Saturday, January 29, 2005
My dining room now kicks ass!
Let's start from the begining. In 2002, John bought a house. The guy he brought it from, who John's dad describes as being "kinda frou," apparently loved flowered borders, because the house is covered with 'em. Strike one.
Strike two is the fact that John's mom, while being extremely cool and will most likely go down in the Mom-In-Law hall of fame, descibes herself as having "absolutely no taste in decorating.
Strike three is that John was really po' when he bought his house, that he had to borrow furniture from Baba, his grandmother. This really isn't a strike at all, because she has some really really really beautiful old furniture, and I am an antiques buff!
The problem was, that in a taupe room with a burgundy flowered border in the middle of the wall, was the dining room table, a beautiful burnt sienna (dark orange for those who grew up without crayola crayons) wooden table with black asian style chairs, and a green rug.
Needless to say, it was a bit of an eyesore. I mean, who could comfortably digest food, having to eat in there???
So.....
I sweet-talked John into letting me "redecorate," and that included painting. John told me he hates to paint. He had to paint when he was a little kid, and it was a chore rather than a fun thing. Having grown up with a contractor/weekend handyman dad and a neat freak mom, there was a lot of painting going on, but I was never allowed to help because I would make a mess. So I'm rebelling now and can't understand why anyone hates to paint, because it's fun to make messes! So I told John I'd take care of everything. Dad let me borrow some of his brushes and painting supplies, and John took me to Home Depot, where we found beautful white paint, some rollers, and I got some burnt sienna paint that was mixed by a lovely man who was very very nice and acted like he had tons of chicks like me coming up to him daily with first-time DIY projects.
I painted over the taupe and the burgundy borders with the white, and on the bottom border, I painted a stripe of burnt sienna. It was messy, and far from perfect, but I was really really really pleased with it. I switched the green rug with the white rug in the den (the den's main colors are black and green, so the white rug really didn't belong, and the plan was to switch them when the dining room was painted). Most of the stuff gives off an Asian vibe, but we also have a couple of paintings by our dear friend Angela of elves. Also we have a statue of Schmegal/Gollum as well as John's Lord of The Rings goblet collection, so the dining room now gives off an Asian and Elvish theme. It's really a lot brighter in there now, and the sienna stripe keeps the room from being too blah, and John said he loved it, and I was very proud. Next project is the kitchen. My inspiration: Paris. The walls will be Cinderella's Ball Gown Blue, with white cabinets and the majority of my french knick knack and bichon collection and wall hangings. Also will be some of John's female action figures- Princess Leia, Betty Page, etc. And of course, we have a lifesize poster of Chewbacca that will be displayed somewhere in the kitchen as well. FiFi loves that poster.
We made it back to my place before the really nasty weather started, and now we are watching a Type O Negative DVD as brownies bake. I've gotten John's permission to find the issue of Playgirl featuring the very very yummy Peter Steele. Also, John says that if he dies, I have his permission to marry Peter Steele. I have such a great fiancee.
Let's start from the begining. In 2002, John bought a house. The guy he brought it from, who John's dad describes as being "kinda frou," apparently loved flowered borders, because the house is covered with 'em. Strike one.
Strike two is the fact that John's mom, while being extremely cool and will most likely go down in the Mom-In-Law hall of fame, descibes herself as having "absolutely no taste in decorating.
Strike three is that John was really po' when he bought his house, that he had to borrow furniture from Baba, his grandmother. This really isn't a strike at all, because she has some really really really beautiful old furniture, and I am an antiques buff!
The problem was, that in a taupe room with a burgundy flowered border in the middle of the wall, was the dining room table, a beautiful burnt sienna (dark orange for those who grew up without crayola crayons) wooden table with black asian style chairs, and a green rug.
Needless to say, it was a bit of an eyesore. I mean, who could comfortably digest food, having to eat in there???
So.....
I sweet-talked John into letting me "redecorate," and that included painting. John told me he hates to paint. He had to paint when he was a little kid, and it was a chore rather than a fun thing. Having grown up with a contractor/weekend handyman dad and a neat freak mom, there was a lot of painting going on, but I was never allowed to help because I would make a mess. So I'm rebelling now and can't understand why anyone hates to paint, because it's fun to make messes! So I told John I'd take care of everything. Dad let me borrow some of his brushes and painting supplies, and John took me to Home Depot, where we found beautful white paint, some rollers, and I got some burnt sienna paint that was mixed by a lovely man who was very very nice and acted like he had tons of chicks like me coming up to him daily with first-time DIY projects.
I painted over the taupe and the burgundy borders with the white, and on the bottom border, I painted a stripe of burnt sienna. It was messy, and far from perfect, but I was really really really pleased with it. I switched the green rug with the white rug in the den (the den's main colors are black and green, so the white rug really didn't belong, and the plan was to switch them when the dining room was painted). Most of the stuff gives off an Asian vibe, but we also have a couple of paintings by our dear friend Angela of elves. Also we have a statue of Schmegal/Gollum as well as John's Lord of The Rings goblet collection, so the dining room now gives off an Asian and Elvish theme. It's really a lot brighter in there now, and the sienna stripe keeps the room from being too blah, and John said he loved it, and I was very proud. Next project is the kitchen. My inspiration: Paris. The walls will be Cinderella's Ball Gown Blue, with white cabinets and the majority of my french knick knack and bichon collection and wall hangings. Also will be some of John's female action figures- Princess Leia, Betty Page, etc. And of course, we have a lifesize poster of Chewbacca that will be displayed somewhere in the kitchen as well. FiFi loves that poster.
We made it back to my place before the really nasty weather started, and now we are watching a Type O Negative DVD as brownies bake. I've gotten John's permission to find the issue of Playgirl featuring the very very yummy Peter Steele. Also, John says that if he dies, I have his permission to marry Peter Steele. I have such a great fiancee.
