oh wow, man .. the colors!

this week, i have a gaggle (defined as between 2 and 7, so far) of painters here. outside, they're power-washing, scraping, and caulking (in between rainstorms); inside, they're removing wallpaper, patching drywall, tweaking sheet rock, taping light switches, applying textures, etc. before they actually lay the first brushstroke (other than a few samples -- to make sure I was sane when I chose the colors).

apparently 80% of the paint sold for interiors is still white (of which there appear to be 7,417 shades), so I decided to do something -- anything -- other than white (excepting the ceilings of all but one room). I spent the last few days before the painters arrived, thinking about color schemes.

I suppose I'm looking for part pastels, and part earth tones: something relaxing, for the most part. A friend of mine summarized that idea: "oh, you mean southwest". after getting over the initial shock of such a sane interpretation, I realized she was right. So, I have about 5 colors (hopefully matched) going on various walls of the 13 rooms. only one room is purposefully southwest; the others are whatever they are. more details on this as I become color literate! I feel like the target of an episode of NBC's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. There must be some hidden cameras somewhere ...

I chose stark contrasts for 2 rooms: the kitchen and the exercise room. Both color schemes are intended to keep me awake and/or motivated. and after all, it is just paint, which is easier to change than furniture.

they estimate the project will take 5 or more days. don't get me wrong, these guys are doing a terrific job .. they're professional, and painstaking in cleaning up each day, but it's still so disruptive. i'm sure i'll be finding small items (that were atop countertops) in weird places for weeks to come. in the interim, i've moved my computers out of the office and into a small room in back, out of the way until the office is done, then .. switch places.

i've got the pets sequested in the master bathroom. it's cool, dark and isolated from the rest of the house. so far, they're reasonably happy with the arrangements. at night, they can come out and sniff to their heart's content.