Sunday, April 26, 2015

The Porch Is Lovely

It's been a while since I mention the porch, and maybe the last time I mentioned progress on our big project was something of a cliffhanger!

Remember this?
I'd rather not.

And this?
Only one month ago!

I hardly remember this any more. Our old porch, with no roof, no screens, no straps holding the beams to the columns... not a comforting discovery, I must say! But, this was only two months ago, when we met Mike, and began the conversion from a shaded porch, to a covered, and screened and marvelous porch. And then we were able to repair the living room ceiling, from the roof leak (Geoff fixed that leaky problem, too.) Yes, one thing led to another, and it feels like we've hardly slowed down from start to almost finished. This might be as good a time as any to pause, then review, and see where we are...


We painted the walls green. Can you tell?? "Tournament Field," Behr Ultra, Eggshell. {I am sharing this because I've been uncommonly organized about the paints, and this is just my little self-congratulatory shout-out to me.} Wait until you see what we did with the ceiling!

For one thing we installed fourteen LED lights. It's the brightest room in the house. It outshines broad daylight. It's life changing, in a good way.

And to be sure everyone knows we were going for Bright & Light, we chose "Pure Turquoise," Behr Ultra, Flat. I must add, these were suggestions from Alex, and I don't say this to blame him, but because he deserves the credit for making interesting, and, ultimately, really pleasing choices. The room feels both soothing and enlivening. It's lovely, and good.

Actually, I liked this probably more than I should admit. It felt like we were living in the middle of an old curiosity shop. Oddly comforting.

Even when we were only a week away from hosting an Easter brunch, I was miraculously keeping my cool.

Meanwhile... in the living room, testing colors. Nope. And nope.

And Mister Foo would add, "No carpeting? Nope. Meow." This was a difficult transition.

Eventually, painfully, with confusion, and some hair loss, no doubt, we found our living room colors, too. For the walls: A custom mix to recreate whatever spongy-fungal-beighy-sage color is in our kitchen. {Geoff will never forgive me for using "fungal" in the paint description, but it is a confoundedly impossible color to describe.} The ceiling was to be Swiss Coffee, but we were shocked to see how little coffee was in that color, and hastily settled on "Almond Latte," Behr Ultra, Matte. It's a good thing these were good paint names, because it might not smell as sweet if it were called "Fungal Latte," or "Wind Beneath The Sheet." Good paint names are very important. The newly repaired beams got the biggest color change of all: "Spiced Berry," Behr Ultra, Matte.

As yet, there are no cover shots, no wide angle lens views. Curtains aren't up. Fireplace needs repair, there's trim pieces left to install, but this is our living room, now. We love it. It's our own, cozy, home. And just in time for the Easter Brunch, we managed to get things in some kind of order...





For the first time in many years, I am not dreading summer. Oh, I love the season, theoretically. I love that the children are out of school, that our days can linger over anything, or nothing. I do love the long days, the smell of the ocean, or a forest. But the heat. The heat has become a miserable thing, and fire season, too. Geoff looks at me, plaintive eyes wide, and suggests 'An air conditioner? Just a small one, for one room. My room. Please! A closet. I could sit in the closet, and I wouldn't bother anyone.' It's pitiful, and I'd hate for him to find out how close I've come to cracking, to caving to the sweet sweet surrender of cool air, and sleep. Restful sleep on a hot summer night can be hard to come by, and our summer started in March, could go on through November. But I do not dread this summer half as much, because with the porch we can swing the doors wide open, and God willing, please, cool air will come in. Please. Then our lovely porch will be even more lovely.

2 comments:

Kate said...

You're right, this is so lovely! Thanks for the update.

warren said...

That's an amazing space...lovely is only the beginning of it! I am jealous for sure!