My bedroom is almost done and the irony just struck me.

As a child I always liked the color blue-green … turquoise to non-crayola folks. And I have a mental image of something with bright white in the middle, surrounded by a bit of yellow, then surrounded by lots and lots of shades of blue-green … from light to dark … ending on the outer sides with black.

One of these days I’ll paint it.

But in the mean time, there is my bedroom.

The bedroom started as a bad rendition of a VanGogh painting. Dark Blue on the ceiling and doors, dark yellow on some of the walls and all of the trim, and another shade of lighter blue on the non-yellow walls.

Similarities between the bedroom and the colors of a gas station chain are purely coincidental.

I swear it sort of worked when he took the VanGogh picture and put it on the wall. Sort of.

It was before I realized he was a hoarder and when I was still in the “why go ahead and paint it any color you want … me casa es su casa.” Wanted him to feel at home.

Must have come from a strange home.

So now he is gone and I have been reclaiming my house. You have probably read the other posts about the other rooms … with pictures. Now we have the bedroom to add to that mix.

It started with us pulling up and removing some pretty disgusting carpet … and some pretty disgusting carpet padding … and some pretty sad-looking linoleum … along with the requisite dirt, dust and grime … although this room did not have the requisite black gunk on it that the living room had.

Just to give you an idea of what it was like … and to show you that I was not kidding … here are some pictures of the room as it was being started.

 

So after much lugging and tugging … towing and throwing … the room was ready for paint … almost. First something had to be done about the rather inventive paint that was on the walls. And once again Kilz came to the rescue. Kilz for all, although even the mighty Kilz was shaking its head … as only paint can.

 

It was then time to add the paint.

Remember that I mentioned how much I always liked turquoise? Well, this was my opportunity to do what I wanted with the walls. And there were many nights I would lay in bed looking at the … well I won’t use the exact descriptive term I had for the walls … but you can guess. And while laying there I would imagine what it would be like to live with a non-hoarder … or by myself … and have a room that more accurately reflected me and my tastes.

The color scheme that kept coming to mind was a light beach-like scheme. Turquoise … with wide white wood accents … and some kind of light bamboo light shades and window blinds. The bedding and curtains were less clear in my mind … but clean, light and airy was definitely the order of the day.

So the painting began with that mental image foremost in my mind. And here are pictures of the room … with turquoise walls, white trim and a white ceiling. I’ll bet you can feel me smiling from wherever you are.  Here are some pictures.

Yes that is what the floors looked like in their before state … and yes, that is my foot.

 

The next step was to do the floors. Sanding. With a drum sander. Like I had done on the Living Room floor a few weeks back. And as I warned any potential future suitors … don’t mess with a woman who can wield a Drum Sander.

Fortunately, this floor did not take nearly as much in the way of multiple passes with the sander. And Linda was able to do the edging around the room using my home sander … so this time there was no cute little Edging Sander to try to control. I am grateful for small miracles.

In no time flat the various sandings were done and the clear polyurethane was applied in several coats. And in evidence of all of that, here are the pictures of the floor in varying stages of progress.

 

Which brings us to last night. At which point I could not resist the urge to grin foolishly and clap my hands like a very small child might. This room makes me so very happy already.

The reading nook area does not yet have a chair although the tilt top table my Dad made me is there already. There are wonderful Roman Shades on the windows, but not any drapery yet … and I am thinking there won’t be till the weather changes. There are not yet any nice bedside lamps … and the little TV I have for the bedroom has not been brought in yet.

But wow … is this a great room, or what?

I just could not get over the way the colors all worked together. And how light and airy the room was. And clean. Not a hoarder in sight.

Plus the small netpad I sometimes use to write my project entries is also color coded … turquoise. And my Nook. I have a skin on my Nook that is a picture of VanGogh … Almond Blossoms.

And today the poster I had ordered online for four dollars arrived. It is at the Hobby Lobby being put into a frame even as we speak.

The poster that is being framed … it is a VanGogh poster … Almond Blossoms. Like the Nook skin. I like that piece of artwork. Obviously. I like what it stands for.

Bravery, Maturity / Age … and Purity.

Oh well … two out of three isn’t bad.

And then it hit me.

For all the ridiculing I had done about the harsh paint choices that had been made … the word garish seemed to pop to mind each time I describe it … I had ended up doing exactly the same thing.

I traded my bedroom being done as one VanGogh painting … for another one.

But I like this one much better.