Pregnancy, paint colors and pigsty...
Sep. 12th, 2008 07:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wileypeterSo, now that morning-noon-and-night sickness is relatively controlled and fatigue has been gotten used to, insomnia has raised its ugly head. She's missed three days at work this week because she's waking up after four hours and can't sleep until another six have passed.
I've decided the kid will be grounded for the first year as punishment.
In other news, the front sort-of-bedroom, which I originally wanted as studio space, will be the nursery. It is attached to the main bedroom via a small, small room with a sink, so it seems appropriate. Unfortunately the now-nursery has to this point housed my architecture books, which must now reside in the ever more crowded studio. So a nearly complete reorganization of the studio is underway, including finally trying to integrate/separate all the crap I hauled out of my studio space at school in June. Joy.
The now-nursery had been, in addition to my own private book nirvana, the guest bedroom. That will now be upstairs. This makes sense, as the upstairs area has a bathroom (with a toilet that backs up at the mere use of the words "toilet paper", but a bathroom nonetheless). However, it was also the private domain of two teenaged girls, and apparently one terrible contractor. The floor, baseboard, moulding and detailing up there is at best amateurish. I'd like to just rip the whole thing out and start over. (They painted over old tongue-and-groove beadboard! Several coats!) This won't be happening due to a) budget constraints, and b) we are lodging friends from the Bay Area in about four weeks. So the new guest bedroom is being painted to accept the guest bed, and the old colors are gradually saying goodbye.
Also, the now-nursery was once a dentist's office, apparently. The floor guy spent no small amount of time digging amalgam filling material out of the floor. ("You don't need Mercury in your floors.") When we bought the place it was a very assertive banana yellow. I convinced my wife that yellow was still okay, with the intent that a gentler saturation would pick up the warmth of the morning sun nicely.
So, here are the original colors in the new guest bedroom/eventual kid's bedroom. Just these two colors, with no detail work done at all. Oh, and the fluorescent lighting fixture was this color orange as well.
Looking out that door into the common landing area we see a wholly different color scheme.
More landing. The light blue in the stairwell was the beadboard. Unpainted it looked old and cool, like a relic of the early 1900s, which it was. Painted? Cheap 1970s panelling, which it is not.
Inexplicably, this one little section of wall in the common area has the same orange as the guest bedroom. I guess they had leftover paint.
The other quasi-bedroom (no real egress window) has a less assertive color scheme. Not better, mind you, but not as assertive.
And here, with strange green-to-white-to-yellow transition.
The bathroom.
Yes, a different color blue, just for this wall. Behind the toilet.
Complete with clear lucite toilet seat/lid, and yes, those are tiny rubber duckies. The hardware attaching the seat is terrible, so it's hard as a rock and shifts uncontrollably. Weighs a lot, too, which if it comes down when one is plunging as it inevitably will, being badly balanced, one risks serious injury and quite a mess. I hate this toilet & will replace it before a year has passed. I may mount the seat/lid farce as a trophy.
More positively, what is a quiet yellow in most light, here seen at dawn.
The color in there psychologically adds ten degrees to the temperature. It does exactly what I planned.
The ceiling is a subtle rose color, which disappears completely in normal dawn light but pops like crazy for red sunrises.
Here it is about an hour later, pretty close to normal daylight. You can see the difference, and the ceiling color.
The wood in the living room really warms with the sunrise, too. The wall color is a low-saturation sage, her choice, but here it warms up really nicely.
For the record, the reasons I wanted the front room for my studio are that I'd be more connected to the rest of the house, and as you might have noticed it has North- and East-facing windows, so nice natural light in large quantities. Why didn't I get it? The windows mean little vertical storage space, a problem for me, and the connection to the rest of the house means she'd have to see my mess.
You'll notice we went with the same colors for the studio as the soon-to-be nursery. They don't work as well back there, since I haven't as much sunlight and the sunsets are more red-hued.
I need to make more bookshelves.
I've decided the kid will be grounded for the first year as punishment.
In other news, the front sort-of-bedroom, which I originally wanted as studio space, will be the nursery. It is attached to the main bedroom via a small, small room with a sink, so it seems appropriate. Unfortunately the now-nursery has to this point housed my architecture books, which must now reside in the ever more crowded studio. So a nearly complete reorganization of the studio is underway, including finally trying to integrate/separate all the crap I hauled out of my studio space at school in June. Joy.
