The Ink-Pot and the Palette

I put my hinged table project on hold because this whole other almost-full time, intensive, non-paying job of writing intervened, but today after "work" (I shouldn't put that in quotes--it's work) I finally finished it.

( Wall table )

The bedroom remodel is substantially complete--which is to say, things that belong in the bedroom have all been moved back into the bedroom, and I've restored the kitchen and living room to order.

Before:


( After )

I return to my online life tomorrow, and will start getting caught up with everyone. But now, Penny Dreadful, then sleep.

The four hour delivery window stretched into a day and a half, but IKEA's trucking contractor did finally show up this evening, and a couple of cheery fellows brought 445 kg of flatpack furniture and hardware right into the bedroom for me.

( Allen wrenches at the ready! )

My good friend roseambr and Mr Roseambr sacrificed a gorgeous spring day yesterday to share their expertise, their power tools and their knees and backs in installing my new laminate floor. Their precision and attention to detail have resulted in a gorgeous installation.



It's a curious thing, moving from design to execution. I'm much happier thinking up possibilities than pinning them down. Though I'm extremely satisfied with the results of all my planning, I'm aware of an antsy, anxious feeling today as the plan manifests, and all alternative possibilities drop away. I don't just have the cool idea of a black floor--I've now actually got a black floor--more or less forever. It's no longer possible to rearrange the furniture: everything now has to go where I drew it on the floorplan.

So though there's quite a bit more physical work to do, the really fun part is done, and soon I'll be back to my regularly-scheduled retirement. I'm gonna need a new project!

The drywall contractors dropped off 20 sheets of Sheetrock the other day, and it's been lying on my sad, sad bedroom floor, conveniently wrong side up, so last night I magicked some of it up.


That's my one and only professional portrait photo, which I had done for my 40th birthday and have had hidden in the back of a closet ever since. I wrote a little history of my time in this house on the back.

The writing is "The Jewel" by James Wright, my forever-favorite poem:

There is this cave
In the air behind my body
That nobody is going to touch:
A cloister
A silence
Closing around a blossom of fire.
When I stand upright in the wind
My bones turn to dark emeralds.


A couple of vigorous fellows came at 8:30 this morning, and had my drywall installed by 2:00. (One of them looked at my Sheetrock enhancement and asked, "What's that?" and I said, "Just some magic," and he kind of nodded, like, yeah, I've heard of that. Apparently people do this kind of thing all the time. Who knew?)


(Look at all my light fixtures! \o/)

Taping tomorrow morning, mudding tomorrow afternoon, sanding on Wednesday, and the contractor says I can paint by Saturday.

Just a fly-by at the end of a long day of obsessive project-detail-absorption, to share my new wall painting idea.

A few weeks ago I was testing a pastel color-meshing technique. It wasn't quite right, and two things caused me to change direction. First, a couple of people commented that the finish would look better with some metallic silver in it. And second, I'm getting new walls! Color-meshing is great for disguising damaged old walls, and I don't really need to do that now.

Silver metallic paint tends to read as gray, so I started playing with pearl powder. Then I thought, ooh, how about stencils?

I discovered Cutting Edge Stencils and fell in love with one called Birch Forest.

Here's my initial--and, I think, final--experiment.

( Winterwood )

Apologies to everyone in my circles for being a bad online friend over the last several weeks. I'm entering the freaking-out portion of my bedroom project, and my level of absorption--not to say obsession--is extreme. I hope to return to regular communication very soon.

( Ready for the onslaught )

My sister came by today and used her superpowers to pull out the last of the earthquake-proof closet.

( Deconstruction Accomplished )

There are a few things left in the bedroom--including my bed--that still have to come out before flooring can commence. My living room, kitchen, and porch are already heaped high, so the next order of business is a choice: rent a storage pod or just jettison a bunch of stuff.

I'm leaning heavily towards jettisoning. It's a lot simpler.

I've been so immersed in my bedroom remodeling project for the last couple of weeks that I'm dreaming about it. I can--for the moment--recite IKEA cabinetry dimensions and all the Swedish product names, as well as every measurement of my room.

( Don't worry. I won't. )

Productive weekend.

( More power! )

( More light! )

( More books! )