when the hubby's away the wifey will play

I love to redecorate. And sometimes, I get things in my head ... and they won't go away. Like how it would be cool if my bedroom were a different color. And then of course, if the bedroom were a different color, I should probably paint the bathroom to match. And those cabinets have needed to be painted for a long time. And that door with the peeling paint, that should be fixed.

Well, and besides, wouldn't it be fun to have a new room to go with that new quilt for our bed we just bought?? Of course it would! And Caleb's leaving for the men's retreat this weekend. What will I do with myself for an entire two and a half days?? Maybe I'll redecorate, that sounds like fun! I could surprise Caleb with a whole new room upon his return.

I had originally planned to do all the prep and the primer on Friday night ... but got lured into a trip to Disneyland with a friend instead. We had a great time. I don't regret the decision one bit. Saturday morning I awoke at 9. I took two one-hour breaks during the day, and wasn't in bed until 11. There were little things to finish up on Sunday morning, but for the most part I completed this whole project in one day. Today my muscles are still protesting, but they'll get over it. Here's the story in pictures:

This is the "Before" picture. The wall with the window behind the bed was not going to be painted. Partly because I thought it would be cool to leave it blue, partly because there was no way in you-know-where I was going to move that bed by myself. So I taped the corner to avoid painting onto that wall.

This is the bathroom. Also "Before." See how boring those cabinets are?

This is the bathroom door that desperately needed painting. This was also the one thing I told Caleb I'd wanted to do over the weekend. This was the only thing he knew for sure I would be working on.

This is the door with primer. I got most of that old paint off but it still needed desperately to have primer over it first. It then took me three coats of white glossy paint to get it looking flashy. But, oh, does it look good now!

This is the part I hated the most. I'd rather climb a 14,000-foot mountain than a 10-foot ladder. With every climb up there I kept envisioning "falling and not being able to get up." But there are high parts to our ceiling that no chair would allow me to reach. The walls of the bedroom had to be primered and then painted, so I had to use the ladder twice for every unreachable spot.

I debated about showing this picture to the masses (its less than flattering) ... but what other proof would you have that it was I, and I alone, who affected this room's transformation?

The cabinets are finally red. RED! Every room should have a splash of red. This red is called Cherry Cobbler. It matches the new quilt perfectly. The walls of the bathroom are now Parisian Taupe. Its a lovely shade. Makes me want to eat a baguette.

Well, now that the bathroom walls are done, the door is painted and the cabinets are red, its time to go back to the bedroom walls, back to the 10-foot ladder, and paint the walls. What color do they need to be? How about the color of Hershey's kisses? The color is called Chocolate Cocoa. It demanded to be chosen, merely for its name. Seriously, when I opened the paint can I was almost tempted to take a big drink ... it looked like liquid chocolate. But fear not, I refrained from a Nadia moment, and only put the paint on the walls.

As it started to really go on ... I started to almost laugh at myself. What was I thinking??? We're going to be sleeping in a CAVE. Oh, but I love it! I hope Caleb loves it too. Its rich and inviting and cozy feeling. Well, and it makes me want to eat chocolate. How could this color possibly be wrong?

Here's the finished bathroom. Only as I was taking this picture did I realize I'd completely forgotten the side edges of the cabinet doors. I was extremely annoyed with myself, but too tired to really care or do anything about it. I'll fix it later.

Here it is, in all its glory. The new quilt, which demanded a new room. There's the chocolate brown walls with the blue unpaintable wall. I think it turned out even better than I'd hoped.

One more view of the room. Do you love it?? I know you love it. I know all you want to do now is go out and paint your OWN room like a cave. You won't regret it, I promise.