Monday, November 12, 2012

LIGHT Needed...ASAP


Every year as the winter approaches and the days become shorter and darker, I start to feel it.

That deep, palpable sadness drenched in dread which weighs on me as the sunlight wanes.  

And while I should probably be on medicine for this (there really is a name for it:  Seasonal Affective Disorder), I have found another "cure":

Painting and decorating my home in shades of LINEN and WHITE. 

(I probably need to be on medicine for THAT since I have two small boys.  What am I thinking?)

My husband was recently out of town for two weeks. 

He thru-hiked a 165-mile trail through the Arkansas Ozark mountains with a friend.

It took them 15 days.
This is him on the final steps of the trail, enthusiastically running across a river to my waiting arms and our boys' cheers of "Hooray, Daddy!  You did it!  You did it!"

I'm so proud of him.  And I missed him like mad.

While he was away I shirked most of my household duties such as cleaning and cooking, rolled up my proverbial sleeves, and repainted the main area of our home.

The walls have been a beige-ish shade of coffee milk for 7 years.  This also happens to be the exact shade of our carpet.  And our furniture.

I was drowning in a sea of beige, people.  

So I got to work.

I repainted the living room/dining room area a lovely warm neutral called Maison Blanche (it's the color of the letters I graffiti-ed on the walls).  I also painted over the creamy-colored trim with a bright white.

And there is LIGHT in here now.  Glorious, happy LIGHT.

I made new curtains out of linen-looking canvas drop cloths from Lowe's.  LOVE.

And I've freshened up some of the decorating by bringing the outside in.
And, after first collapsing in a weary pile of exhaustion, I'm feeling SO MUCH BETTER!

Are you affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?  What do you do to combat it? 

(This redecorating is a quick and temporary "fix" to my problem which is not at all serious.  To those of you who suffer from a true, deep, dark depression, my heart goes out to you...)

4 comments:

Caneel said...

Gorgeous!!!! You are brave - I haven't attempted to paint since I repainted the living room a couple of years ago ... it's a beige with bright off-white trim BUT we have two large archways into the dining room we built a few years ago and that is painted a nice cream color with lighter trim. So I guess it evens out?

You inspire me with those curtains!!!

Ginny said...

Every time I paint I swear I won't do it again. It's such a pain. But the payoff is huge.

Yes...your area sounds lovely. I really still like that beige color, it's just that I somehow ended up with everything being the same color. And it was too much!

The curtains were super-simple. Thinking of doing a tutorial. :)

Mary said...

Beautiful Post! Thank you! And many happy thoughts to you!

Anjie Fitch said...

Beautiful color! Love love that precious pic of Chris.....we are proud of him too! Awesome accomplishment!!