Amberwood & Canister Thoughts

Since my eyes are starting to do googly tricks while painting, I figure its a good time to stop for the night.

Last year we made our first trip to IKEA down in Illinois. We met up with friends and happened to wander -ok, I saw the sign and gasped, causing Jeremy to hit the breaks and begin checking me over for medical issues.  Oops.  Anyhow, I saw a Tuesday Morning sign and we were soon browsing the aisles.

I found three short pillar candles, brown in color, with a divine scent of Amberwood. 

(like these)

I'm a lover of patchouli & amber aromas, earthy smells with depth.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. And besides, they were a steal. We were just beginning to prep the house to move.  We had decided to keep the dark blue/light blue paint colors in our room, and accent with cream/chocolate/black.  Ok, I had decided.  Jeremy chipped in by saying something like Uh-Huh Ok Whatever.  His approval usually isn't a stretch, unless I suggest anything yellow or pink.  Those are an automatic veto.

I came home and placed the candles on the white shelf in our bedroom... still wrapped in their protective plastic wrapping. 

Today, I opened all three.  It was rather ceremonious to me, which can be considered to be a good thing or a bit odd as we are talking about candles here. 

Each day that goes on, that I am in hyper-overdrive move mode, makes this whole thing more and more real.  I mean, I unwrapped the candles. That have been sitting on the shelf for over a year and a half.  Things are getting done and while I'm completely exhausted, its beginning to look amazing.

My mind is full of so many memories.  Memories of when we first bought this house.  How we didn't know where to begin, and had no idea what we were doing.  No.idea. Jeremy has always been good at demolition, be it baseball bat or  box cutters (that would be knocking down things and tearing up carpet) and I've improved on the bringing-it-to-life role.  I remember standing in the kitchen with my Mom, chatting with excitment about the new kitchen curtains she was going to make for us.  Which lead to the wine colored walls that I was swearing at  battling tonight, but ya know.  Tastes change. 

We purchased our first set of new furniture for this house and spent all night painting the living room the night before an adoption homestudy.  The night before that I suckered a friend into painting our bedroom that dark blue/light blue combo. We failed sorely at "fixing-up" our bathroom for several years before we bit the bullet and hired a contractor to do the gut and remodel.  I spent hours painting AJ's nursery dresser while my Grandmother supervised and we chatted. We slowly but surely found the yard again. We've made friends with lots of plumbers and other handy-skilled workers.  We've replaced pumps, roofs, I could go on. 

We've learned a lot from this house.  We've learned about quality work and quality products.  That blood red is never a good choice of color for you living room walls.  That hard work-done right-pays off.  We've learned what its like to own a home and everything that comes with it.  We've worked with some amazing people and are a whole lot more experienced than when we started. Trust Me. We are not gardners and most certainly not tree-lovers!  That we won't ever buy cheapy-cheap faucets or cheap paint and most importantly, won't cut corners!

...I find painting relaxing.  I should say I find it relaxing most of the time.  I prefer to work without using painters tape.   Cheap paint is just that, cheap.  Buy a good brush and good paint and save yourself some insanity and money.  I spent a good hour tonight doing the brushwork above the countertop lip in the kitchen.  Without tape.  And loved every second.  It forces me to take it slow and steady, concentrate, and keep a steady hand.  It brings Zen.  I know.  I'm insane.

As I was painting, the design for our next kitchen popped into my head.  The object(s) of inspiration? 

Canisters.  There has been a set of canisters in our basement since we moved here.  They belonged to Jeremy's paternal grandmother and somehow they had ended up here, at his maternal grandparents home. 

For years he's been asking me to hang on to them.  Their base color is white, with a beautiful black paisley pattern with accents of bright blue and green. I never paid much attention, except the last few weeks I've been looking at them on the shelf each time I go downstairs.  Hm.  Weird.

And tonight, they made their debut.  Suddenly my head was filled with ideas of a  faux-granite countertop, black with a gloss finish to really fake people out on the granite thing, the large dining table in the basement black with a flat finish with chairs painted to match with grey velour chair pads.  Blue walls?   Green walls? What shade? And a pendant light at the sink.  A glass bowl....no a dish...with decor balls?  No... Definitely the brushed nickel finish and oh I saw those drawer pulls at Target, those would be perfect..............................................

My mind was running wild!  It kept running, into new ideas for a living room.  How I literally want the same bathroom in our new house. And then it hit me.  Other than AJ's future room, never before had I thought about what our new home would be like.  While the decor/furnishings really don't matter, it sure is fun to dream up ideas.  I had forgotten how much I love this sort of thing.  While I'm no Genevieve, I do like to dabble in this house stuff.

It sure beats constantly thinking of therapy appointments, goals, and stressing over everything.

And those candles?  Oh, those are going with too.  I'm sure I'll think of just the place for them in our new home.