Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Paint and Flowers



Things are blooming at the new house. It's so exciting walking around the yard trying to guess what's what. We think there's a fig tree and an apple tree. Grapes, rows of berries we think are raspberries (yay!), roses, gigantic peonies, huge lilac trees that have to be at least fifty years old, towering overhead, and in all three hues: white, dark grape purple, and lilac. It's clear this yard has been loved :-)




Snitched some to be appreciated indoors :-)





We're still not moved in, but getting ever closer. The painting phase has taken so much longer than we ever imagined. Whew. Now Jim has got the whole interior painted, and it is so transformed! 




Here's the living room ...


BEFORE:





NOW:




WOW! I love it. I'm getting such a mad fervor to nest (and having picked up a copy at last of Decorate, the fab new book from the blogger of Decor8 only exacerbates the condition; more on that in another post), on top of which we've accepted an offer on our little yellow cottage (sniff sniff), so we have a timeline now, and will have to move soon! Up till now I myself have done NO work at the place, not a jot, not a wisp, but yesterday my mom watched Clementine so I could go help paint trim. Of which there is much. Much much. 






It was great being over there, even for a few hours, feeling home-ownery :-) Wish I could help Jim more, it just isn't easy with the Pie! Anyway, we had planned to paint the trim a whiter white than the walls, but this was a dumb idea. As soon as I got started on the fireplace, I realized the error: the whiter white made the walls no longer look white. Doh! See, beige:




There shall be no beige!!!

So we abandoned that plan and decided to use a gloss finish of the same white (cloud cover by Benjamin Moore, a soft an atmospheric silvery white) instead. Luckily we had a gallon of it on hand, and so we got started, and it's totally the right choice. Plus which, it'll only need one coat in most places, whereas the whiter white would've needed at least two. So that is a major halleluja!

It's so interesting how color is affected by context. With no brighter white in evidence, cloud cover looks totally white again.

After the painting, the floor remains, which Jim will be refinishing himself, having done the ones in the little yellow cottage beautifully. Man, I can't wait to see it all done! Getting there!



13 comments:

tone almhjell said...

Oooh, so pretty! I adore it!

Mindy said...

What were the flowers that you showed pictures of called? They were beautiful!

Suzanne said...

We, too, had huge lilac bushes on the lot before we built... planted long before we showed up on the scene. I love them.

Seeing pics of your white walls, I get a jolt of boldness, like perhaps I could step out of my beige safety zone. It's beautiful. Well done. =)

Jane said...

your new house has a beautiful old garden? Oh I am sooo envious. What a dream home!

Anonymous said...

It is looking truly amazing! On my way to pick some peonies for myself in just a moment...

Laini Taylor said...

Mindy, the big pink ones are peonies, and the other ones are lilacs :-)

~Michelle~ said...

I am swooning over the lilacs! I bet they smell heavenly. The white walls and trim looks amazing!

Anonymous said...

I love seeing this transformation!

By the way, is your pie named after anyone or anything in particular? I was listening to NPR the other day and learned that Winston Churchill's wife was named Clementine. Who knew they had such creativity back in the day?

Laini Taylor said...

Hi Michelle, yes, the lilacs are so fragrant!!

Macdougalstreetbaby, I did know Churchill's wife was "Clemmie" (we are not going with the nickname), but I think our main inspiration was Kate Winslet's character in Eternal Sunshine, which is also what inspired me to dye my hair!

debsfreckles said...

Oh Laini! I feel like you guys just gave that house a breath of fresh life! I love the before and after. Stunning. I can't wait to see what it looks like when you have brought your creative touches to it.
And the yard?! I live in the desert and I love and appreciate it, but man, oh man I would love those flowers.

tone almhjell said...

You have your very own secret garden! So cool!

Connie Onnie said...

I am so excited to see what you guys next with the house.

Myrna Foster said...

Those peonies are gorgeous.

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