14 month Renoversary! and I’m Back In My Bedroom!

Hi Everyone,

Happy August. Happy Renoversary.

It is 14 months, and we are in the final stretch of the renovation!

 

What does that mean?

 

It means the living room and den are EMPTY in anticipation of next week’s floor repair and refinishing.

Let’s look at it before.

Everything you see below… including hidden chairs, tables, toilets, vanities, and dozens of boxes.

The painter’s tables, supplies, paint, vacuum cleaners

Plus, all the furniture in the den, including my dresser in the closet, had to leave the upstairs.

In addition, on Wednesday, moving day, I also moved out of my neighbor’s apartment which would’ve been enough moving for one day.

But, no. That was only the beginning of the pain. However, I knew these days were coming. “It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

The painters and I spent about three hours moving the big stuff downstairs.

 

They are the sweetest and awesome craftsmen, too.

But, the big news is…

 

Wednesday night, I slept in my bedroom for the first time in 14 months. It was surreal.

 

On Wednesday and Thursday evenings, I spent hours gathering and organizing small household items that needed to be moved.

Then, I filled a good-sized box with trash and set other items for trash that I wasn’t sure about on the 38″ coffee table.

 

On Thursday, I had to make brutal decisions I’d debated for months.

 

One was the 33″ x 60″ writing table I’ve had for about 23 years. While it would fit in the bedroom, it’s quite tight. In addition, I never use it, and despite trying to remove it, it’s filled with sawdust.

Then, there’s the green sleep sofa in the den. For a sleeper, it’s okay. However, I’m not in love with it, and I’m mostly doing away with the apple green that looked lovely in my Bronxville apartment.

 

 

Plus, it, too, is filthy. So, I tried to donate it.  Nope. Sleepers are difficult to give away.

Anyway, everything not needed was hauled away.

Bye Bye Green Sofa. Thank you so much for your years of service.

 

So, now you need two new sofas, Laurel?

 

Yeah.

Eventually.

The painters, and Brendan + Eugene, and I worked incredibly hard on Thursday and Friday to get everything downstairs.

Almost there.

Ready for Gary (Gaready?) ;] who’s installing and finishing the hardwood floors.

 

Okay, let’s go downstairs to see the bedroom as it was Wednesday evening.

 

I don’t have many photos. However, yesterday, more furniture, including my beloved screen, came downstairs.

 

This is still Wednesday before the screen came down. I’m sorry, but I don’t have an image of the screen yet.  The ceiling isn’t always this green. But, the walls are usually more lavender.

Okay, about the wallpaper– I don’t think I will do it. It’s not that I don’t love it. It’s that the color is problematic and it might be too much. There’s already a lot going on.

 

However, having my things downstairs is fantastic, but it also makes me think of things in a new light.

 

The yellow chair isn’t staying down here. However, the chinoiserie cabinet looks phenomenal down here. Still, I need storage by the bathroom. I’ll have to think about that one.

Since my bedroom is the only place to sit, and the bathroom and kitchen are upstairs, I am up and down the stairs many times a day. I’m enjoying hanging out in my bedroom. It is so much warmer and cozier than it was. It looks like it must’ve always been like this.

hahahaha.

 

Nope, not even close.

 

The image below was taken July 31, 2023 and published on the blog on August 3red. What a coincidence!

This image is threatening to give me PTSD.

above and below 1.2.2024

Below, after the wall was built out to cover the pipes and the crown moulding went up.

2.13.2024

Remember the painter I had to fire? Well, the crown is beautiful now.

 

There’s more news but it will need to be saved until Monday.

 

However, the other day, because of a misunderstanding, one of Chris’ expert painters painted a sample of Benjamin Moore Knoxville Gray hc-160 in the wrong entry. I was thinking of it for the upstairs entry.

 

 

However, when the table I got a year ago went into the little four-foot-wide hall parallel to the staircase, I put the Hondecoeter (Chinese knock-off) on top and stood back.

 

Whoa. This photo doesn’t capture the beauty of the colors, and the table looks amazing.

 

Sooooooooo…. you know what’s coming, don’t you?

 

Yes, another rendering! lol

It’s not a useless exercise because Chris will press me for the rest of the colors this week.

 

 

I’ve simplified things by doing a color drench of Knoxville Gray, except for the ceiling.

 

What color is Benjamin Moore Knoxville Gray?

 

Well, like almost all paint colors named “gray,” it is not gray. It is a very grayed-down green with blue undertones. I wouldn’t call it teal, but if the light is cool, I imagine it does read as teal. In my entry, it looks like the perfect “library muted pine green.”

It’s dark, but it’s not the darkest color out there.  The entry and staircase is a small space, so it’s perfect for a dramatic color. The unamed color in the palette is what I’m 99% sure I’m going to do in the den.

What do you think?

xo,

 

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