Ok; folks – I knew that i would have to make some actual progess on this project; even though I was drawn away from the project for a couple of days  (and resting sore muscles & back from moving furniture).

So Ta Da! I hear the trumpets blaring here! I have picked the colors to use in my writing room. They are ~ Drum roll please, Maestro!

Turquoise Mist (for the pale base color) and Aqua Bay (for the highlights) From Olympic Paints  at Lowes.    And I will use an accent of Blackberry Jam! Doesn’t that sound yummy? But that will probably be in lampshades or fabric, small touches.

SAMPLE ROOM > NOT MY ROOM!

OK – Now I have a sample of the Aqua Bay walls with the accent color in Blackberry Jam. This room sample would only show 2 colors – but I used this one to show the cream colored furniture & if you look close in the background,  the wood floor is close to the clay pot color of my actual room’s rug.  this is NOT MY OFFICE – but as close as I could get to the actual color combination to show you.

Olympic Paint Sample Room

This was a much harder task than i thought it would be. I took one trip to 2 home improvement stores to scour their paint sample aisles. took about an hour altogether to choose samples. Then in Monday’s morning light – I sat with my main art piece, the furniture (creamy white) and rug (clay pot color) and tried approx 40 different shades of the mixture of blue & green. I wanted two shades – one a deep turquoise to bring out the main color thrown all over the Native American art pieces. And the second one for a very pale compliment, with the exact same color tone to make the main wall color and set off all the combination of colors (sort of like the canvas of the artist’s work).

One thing that most people don’t realize; is the fact that Desert Southwest colors are not originally the faded-out muted version that most think of in SW art. The original colors are very vivid (think Spanish/Mexican influence) like the very flora and fauna of the desert actually are in reality. the beauty in the desert comes fast and furious after a quick rainshower. However the Blazing sun & unbearable heat take turns blasting the colors and then they begin to look faint & washed out over time. The same as any old paint – it just happens faster in the arid SW.

So I now have my jeweled color pallete of  Creamy White (like the color of the Adobe), Orange/rust (clay pot), 2 shades of Turquoise (the sky color and the most famous jewel-stone of the area), and   a touch of deep purple/lilac accent (some of the desert flowers and the color strewn about in the artwork/native weavings/stone colors/dawn colors).  I hope the walls turn out to look a little like the swirls of the open ocean.

Edit here: I think it may end up like a waterfall design! We will see if I can translate that to canvas (wall, that is).

It shouldn’t be too hard – as I have already done a similar room for my grandkids to have as a play room.  I painted a mural around a very tall narrow window to make the (faux) door of an adobe house, with the distant background showing cliff houses like the ancient Anastazi dwellings on one side and central plains scenes on the right side. Turned out pretty cool, if I do say so myself! The funny thing is that this is my Mom’s Country French Design house –so I have now taken two rooms to place my individual stamp on!

Ok if ALL that was confusing let me say it this way:

Carpet = Clay Pot color

Furniture = Creamy White color

Wall & Trim = 2 shades of turquoise colors Aqua Bay & Turquoise Mist from Olympic paint

Accent pieces (maybe fabric, lamps, or my own art) = Deep Lilac

Pottery, weavings & Misc. Art pieces = All of the Above!

Lest you think me wacky – the clay (orange) and lilac (purple) are the opposites of the turquoise on the tri-color wheel for balance! I may be a writer; but I have always had an artist’s inner color sense. ( I can carry exact tones of color in my mind’s eye all during shopping trips for decorating, crafting or sewing.)  The creamy white of the furniture then becomes the room’s neutral balance. See ~ I like strong colors but do use them with an artist’s hand.  

Oops – I think you are supposed to wait to actually inherit a house before you start re-designing it, aren’t you?? Oh well — I do enough for my Mom that she deals with it, to a certain extent. And I doubled the square footage when I helped finance the expansion in 1978. And due to some (un?) fortunate stormy hurricane weather back then – my losses paid for the rest of the remodel and eventually paid off the morgage. Yay! So even though  the house is really part mine, as long as it mostly still says HER HOUSE, she’s ok with it!

This is the what i will be working on for the next month; Hey! Now don’t grumble. it takes awhile when you are the only one moving each piece of furniture by yourself AND doing the painting a section at a time.  Will try to let you in on the progress with photos, but I don’t own a digital camera. I have to borrow one to take them, then upload. So I will get them when i can. 

Ok, have to go do my shift with the ‘Grand’ baby that is staying with us today, while her mommy is sick; see you later. Talula

EDIT: Well I have now added 2 more “Sick Kid Days” this time with one of the same little guys who was sick last week. What we thought might be Swine Flu last week, turned out to be very Bad case of strep throat; but this week he spent with a stomack virus! Poor little fellow only had 2 and a half days of school in 2 weeks.  Only this week was his grade’s field trip and outdoor play day ~ he missed both! Plus his beloved baseball games. Granny tried to play video games to help him pass the time (Lego Star Wars) but only succeeded on one level before he just told me to ‘drop out’ and let him do it all.  Yeah Right kid — I used to hold my own with his uncle’s Dungeons & Dragons – so “NO WAY!”  and then he got smart and shut off my controller. Smartypants 6 year old! At least he could have been polite about it — but I guess I deserved it for challenging him and draggin him into battles.  Welll…I will just have to practice without him knowing and get him next time. No..our family is NOT at all competitive! HEH HEH!

Second Edit: I spent almost 3 weeks with various sick grandkids, one sick virusy & and down-in-her-back mommy, and one afternoon watching 2 little ones while their house was being rid of  honey bees who had recently taken up residence in their outer wall. This had to done immediately upon discovery as the daddy is allergic to bee stings of any kind and the girls may also be allergic. Thankfully they have never been stung so we are not sure yet.  So now the planned Dual Tinkerbell birthday party can proceed on schedule for this weekend. Yay for the 3 yr old “Grands”, not so much for the fat Granny’s & Grandpa’s as its a pool party!