For six months, the living room was an empty space, a personal ballroom.
Off course all the woodwork and walls were painted, and I finished resewing the curtains into Roman blinds, so you could already get a glimpse of what it was about to become.
Happy, and inviting. These two words were important to me, and what I wanted to create. Throughout the entire house, but especially the living room. Alternate to our old home, where I played with light and colour to make the living room look spacious, even though it was stacked with stuff, I wanted to use only one colour our new living room. And I wanted it to be yellow. But not bright, in your face kind of yellow. I wanted a dirty yellow. With hints of green and drop of black to make it a yellow that was kind of shy. To sit on a bench during a school dance, acting like a wallflower, but in reality you are the star of the night. That kind of yellow.
Both Ramon as the paint mixer guy were shocked when he lifted the lid of the container to show me the mixture. It was exactly what I had in mind. “And you are using this colour in the living room?” the paint mixer guy asked in disbelieve. “You sure?”
Ramon checked my face to see if I really was excited about the colour. “Yep.” we both answered simultaneously., and Ramon continued, “She is a house painter. If there is anyone with a sense of colour, it’s her.” I smiled at him, and gave him a kiss.
I wanted the stairwell to stand out. I imagined an Art Deco wallpaper, with soft colours to match the yellow, and with a graphic design which would match my Art Deco element I had painted above the sliding doors. The wallpaper I found, was waaaaaay above budget. And it would take forever to save the money needed, as Ramon ever so sweet suggested, because if it was up to Ramon…. Ramon was appalled. “Never ever am I going to pay that much money for wallpaper. I don’t care if its handcrafted and richly pigmented paint is used instead of ink. Are you kidding me??” I let my lower lip reach my chin. I would have saved the money if I only needed two rolls. But I needed more than two….a lot more. I searched for alternatives, but didn’t find anything that even looked remotely the same as the one I adored. The only thing to it, was to paint it myself. And so i did.
We bought an oak floor second hand. Then we had to run each plank through a thickness machine, and sand it thoroughly.
When we were about to lay the oak floor, when we discovered we didn’t have as much wood as told, when we bought it.
We had to find a solution to use the oak floor together with another kind of wood. Ramon had a great idea,
and when we stuck our heads together, it even became the most wonderful solution ever.
It would never have been such an exclusive floor as it is now, if we had enough wood as promised. So thank god for dishonest people.
I showed Ramon some designs for a tv wall/furniture. He made a drawing with the right measurements, and he build exactly what I had in mind.
We are such a dynamic duo.
He put the library back together, and made a piece of wall that stood out, a part of the library.
It’s a place where I put artwork I receive from children, as a showcase.
My desk is also bought at an second hand store. Badly damaged, so we got it cheap. I painted it, and decorated an Alice in Wonderland on one of the cabinet doors.
The mantle for our “fireplace” was fixed again, as it was damaged when we took it out of our old home. It was a project I started once, because I was going to study for my master painter degree. I used a marble technique . Sadly I never got the chance to finish my degree, because I got ill. We didn’t want to leave the mantle behind, so we gave it a nice place in our new home.
Together with a family heirloom of a friend of ours, which I restored and decorated,
it has become a snug place to sit, where we can enjoy a glass of whiskey and listen to vintage lp’s of classical music.
I just love how everything is in place. Everything fits because it’s custom made. And every piece of furniture we already owned, looks like it was always meant to be for this house.
Dutch version/ Nederlandse versie
Nog geen commentaren