Hello? Is anyone still in town this Labor Day weekend? Those of us who didn't get away for the last hurrah of the summer are staying home and catching up on work around the house, am I right? Fix the leaky shower, paint the trim or re-grout the kitchen floor. In my house this weekend, that means painting. I have been contemplating painting the white walls of my house ever since last September when I moved in.
The cornflower-blue carpet in this house has thrown me for a loop, and although I wouldn't have chosen the color myself, it is growing on me. But as far as choosing a paint color to complement blue carpet, I still have that deer-in-the-headlights look on my face when I try to make a decision and "pick one already." This explains the hundreds of paint sample cards in my drawer that I just stare at, tape to my walls at various light angles and accumulate more with each trip to Lowe's.
It's the fear of picking a color that is too boring or too "what-were-you-thinking?" that keeps me from confidently walking up to the paint counter, sample card in hand and asking for 2 gallons of Mexican Moonlight in an eggshell finish.
I used the red rocks of Jemez as inspiration for my bedroom paint color, or so I like to think, depending on the hour. I vacillate between a rich burnt orange color like Ripe Tangerine or Peach Fizz, or a totally opposite hue in a subtle vanilla like Fortune Cookie or Soft Cream.
It took me weeks to narrow down my family room paint choices to four very different, very comfortable beiges. With my sample cards proudly propped up on the fireplace, I asked a friend which one he thought would look best. "None," he says. "They're not you. Those colors are too boring." So much for that.
Everyone is a critic, and everyone is a decorator. And speaking of critics, can you believe the fuss everybody is making over the revamping of the Oval Office? The taupe and beige colors seem reserved and muted, and the furniture styles are somewhat understated. Surely they couldn't have come out looking like the Bellagio Hotel with the economy in the state that it is. Imagine the flak they would have taken for that?
I've seen the Oval Office in person, having had the opportunity to visit the White House when my uncle was head of the Situation Room a few administrations ago. It is a roundish room, OK, oval. But still, with Obama's new stripes on the wall, I can't help but get the feeling of a merry-go-round in there, which I am sure sometimes it does.
The Oval Office has a new carpet, too, like most administrations do. But unlike past presidents, Obama chose to weave his favorite quotes right into the rug: quotes from Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy and King.
Interesting idea, I thought. So, for my rug, I would weave this quote attributed to Mark Twain: "Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that made you smile. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
But I can't weave quotes into a carpet, for the same reason I can't get a tattoo: It's too permanent. Which reminds me, paint is not. So why am I vacillating? Peach Fizz it is.
What quote would you weave into your new carpet? E-mail me your favorite.
Quote of the Week: "Women are made to be loved, not understood." — Oscar Wilde
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