beauty and the mess

Only a little snow left, patches and puddles. Since two years have transpired since we got our home, and we have only 10 items remaining (five of which are optional) on the 77-item list I typed up that first month, an update is in order.

In December 2012 my sister Abi helped me paint our crumbly, cracked, stained, smudged, and crayon-scribbled EntryWay/DiningRoom. After months of deliberation, the perfect color finally dawned on me: a roasted coffee chocolatey brown. Behold, the transformation:

BEFORE - white-ish walls, different furniture

DURING - Abi paints over the color we did not like

...facing west, only the top edges left.

 (Drumroll, please:)

AFTER

AFTER in regular light

AFTER with enhanced colors

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty stoked. You can still tell that the trim is mid-stripped, exactly the same as it was when we bought the house. We hope to strip and refinish all the trim eventually (one of the five non-optional items left) as well as refinishing all the wood floors which need it pretty bad. Super exciting, and yet so easy to put off indefinitely. Besides, I've got summer gardens and trips and markets and celebrations to keep me busy.

Technically, shouldn't this room be called the Mess Hall? I definitely had to excavate the mess before I took this picture (as you can also see in the 'before' pics). It's also the entryway where coats, boots, bags, mail, and all manner of cast-offs get piled on a daily basis. But I'm open to suggestion, especially if they sound tidier.

“O, how this spring of love resembleth the uncertain glory of an April day”
- Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 1, Sc. 3