden crown... Middle Schoolers are the hardest kids to teach!! I know I worked in 2 middle schools, Happy Retirement!!
Hilarious! I think hubby will not be bored during his retirement years. It looks like you will keep him occupied. I'll check back to see photos of the raspberry wall.
Your husband sounds like a dream! My walls are a safe shade for a reason. No way would my dear make three trips to Lowe's--never mind paint the livingroom any shade of pink. It all sounds lovely. Any man who could teach middle school for 40 years must have the patience of Job! I hope he enjoys his retirement and 50" television as much as you enjoy the new setting. Blessings to you both! ~Kathy
LOL! How funny! and so typical! It is only fair that you see a new room if he gets a new TV! You really made him work for that retirement "gift", didn't you?!!!
We play that same game here, too..."One thing leads to another, leads to another and another..."!
He sounds like a sweetie...my Prince would have done the same thing for me, aren't we blessed!
Red and pink are tricky colors to select...a couple of things to keep in mind should you try this in another room....pick a rich, deep shade; put 3 to 5 coats on large pieces of project foam core boards and live with them in the room for a few days, moving them around and viewing them in different lighting. When you make your selection, plan on putting at least 3 coats if not 4 to 5 on the walls...this is a bit more work and a little more paint but SO well worth it!
Thank you for your sweet comment!
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