Am I too busy, or am I too lazy when it comes to interior decorating? This is a question that I have been asking myself of late.
My husband, three children and I had bounced around for years from apartment to apartment, rental home to rental home until we purchased our first house. This was a simple bungalow which left little to the creative imagination.
The house was in great condition and the location was perfect for our needs at the time. I waited months before I hung one single picture. I thought I needed to get a real feel for the place before I hammered nails in to hang something. Because, I would most likely chip the paint, hate where it was hung, and have to restart, and repaint! Did I mention, the walls in the main areas were all white?
I was a teen during the 1980’s. That was a time when interior decorating took a leap from parlour wallpaper full of flowers and stripes, to geometrical dissections of colour and various materials like stone, brick, and wood. I think those mediums intimidated the living daylights out of me. I don’t recall our home-ec class in New Liskeard ever covering this topic (though I can make a smocked apron, follow a recipe, and know which fork to eat with first.)
Nowadays, while shopping at the local paint stores with their multitude of trendy paint colours and wide spectrum of textures and techniques, I tend to freak out. Will I select the right colour? Is it in style or out of style? Is it retro enough or pushing the envelope? Is the texture right for the size and purpose of the room? Does it match my living style? Am I thinking too much? And honestly what’s wrong with white walls?
When we decided to sell our bungalow and move to the country I was able to chip off little bits of the paint from the walls and get them colour matched. Sort of. The beautiful denim blue in my kitchen became a “Smurf” blue upon drying. I was horrified. But it turned into a plus as many of the potential buyers loved the colour. In the meantime, I was in love with the white cloud I’d painted the living room but not a single person liked it. I was discouraged.
Luckily though, after a few weeks, instead of selling, we ended up renting out the old house, and moved into the new one. The new house is the house of my dreams with an amazing colour scheme. But a colour scheme so unique that I am again, freaked out, should there be a need to patch, refresh, or change out right because of trends.
The living area has a beautiful cocoa-coloured textured wall with a rough sandy feel to them. I shudder and have nightmares over redoing this when the time comes. A certain pasta night incident which resulted in a small amount of damage has given me cause to shed a few tears because I worry someone might notice the slight discolouration in one area. I even went to the extreme in the bedrooms purchasing all new bedding to match the walls so I wouldn’t have to paint or paper when we moved in.
I am in love with this house, the location (so peaceful), the garden, and my neighbours are amazing. But I feel I will truly do this home an injustice when I attempt to bring colours up-to-date, put up curtains, and buy newer furniture. It’s almost like I am frozen in time, hoping nothing happens to the walls and that the trends remain the same! I wonder if there is a therapist for this kind of fear. Or maybe I can just convince the hubby to move again?
Stay tuned folks, the sandy beige of my bedroom is starting to get to me, and the pure white bathroom in the basement needs a face lift. I miss college days when posters did the trick!
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