Home Improvement - Ugh!

Well, you all may remember the great time the Smith family had on their midwest vacation this summer. I neglected to mention the downside of the trip however. The whole time we were gone, we stayed in lovely hotels and at my sister-in-law's practically brand-spanking-new home. How is this a downside, you ask? Well, I got used to the perfect, smudge-free, finger-print free, crayon-free walls and consequently when I got home, I could not help thinking to myself, "What a dump!" Have we really only lived in this house for six years? Was it really only two years ago that I repainted almost all of the common areas? Do my children ever wash their hands? And would it make a difference if I tried to spruce up the walls or would it merely be an exercise in futility and frustration? I stewed and stewed over the matter for the last three weeks of summer vacation and finally came to the conclusion that I had to do something. I couldn't face the entire house because the idea gave me an all-out panic attack. Instead, I figured that once school started, I could at least brave painting the walls of my bedroom. These had never been painted before (since we'd lived here anyway) and I thought there might be a fairly decent chance of this chore actually staying done since little fingers are not on these walls as often as, say, the family room or the upstairs hallway. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, have I mentioned how truly lazy I am when it comes to home improvement? For the first week of school, each morning my children would leave for school, and each morning I would think about starting the project and then feel tired and do a logic puzzle instead. Finally one Saturday, I began the project. I painted for an hour, got through most of one wall, felt exhausted, saw what a mess I had to clean up once I was done, realized that the wall didn't look all that much different, and decided to quit. Luckily, my fabulous visiting teachers came the next week and listened patiently to my painting woes. Kim, being the inspired VT that she is, suggested painting the walls a different color just to change things up a bit. I usually don't paint my walls any color but white because that's what Sam likes and because I have a sage green carpet that I have to coordinate with. But Kim suggested a light brown and I decided to give it a go. Let me tell you, it was amazing the difference a little bit of color made in my enthusiasm for the project. It still took me an entire month of very slow progress, but this weekend I finally finished. I love it. Sam loves it. I never want to leave my room again because then I have to look at the walls in the rest of the house. Now the girls want me to paint their room pink and I am thinking that there is quite a bit of touch up work to be done in other areas of the house. Maybe if you give me a month, I'll be ready to do it - or not. Anyway, I don't know if you can see the color very well in these pictures. But here's a look at the finished project from a few angles. Come on over if you want to see the color in more detail.