Spicy Dragons & Dinosaurs

Home renovation is going to begin in earnest while we are on vacation. Floors are to be sanded stained and coated in shiny stuff, the downstairs walls will be painted, and the bookcases for the living room and dining room will be started. I have a list of tasks to do before I leave for vacation and some of it will look like packing up the house so that everything can be moved out of it. When I get back, the furniture will be moved back in but there will be books to unpack and pictures to hang. My handyman, who is my carpenter and general on this renovation, actually apologized for presenting me with so much work after vacation, but I don't mind it at all.

This is part of the movement of making this my house and simplifying my materials. I have boxes of books in my cellar that have not been touched since we moved because there is not enough book shelf space. The built-ins will give me more than what I have now, and I've decided that I will put out what the book shelves can hold and no more. The rest go to friends or good will/St. Vinie's. A bit arbitrary, but I there are many books that I own that I will never look at again. I am only keeping favorites. I have bunches on some topics, film, for instance. I could do a few lists and see if anyone claims them. I'd be willing to ship.

Does it look too much like washing David out of the house? I can see it taken that way. Maybe it is a bit of that. Am I too much like a dog or cat claiming territory? I don't pee all over the house, but I can paint. But there is the fact that we, David and I, had long planned the renovation, some renovation, a much bigger renovation than what I will do. I do get to pick colors without David's opinion, but these days that feels so hard. I wish for opinion.

The hall that is purple will be gray. More neutral. Maybe easier to sell in the future.

I've toyed with gray in the downstairs. Painted patches on the wall. Thought about different shades of the same gray in different downstairs rooms. But it doesn't feel right. The gray looks too much like the gray that we had in Indianapolis which was totally David's choice. Maybe it is not that gray, but too close in feel.

I have loved the green that has been on the first floor since we moved in. I wanted to get away from it, but . . . . there are greens in my new countertop (what I have picked out) and I am comfortable with green.

Green.