A Painting Project (thanks Katie!)

This past weekend Katie came down from Wheaton (although this is the last time she'll be able to do that ... next time she'll be coming UP from Memphis, with Noah!) and she helped us tons with repainting the downstairs of our new place. To be honest Jim and I hadn't thought too much about what project we would do with her; we just wanted the wallpaper border and bright red/pink in the kitchen to be repainted. BUT Katie with her energy and creativity and vast house-project experiences inspired us to go ahead and repaint the kitchen and living room. Phew. And we're glad we did.

Here we are on Saturday morning in the midst of stripping wallpaper. Not a nice job, despite our smiles.

And finally beginning to paint in the living room. The walls are still the original dark brown at this point.


And by Sunday afternoon here is the finished product! The walls are newly painted - "Monroe Bisque" (a lighter brown with some yellow hues) that helps to open up the space and bring a "happier" feel - or, in J&J terms, the color is similar to tahini/hummus. We even put some things up onto the walls, thanks again to Katie's expertise.

Katie took this photo from the front door; we're standing at the counter in the kitchen with the back door behind us.

And here's the view on the left of the living room, with the coat closet and stairwell that leads up to the 2 bedrooms. It feels great to continue to unpack our things, settle in and make this Our Home with bits of our history and personalities to it. Yep, those are great-great-great Grandma's plates! And Jim's big trunk! And a fruit print from a Paris market! And a round table from a Beirut souq! And a lamp we got for our wedding and are finally getting to use!

Come visit. We'd love to share this home and new town with you all. Oh that's right, Dad and Mom H are coming in a week! And Mike and Heather from Cape Town are coming the following week!

Thanks again Katie! You are wonderful.