The now-nursery had been, in addition to my own private book nirvana, the guest bedroom. That will now be upstairs. This makes sense, as the upstairs area has a bathroom (with a toilet that backs up at the mere use of the words "toilet paper", but a bathroom nonetheless). However, it was also the private domain of two teenaged girls, and apparently one terrible contractor. The floor, baseboard, moulding and detailing up there is at best amateurish. I'd like to just rip the whole thing out and start over. (They painted over old tongue-and-groove beadboard! Several coats!) This won't be happening due to a) budget constraints, and b) we are lodging friends from the Bay Area in about four weeks. So the new guest bedroom is being painted to accept the guest bed, and the old colors are gradually saying goodbye.
Also, the now-nursery was once a dentist's office, apparently. The floor guy spent no small amount of time digging amalgam filling material out of the floor. ("You don't need Mercury in your floors.") When we bought the place it was a very assertive banana yellow. I convinced my wife that yellow was still okay, with the intent that a gentler saturation would pick up the warmth of the morning sun nicely.
So, here are the original colors in the new guest bedroom/eventual kid's bedroom. Just these two colors, with no detail work done at all. Oh, and the fluorescent lighting fixture was this color orange as well.
Looking out that door into the common landing area we see a wholly different color scheme.
More landing. The light blue in the stairwell was the beadboard. Unpainted it looked old and cool, like a relic of the early 1900s, which it was. Painted? Cheap 1970s panelling, which it is not.
Inexplicably, this one little section of wall in the common area has the same orange as the guest bedroom. I guess they had leftover paint.
The other quasi-bedroom (no real egress window) has a less assertive color scheme. Not better, mind you, but not as assertive.
And here, with strange green-to-white-to-yellow transition.
The bathroom.
Yes, a different color blue, just for this wall. Behind the toilet.
Complete with clear lucite toilet seat/lid, and yes, those are tiny rubber duckies. The hardware attaching the seat is terrible, so it's hard as a rock and shifts uncontrollably. Weighs a lot, too, which if it comes down when one is plunging as it inevitably will, being badly balanced, one risks serious injury and quite a mess. I hate this toilet & will replace it before a year has passed. I may mount the seat/lid farce as a trophy.
More positively, what is a quiet yellow in most light, here seen at dawn.
The color in there psychologically adds ten degrees to the temperature. It does exactly what I planned.
The ceiling is a subtle rose color, which disappears completely in normal dawn light but pops like crazy for red sunrises.
Here it is about an hour later, pretty close to normal daylight. You can see the difference, and the ceiling color.
The wood in the living room really warms with the sunrise, too. The wall color is a low-saturation sage, her choice, but here it warms up really nicely.
For the record, the reasons I wanted the front room for my studio are that I'd be more connected to the rest of the house, and as you might have noticed it has North- and East-facing windows, so nice natural light in large quantities. Why didn't I get it? The windows mean little vertical storage space, a problem for me, and the connection to the rest of the house means she'd have to see my mess.
You'll notice we went with the same colors for the studio as the soon-to-be nursery. They don't work as well back there, since I haven't as much sunlight and the sunsets are more red-hued.
I need to make more bookshelves.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-12 08:18 pm (UTC)The duckie seat really, really cracked me up.
And congratulations again! And love to you both.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-12 09:48 pm (UTC)Some examples here, here, and here (until they tear it down), though I'd go a little less rustic than some of these. Still, exposed glulam beams, clean spans of glass, open plan, this appeals to me. Plus, the type lends itself to net-zero energy buildings, an ideal of mine.
My platonic ideal? An empty lot and a budget.
If the duckie seat was more functional I might consider keeping it. The seat won't stay up. It works for Kelli, but it makes the bathroom a whole lot more gender specific than a family restroom has a right. And the damn thing is really heavy, so it's actually kind of a danger. Cleaning the toilet requires a vigilance the task really ought not need. Funny as all get out, cheezy with at least one "z." Maybe two. Just not made for actual use.
Thanks on the congrats. We planned to start a family once I finished the Masters (done in June). We figured since we're both old farts it would require time, effort, and the best medical science has to offer. Nope. First try. Good thing we've been careful to this point, apparently. It's also good I'm out of work at the moment, as it means I can do more to help, such that I can.
One other nice thing about the house. It's large enough for guests. Mike & Shosh are taking an art seminar up here in early October, so we're puttin' 'em up here. (Actually, in the orange/white room. We're painting.) So, if you're in Portland...