Time For A Change

Phew long time no write.  Like months.  I've started so many posts but never finished them.  BUT right now I do have something exciting (for me) to write about.  I had the opportunity to work (yes real work, the kind that makes you a little sweaty) helping paint in a local restaurant.  It gave me the decorating bug.  And no, there isn't a cream for that ;)

I have decided that I am going to redecorate my bedroom.  Well, I should say DECORATE since redecorating insinuates that it was ever done in the first place.  I have lived in this townhouse for holy crap going on 8 years! And there is still primer on every wall upstairs except for what was once the nursery and is now Alex's room.

In 2005 on my bedroom wall I gleefully pasted up a huge wallpaper mural of a tropical waterfall thinking that I would really enjoy gazing at it during these long Vermont winters.  I ordered it off Ebay for $80 and put it up myself with the help of a friend who also had no clue what he was doing.  It was hung off center, slightly crooked, and probably with way too much paste.  2 or 3 days later a small child from next door came over with his mom and I was showing my masterpiece to them.  I had my back turned to the wall talking to the mom, and when I turned to look at it I saw her child peeling one of the overlap edges (the mural is 6 separate pieces that you have to match up and overlap) the way you would peel a sunburn that wasn't quite ready yet.  Little scraps of my beautiful waterfall were falling to the ground.  I shrieked, tried not to swear, and his mom took him home.

You can see the damage to the left of the lamp.

 It was ruined from then on out for me.  Its hard to imagine you are quietly perched on the edge of a rock in front of a lush rain forest waterfall if there's a big white scallopy rip in it!!!!!  Boo!!

So now a bunch of year later I am at a turning point in my life where I want a grown up room.   After observing how the decorative finisher worked at the job I was at I have gleaned there are three steps.  First, you need to pick something that you really really like.  Then you need to decide which colors would go with that theme and also match something that you want to work around in your room.  Third you need to do something that makes that room really special.  A flourish.  A unique trait that makes you (or whoever) say "WOW that is cool!"

Here is my room:

The bathroom and closet doors facing East

Shadow the Siamese posing on my bed.

The West wall.  Yes it looks like total crap in there I know!!!

What I hide behind the closet door.  Seriously put NO thought into this room ever.

Here are my three steps.

My object d'inspiration (total fake french) is....Chinese cork sculpture!  HA!  What is that you say?  It is this:

Aren't they beautiful?  I think so.  My favorite is the one on the left.  But I like them both.  SO because I am choosing these to be inspired by I therefore am going to do an Asian theme all around.  In January, when we can't open or unplastic any windows.  That's how I would roll, if I were to roll.

For colors I chose an olive-ish green and a medium gold.  Well that is what the paint chips looked like in the store.  When I went to get the paint mixed the green came out ok since it was a real color, Aventurine.  But the gold color I wanted to have them custom mix from my bedspread (which is green and gold).  It came out light brown.  Blech.  Luckily they saw that it was not even close and didn't make me buy it.  In the end we held up the pillowcase to the paint chips that were already displayed and found one called Midas Gold.  

I think I am going to paint the wall with the windows gold, the rest of the room green, and the bathroom and walk in closet gold.  I also plan to take my old school transparency projector and paint silhouettes of the trees you see in the scultptures above, along with silhouettes of butterflies and birds here and there.  

Here are a few ideas that I found while perusing the web:

Over my bed I want to put four shelves.  I want the lowest one to be a little wider than the bed itself, and then going upwards each one will be about a foot shorter.  Then I want to drape a darkish brown fabric from the top center to create a pagoda look. 

 I also want to make a head board piece using plywood, foam, and fabric. This looks somewhat simple to make:

Using geisha fabric like this:

 This fabric has both the green and gold in it, and I love how it kind of tells a story.  I think it would be fun to use.

Here are some pics of poor Kris peeling off the wallpaper one tiny scrap at a time:

 My next post is going to be about the furniture I recently acquired for this room...if I get time to type it this year! :)