venerdì 2 novembre 2012

on the consequences of a lick of paint (and a sneak preview)

We've been living here for over one year and a half now.

You'd think that this would be home to me at this point.
Most of all considering that when I first saw this house on the internet my heart skipped a beat.
Because it was perfect.
We wanted a project, and this sure is one. We wanted a place with plenty of space to grow, a safe neighbourhood for the little guy to play outside, a room wich I could make into my own study, a garden. This place offers all of that, plus a few features that we never thought we'd be able to afford: a fireplace, a big kitchen, a greenhouse and a small vegetable plot, a couple of fruit trees, even the original doorbell untouched since the 30's.
We got in touch, we negotiated, we signed on a dotted line, we moved in and went straight to work. Because we knew that this was the perfect house.
In theory, at least.
We moved in the middle of winter, and it was cold and dark. The 70's gloomy interior did not help on that account. Then spring and summer came and went, and then it was autumn and before we knew it, winter was here again. Time passed, but no matter how hard I tried, this did not feel like home. Now, as we approach our third (!) winter here, something has changed.

the blue wall is much darker in real life

I've painted the bedroom.

Out with the beige, the brown and all the shades in between. In with the crisp white and the dark blue.

I thought I was only painting the bedroom. But I was wrong. What I really did, was making this our home. My home. Maybe it's beacuse by dealing with one more room, I've tipped the balance and the number of rooms we've not done anything about yet is rapidly decreasing. Or maybe it's because the bedroom really IS the most important room in the house, a nest within the nest, the last thing you see in the evening before you close your eyes and the first thing you see again when you open them in the morning.

I don't know.
But no matter what the reason, it's coming along pretty nicely. I like it. And I can now finally say that I like this house. This has become home at last.

work in progress...


[to be continued]