I wish I was enjoying all this
February 15, 2010

Re-decorating the living room with our tax refund. We decided to do away with having a couch at all, and the old recliner has got to go. But we�re keeping the loveseat (for now), since it is B's throne. Went to the furniture store this weekend and bought 2 new recliners, a cabinet/table to put between them, and an accent chair. Then walked into the draperies section at Wally's and the both of us immediately fell smack into love with our new curtains.

My mother flatly refuses to believe that really is that effortless for us. No fights, no fussing and fretting and fidgeting about it, just�"I like this." "So do I." "So let's do it." We even went onto two different laptops, surfed through some pages of table lamps, and then showed each other our number one choice.

Yep. Exact same lamp. (He wins, though�he found it for HALF what I did.)

Blows Mom's mind. But we do have pretty much the same taste, we don�t even begin to go to stores until we�ve hammered out what we want to spend and determined the kind of things we want to look at, and above all�we are a reasonably functional couple. Unlike my profoundly dysfunctional parents.

But here�s something that will make her feel better: we are having a hell of a time agreeing on a paint color.

Furniture is medium-toned oak and dark brown naugahyde (Same exact chair w/real leather was $330 more), curtains an olive-ish brown, cinnabar red, and goldenrod stripe (Simple window-length, tab-top panels in cotton twill.) The walls will eventually be something akin to the golden color in the curtains, and I'll pick up a couple of throw pillows in the red for an accent. I might even pop for an extra set of the curtains and make my own pillows�I've done that before. And I'd like to try and find a throw-style cover for the old love seat for now, just so it isn't a glaring crap pile in my handsome new room.

I also really want to get rid of the photo screen--but it's going to be one hell of an investment in cash and committment to re-frame and hang all those photos. I may have to make some hard decisions and cut the 15 spots down to 9 or so. Or maybe just do the kids. I don't know. Food for thought.