I have been dithering – no other word for
it – over colours and styles. When we had our offer accepted on the house, I
was all set to go modern. The colours from nature that look so good in other
people’s houses – the pale greys, the taupes, the olives, the blues and khakis
... After much dithering, I realised that I just cannot do it. Those colours
are not me. I like to see them in others’ houses but they just aren’t to my taste.
They look really smart, but to me they don’t look warm and inviting. I know
they could look stunning with our furniture – black button-backed leather lounge
suite and wooden china cabinets, balloon backed dining chairs and long oval
table, but I realise I am not after stunning, I am not after a fashionable look.
So an about turn, a winding. It’s back to lightness, to warmth and softness for
this house. David is VERY relieved.
My sister Dee has been very helpful in this
time of dithering, and conversations with her helped me clarify my discomfort,
and when Wendy and Kevin were here for dinner on Monday, Wendy picked a paper that
Dee and I had listed as a possible for the lounge dining room from the book,
and that was the decision, as quick as that in the final analysis, but it had
taken me ages to get to that point… Doh!
By contrast, the decision about the feature
wall (OK, there is a modern touch)
for the bedroom was made about two days after we had our offer accepted on the
house – Joe and I popped in to Guthrie Bowron’s in Porirua and there it was. I
fell in love with it instantly. Material for blinds was chosen on a trip to
Palmerston North with Dee – and that was a quick decision too. On Monday we
discussed paint or paper for the remaining walls, and settled on paint – we had
found one that was the exact colour to go with the wallpaper and I’ve got
stripes of it from the testpot on the wall in the kitchen. And it’s far cheaper
than paper and possibly quicker – it’ll need 3 coats – a sealer over the
wallpaper and then two topcoats. But I don’t have to take off the paper, and
that will be a b*gger of a job* on the end wall that is having the new lovely
beautiful fabulous paper. (* Note at 7pm – my prediction was right!)
And the kitchen was another room I was
going to go modern in – the old benchtop is a cornflower blue. I know that that
looks stunning with milky coffee/taupe/mushroomy colours. But could I bring
myself to choose any of them? Not on your life. So we decided to get the
kitchen rejuvenated - the guy is coming tomorrow to measure and quote for new a
benchtop and replacement doors and handles. The kitchen is a good ergonomic shape
and very easy to work in. It’s got lots of cupboards, a number of which have
nothing in them at this point. So no need
to strip the whole thing out and start from scratch, and the rejuvenation
option is cheaper. The cupboard doors I have selected are faux t&g in white
(traditional look), I am tossing up between a wooden benchtop (the one on the
boat is lovely, hardwearing and easy to keep) or granite (I love the look, but
it could be a bit unforgiving on glasses and plates, although excellent for
pastry). It may come down to cost … The paint is most likely going to be the
same as we had at Cherswud, a lovely creamy yellow.
So, where to start? I decided to do the
bedroom first. So on Tuesday I washed down the walls, doors (5 including 4
wardrobe ones) and windowsills and frames.
 |
| The mattress is on the floor in the sunroom for a few days until the bedroom is finished and the paint aroma is gone. |
 |
| All furniture is on the bed base apart from the treadle sewing machine. Only one strip of wallpaper has been removed. |
And yesterday morning, after we moved the mattress and bedding out, I went and spent heaps
buying enough ceiling paint for the rest of the house, painting equipment (cannot
think where to start looking in the boxes stacked in the garage and lost the
will to live in contemplating doing so). The ceiling has had two coats and
needs another. David did the first one and cursed and groaned all the way
through as it was so hard for him to see where he had done/not done. He managed
to miss bits and I managed not to be able to identify them either. So I did the
next coat, and managed to miss bits too. So I will put the third coat on this
morning. When I have straightened out the kinks in my neck, I’ll score the
wallpaper on the prospective feature wall and get that off. If I have any
energy left, or any strength in my right arm, I may paint the skirting board,
architraves, sills and doors, or part thereof.
OK, up and at’em, Atom Ant. It’s 8am and
time to get started. I’ll make fruit salad for our brekkie first and then I’ll
get on to the painting.
At 7pm: I did the final ceiling paint [as David was on hold for over an hour with Vodafone trying (for
about the 6th time since just before we moved into the house) to
sort out stuff about getting the cable installed and our desired line speed for
the internet. This is a saga that has had him on hold for 20 times longer than
any actual conversations he’s managed to have with the call centre people. We
are trying to replicate the system and service we had at Cherswud – currently,
as a stopgap, we have ADSL which was fine while all workers were on holiday,
but now it’s like a 3rd world service which is slower than dialup - aaarrrggghhh!!!
Vodafone’s customer service is rubbish – once a call gets through the staff are
pleasant but getting through and getting the promised callbacks are both
proving trying in the extreme. It’s clear there aren’t enough staff to handle
the calls in a timely manner. We were TelstraClear customers, they got bought
out by Vodafone some time ago, but we are still put through to the service team
who handles former TC customers – there seems to be no understanding that in
moving and setting up in a new home our contract is with Vodafone, not TC …
Very frustrating, and far worse than any experience David had as PA B*tch in
the UK. OK, rant over, for now!]
After the ceiling was done, I got started
on stripping the wallpaper. It took me about 5 hours to strip just one wall. Thankfully
I am painting the remaining three. It’s been so hot today that each time I’ve
wet sections of the wall they have dried off in about 5 minutes. I have added my
sweat to the bucket of water – today I have not perspired or gently glowed, I
have sweated profusely. I am waiting on
a wallpaper steamer to be delivered up to Waikanae for doing the lounge/dining,
but I don’t think it would have been much use to me today. I was hot enough
just using water and vinegar – if I’d been handling a steamer I probably would
have expired. So when the wallpaper was off, I stopped for the day – a shower,
lots of water to drink and blobbing in front of Boston Legal episodes.
Tomorrow as well as the kitchen man, we’ve
got a curtain consultant coming to measure and quote for the roman blinds in
the bedroom. Things are moving along ...
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