Thursday, October 23, 2008

And so it begins!



It's no secret that I love color. Vivid and vibrant, saturated, shimmering color! And I'm really not certain when this came about, as I used to decorate my home and dress myself in somber, earthy shades of brown and taupe. But at some point change definitely arrived, and I now find that I thrive in a colorful environment. Bright hues cheer me. I feel energized when I wear certain colors on my body. And I fully appreciate that many - ok, most - people wouldn't be at ease in my surroundings on a permanent basis, but that's ok. You can come and visit in small doses. ;-)

When we moved into our cottage in September of 2003, I hired a painter to take the faded yellow walls in a new direction. He coated the entire house (save for the upstairs bedroom, which retains its original 1948 knotty pine paneling) in Sherwin-Williams Buckram Binding, a serene sandy shade. I infused the space with color from my ever-expanding art collection (many paintings were bought on eBay!), but eventually even that didn't fully satisfy my longing for color, so I began transforming the cottage into a Technicolor riot by repainting the walls. An aged ocher in the breakfast room, Frida Kahlo blue in the kitchen, the hue of an Autumn gourd in the living room, ripe avocado in the dining, gleaming tigereye in the den, breezy aqua in the workout room ... I consider my house to be a work in constant progress (and believe me, a 68-year old home is always in need of something), and I'm not opposed to a little color revision (again!) if and when the spirit moves.











8 comments:

  1. Congrats, Jen! Your new blog is awesome & looks great. Looking forward to seeing your pics and new ideas :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I will SO enjoy reading this! I LOVE your dining area! I too, am a person of color, but then I always HAVE been! And like you, I enjoy switchin' it up some - my house ORIGINALLY looked like Barney (the dinosaur!) lived there - it was like a pale lilac in the master bathroom and then psychedelic "purple haze" in the guest, with all purple decor! But now I have branched out into neon oranges and greens - very "retro", but I love it! Looking forward to seeing more pictures and reading more blogs!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Jen, I saw your post over at Gardenweb, and decided to respond here since noone knows me at Gardenweb!!

    I became addicted to gardenweb way back when I was redooing my hardwood floors, and through gardenweb discovered the wonderful world of BLOGGING!!

    It is such a great community of women, I think it is awesome!

    I started by blog back in September, and if you look at it, you will see I had 14 responses from AMAZING bloggers.. I can't believe they took the time to respond to me. I haven't even had the time to get a SECOND post out there. I just don't know how these woman accomplish all that they do!

    Now granted, if I had been blogging every day that would average less than 1 response a day. But, it really is the fact that these uber busy woman were able to take the time to respond to me.

    Your blog is beautiful, I love the background and the title and photos.. I have yet to figure all that out..

    Your home is lovely and spunky all rolled into one... good luck on your new journey into blogging world!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. hi jen,
    congratulations on your new blog! it's lovely and colorful :) makes me happy when i see it :) keep up the good work and post more photos! we want more! :)
    p/s i just started a new blog as well :p
    God bless
    "luthien" :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jen, I just love that chair in the corner, and wish I had such a spot in my house! Although if I did, I wouldn't get much done because I'd be there most of the time. That photo looks like the it could be the cover of a magazine!

    Very lovely home inside and out. Outside is nothing less than gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a great home you have. It is cheerful and bright. Wow. I am glad you started a blog.

    I found you from Garden Web.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi from lvtgrdn at Garden Web! When we moved into the house my husband grew up in 10 years ago, a friend of his parents went with me to get paint, and she insisted we get an off-white paint for all the rooms. She never did let us pay her back. I guess there is nothing stopping us, except all the clutter, from painting different colors, as I had planned to in the beginning.

    I love your truck holding the salt and pepper shakers!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ok send me that big comfy chair IMMEDIATELY and I'll take the little pick up too and I want to see photos of the BR!!! STAT! lol! ;)

    ReplyDelete

OK, spill it!