Words Get Stuck On the Tip Of Your Tongue

The blurry view from Pete's kitchen door on 3 March. Note the living room's irritating green trim and the infected snot yellow walls.

We'd painted the dining room a rich red and the trim a bright white. While the living room was that odd yellow and green, the dining room looked like it'd beamed itself inside the house from Planet Awesome and nested resentfully.

Today, the living room is a creamy pumpkin with bright white trim, which victory did not come easily. The green trim did not go quietly. No, it put up a squawky fuss for old paint. I spent a lot of time on a ladder with trays of white primer, a roller and a fine brush. Pete spent a lot of time refereeing the fight. Eventually, new paint - and by extention, I - won. Yay we! When I wasn't looking today, Pete cleaned and oiled the leather couch. I suspect television viewers will slide off the sofa with Must See TV glee.

Pete fought a war all his own with the fireplace. Originally, the house came with four walls of mirrors above the mantle. Pete pulled down the mirrors, pulled down the tar construction adhesive (that took a week), spackled and sanded the walls. Then he stripped the simple oak mantle, sanded, sanded, sanded some more, stained, stained, stained and polyurethaned. In this case, I can't assure you that what you see is what Pete sees - for one thing, because I'm too short to see this view without a ladder. What I can tell you is Pete positively beams when he looks at the mantle, which is about eight feet long. Don't forget that wall in front of you is actually the same creamy pumpkin of the last image. Your colorful mileage may vary.

Go back to the first image. In the lower righthand corner, observe the dining room radiator. It is faded, dirty and blah. This afternoon, I was vigorously priming a blushing linen closet when Pete said, "Hey, lemme show you something." I'd heard that line before but not outside a public park so I followed him to the dining room where the radiator was suddenly silver. I screamed! I cackled! I howled! Sweet fancy Vishnu, that radiator is exactly what I pictured when I proposed we paint the dining room red. The chair is a supple antique teak, as is the low china cabinet. These warm colors and textures together maybe shouldn't work but - they do! It's madness, but even more: directly behind a person examining this tableau is a door to the basement we took off its hinges and in the backyard I sanded into submission. Later, we stained it a few times and today Pete poly'd it. This room glows.

It's not for everyone but it breaks my heart.