SECOND - GUESSING...

"Every time I decide to repaint a room,

 I obsess over barely perceptible subtleties

 to select the perfect color. 

 The moment the first brushstroke 

of the new shade hits the wall,

 I panic - my heart stops 

and I'm sure I've made a horrible mistake.

  A week later, I love it!"

 So said Peggy Kennedy,

 one time editor of Victoria magazine, 

in her March, 2001 editorial,

 but those thoughts and choices

 could have, just as easily,

 been mine.

I was so ready for a change in this room,

 but change can be very unsettling.

  Decisions needed to be made but,

 because of what the final outcome 

of those decisions might be, 

I did not feel up to the challenge.

  I so wanted to 

get it right.

The paint store that we do business with

 has a decorator on staff 

so I decided to ask for help

 with my color choice.

 We already had our new sofa on order

 and knew that we were painting 

all the trim work bright white.

  The existing carpet color is burgundy

 and that would have to stay

 and we also wanted the room to tie in

 with the parlor.

   With all those elements decided, 

I needed help with the right wall color.

My first gut reaction

 was a shade of blue. 

 I am very fond of blue

 as it is a very soothing color to me. 

 I took a pillow in with me 

that had the exact match that I thought I wanted,

 plus a piece of the parlor wallpaper.

  The decorator was very convincing

 that the color would be too dark

 and suggested to match the gold flower in the wallpaper. 

 Since decorators know best, right?

 I thought that would be the perfect choice.  Once we held the swatch up to the walls,

 it was apparent 

that the room would look very washed out

 because of the amount of light 

the room receives.

I went with my original gut feeling

 and picked out three different shades of blue. 

 We came home with a pint of each color

 and painted patches on the walls.

  Because of all the burgundy

 surrounding those patches,

 the colors all looked very different

 than I thought they would,

 and I became even more confused.

  I then went back to the store

 and chose the darker shade

 that I had first been drawn to

 and invested in two gallons of paint. 

 I say 'invested' 

because paint

 is not cheap now-a-days!

Benjamin Moore's Bedford Blue

Because of the lighting and time of day I took the photo the color looks a little more green than it really is. 

So, in Peggy Kennedy's words,

 I love it

 and it didn't even take me a week

 to find that out!

Here is a picture of the new sofa 

as it sits in the furniture display room. 

 It was a leap of faith

 to pick this out also! 

I think hope 

that it is a little more to the brown side

 than the gold it shows in the picture.

 I thought it was when we first saw it.

 We are having the carpet cleaned tomorrow and then the sofa will be delivered

and I only hope that

 I will love it 

in one day also!

I also changed up the parlor mantle

 to reflect Friday's beautiful beginning

 of spring.

As we were having coffee 

in the parlor this morning,

 I thought that maybe my display was a bit much,

 as I just can't seem to get

 the "less is more" concept down,

 but when I voiced my feelings

 to the Captain,

 he just rolled his eyes, and said,

 "Yeah, you probably have

 one too many daffodils 

in the pitcher"!

So,

 I guess 

if he is happy with me,

 and with what I do,

 maybe I should not 

second-guess 

myself

 so much!

...Judy...

HAPPY SPRING TO ONE AND ALL

AND

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

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