Tool Time

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to make certain repairs to your house. Due to the mounds of decorator books, who give you the shame of bringing up your environment into the millennium, and the vastly changing color wheels they use, yesterdays palette is old school and the stigma of keeping up with the Joneses becomes another project that you need to tackle.

Well... ok. I am a home improver in my spare time. My house was built in the 70's... you know, the brown colors were all the rage during the decade, and shag carpeting was a must to every floor covered. When it came time for me to remodel, I took the attitude that Rome wasn't built in a day, it would get done, albeit might take years.... this due to resources and money. I first started with walls. Easy enough.... paint always makes a big difference, but in my case, I painted all my walls white. What a beating I took from everyone over that decision. How could I possibly want white walls?.... there are so many colors out there to choose from. What they didn't know was that my scheme included a forest green (not shag) carpeting. Besides, I'm a picture hanging fool and needed a clear palette for background. Just wait, I said, you'll see... the walls will open up, making my tiny home seem bigger. Alas, I was able to prove to them I wasn't completely devoid of making choices.

After the "big paint", I graduated on to my screened-in porch. Completely being done over, right down to the screens, I created my personal solace of Cape Cod, complete with wicker furniture and seashells. It houses all my indoor plants from the moment spring bursts till the first few cool mornings of fall.... and has become my escape route to the outside without all the bugs that plague the south.

Next came the garage. Oiy, what a tackle that was! First order of business was to clear it out, which I accomplished with all the greed of the Clean Sweep team. Three piles evolved: things to keep, things to throw away, and things to give away. Let me tell you, this was no small task, as any of you would know. Garages are notorious for being the "catch-all/ store-all" areas of all houses. Go ahead, take a look at yours and you'll see what I mean. Why is it we save everything?.... so much so that the original intent of our garages (to house our car) becomes lost amongst the boxes, tools and lawn accrudiments. I was no exception.
The first order of business after the big clean, was to finish off the garage, which had never been done... it was still in the same unfinished state that the homebuilder had left it in eons ago. After many, many coats of paint, I now had a new room.... and oh so perfect for storage (still no plans to get a car in there, but that's ok, too). At least I have ridden my home of the one black hole riddled with spiders and webs, that was an eyesore every time I had to venture in there.

My next step was to make trips (and often) to the local Goodwill to scour the discards of the people who threw away perfectly good items, because they followed a different God of decorating. Living in a somewhat affluent area, I discovered a virtual goldmine of riches. For pennies on the dollar, I came home with wonderful prizes that still reap the benefits of compliments. What's the saying?... one persons trash is another's treasure... oh how true!
I've found a wonderful rug, beautiful in its colors, to cover a vast area of my garage, along with a hutch to store some of my catering silver... all very inexpensive in its purchase amount. Why it hardly resembles a garage now!

It is now going on 10 long years since the first step into remodeling, and I still have 3 areas to deal with: my kitchen, office and laundry room. All in due time, I say, all in due time. In redoing both my bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, porch, garage, front entry with parkay flooring, and new front door, it's been quite a journey. Not to mention that we have also re-landscaped the yard and painted the trim on the house to reflect my favorite color: dark green, ridding that brown 70's color that seemed so popular at the time.
I've also had the benefit of being married to an ex-carpenter, with a bevy of Home Depots and Lowes to satisfy even the loftiest of crafters all within my reach, making the expense more minimal than hiring someone to do it for me.

The kitchen has had all the old brown (again) appliances replaced with crisp white models, the office is no longer my sons playroom strewn with all the toys of a family of 100, and the laundry room is functional. What's another couple of years in the scope of things? Besides, the color wheels are due to change again soon, and I'll have the opportunity to have finally come to a decision on what I plan to do... which has always been my biggest stumbling block in this whole process anyway. A woman's perogative is to change her mind, and I am no exception when it comes to decoration and remodeling. As for now, I welcome the haitus from the world of hammers, drywall and and paint... besides, Christmas is almost here and it's time to start the banana bread.