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Orange You Glad I Didn't Paint It Bananna?!

That has to be my weirdest blog title yet. Weird, but true.

Last weekend I finally painted the hallway! Exciting isn't it? I ended up painting two walls the same color as that beige in the office and two walls a old pumpkin orange color. I have to say, I was unsure about that as an accent color as I was rifling through paint swatches at the home depot.

When we bought the house, I loved how the sun set right through the front door, spilling beautiful orange light down the hallway. That's what inspired me in the first place. But of course, when it comes down to painting something orange you get a little bit nervous. Nothing rhymes with orange for a reason - it's a tough color.

So I bought more of the beige color and took the orange swatch home, still very unsure about it. But when I held up that little square in the hall - it was magic. And people can say "you can't tell a thing from a little square of color." But in this case I fell in love. It looked great against the beige. It looked great against the living room color (because you would see them both together down the hall.)

And wouldn't you know it, as soon as I was done painting beige, I ran back to the deepHo and bought the orange. And now I am so so happy with how it came out. But there is a problem.

Remember how I said the light comes through the front door into the hallway so beautifully? Well - that's only when the door is open, because right now we have a door with only 4 itty bitty windows at the top of it that don't let it squat. I want a door that has a big freakin hunk-a-chunk-a glass in the middle that lets in plenty of light. Privacy-Smivacy!



Unfortunately, those doors cost upwards of $1000. And I think that's preposterous. But you have to get fiberglass or some other non-wood material, or else it'll turn into what my door is now - a very beaten up, weathered, gross-to-touch old wood thing.

Maybe after x-mas. That's scary huh? But we'll be overseas two weeks - and then it's parties and weddings and etc etc when we get home and I know I'll have no time or money for anything other than ramen noodles. Just face it people - the year is already ovah!

I also need to invest in hall lights. All I have currently is a single light bulb hanging off a single wire. That plus the dark door adds up to two beautiful colors hidden in the dark. Aggravating.

Oh - and I'm also going to stripe the beige with a lighter off-white color. But my theory here (because I've had tape-pull problems in the past) is to let the paint fully cure for 30 days before I put tape on it. And then I'll tape it - paint it - second coat it - and peel it all in the same day. None of this waiting around for the glue to penetrate the wall and adhere to 5 layers of paint/joint compound/drywall/etc. I'm not taking that chance.

Coming Out of the Closet

Closet doors - another seemingly insignificant every day item that I now personally treasure. At the end of last week we installed our first pair upstairs in the office. Let me be the first to tell you, they're beautiful.

I'm normally a fan of the clean white painted trim and doors - but this cherry stained wood is so rich and elegant! Not to mention unique. I think our attention to detail on all these trim pieces is really going to make our house stand out. Yes it may be small, but it's gorgeous.

Mike refused to go white and cheap on the trim and doors - so we compromised. We could have wood like he wanted, but I got to pick the stain color. And really, it couldn't have turned out better.

Now I just can't wait to get the bedroom closet doors on. They're all stained - it's just a matter of putting them in.