Day 3,4,5: Weekend Projects

I have been wanting to paint walls for the last 3 months. As I mentioned in a post earlier this week (here), I have a problem making decisions about what color I want to paint. There are just way too many options!

That said, I am proud of myself. Yesterday pm and I made a trip to the home improvement store. My goal was at least to buy paint for our bedroom (that color selection was easy). I also wanted to see if I could finally make a decision on the accent wall in the kitchen along with the colors for our hallway. Mission accomplished. Dreamy caramel won.

There is something about painting for me that is both relaxing and very gratifying. pm wanted to hire painters, I refused. While I admit I do not particularly like the "prep work", I do very much enjoy changing the look and vibe of a room paint stroke after paint stroke. I will also admit that I get a little too excited about painting at times. For example, waking up in the morning and immediately (before coffee folks, before coffee) doing the trim and touch-up work.

End result: A much brighter kitchen. This color really brings out the yellows in the stained glass window parallel to this wall. A photo of that will follow shortly, once that wall is also painted.

Haikus from the weekend:

Day 3, Haiku: Shine Friday Night Lights | Down on the busy bustle | Until the sun rises

Day 4, Haiku: Don't know what to say now | Too many errands and such | Makes for a quick day

Day 2: Simplify

We recently started thinking about how to pare down the number of items/belongings we own and have collected over the years. Since moving into our own place, I have been surprised by how many boxes we keep uncovering of things we have forgotten we had.

Spring cleaning has come late for us. We did do a good cleaning out of the closets and storage room within the last month, but it has proven to not be enough. While we do have the space to keep things, I've recently been inspired to adopt more minimalist habits. (Part of this admittedly is from pouring over design magazine and furniture catalogues where all photographs depict clean, almost zenful, rooms.)

The time has come for us to practice feng shui (or pseudo feng shui to start). In order for our creative wheels to get a moving, we needed to clean up our act while also making our sleep environment more organized and inviting. First step: night stand. (Click here to see how our paint job made your average Ikea Rast nightstand stand out).

We wanted for our night stand to have the essentials -- water, light, alarm clock, kleenex--, but to also have some other points of interest -- reading materials, decorate vase. This weekend we plan to slowly begin mapping out a way to minimize clutter and create more crisp, clean areas room by room. If we've learned anything about living spaces it's that having a small space filled with items not only makes cleaning even more of a chore, but it also doesn't give you extra space for impromptu projects and creative endeavors. Time to simplify, then time to create.

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Haiku, Day 2: Simple Life

Warm breeze, sweet lemonade

Rocking chair slowly back and forth

No worries, only calm