Casa l'Orange

So as part of snapping my ass out of its recent funk, I decided to make some changes.

When I moved into my house, the walls were painted very dramatic colors:  Decorator white, Navajo white, snow white.

Bold.  I live in a big white box, basically.  I've always meant to do something about it.  Every once in a while, I'll visit someone who has taken the color plunge and I love it.
Then I come home, get out the color fans, sort through everything.......and end up too chicken to pick a real color.  So I back off 50% saturation and end up with a list of things that are too bright, or too pale or too, too, too pastel.

And so the big white box remained.

Recently I had a house guest, a guest who is not a chicken about color.  So I made her pick colors for every room in my house.  (When you stay here, you have to work for a night in the Bed of My Ancestors.)  And before I could revert back to the giant weenie I really am, I ran off to the paint store and came home with five gallons of ......tangelo.

I opened the can and saw...melted orange sherbet.  Oh dear.

I felt fear.  But halfway is bullshit.

I started to cut in.

As I had been instructed to do when I felt the fear urging me to run back to the store and cut the paint with 50% white, I called for reassurance.

Brace yourselves.

It looks fucking amazing.  Amazing.  And the whole room has a flattering golden glow, very important for those of us who are now 37.

(The weird footstool things are in the middle of being recovered, don't worry.  I've been thinking about felting a slipcover for them. Too much?)

Unexpected by product of new color?  Great display surface for new yarn.

8 oz of 80/20 corriedale/tussah.   Maybe a dk weight or a bit bigger.  This was the first thing I tried - and more or less succeeded -  to spin consistently thicker than lace weight.
You can see the textural disadvantage of spinning one ply 3 months after you buy your very first wheel, and the second ply six months later.  Uneven.  But I really, really love it. 

And I have to show you this.  Occasionally people have been kind enough to send me a little gift and usually I treat these things as private expressions.  But I want to say thank you publicly this time, for the gift of spring that charmed me and lifted my spirits and now hangs in the door to my kitchen where it brushes my hair when I walk under it and makes me smile.   (The color was an inspired choice, yes?)

Thank you Lanea.   

Comments

[Helen]

I LOVE the color! I see so many people now doing bold colors, and I'm in awe (although a house that I went into that had a pumpkin orange den between two rooms that were pastel colored didn't cut it). You are far braver than I. I stick to pastels myself, but one day maybe I'll be brave and paint at least one wall a dark color. :)

[lisa Co. Springs]

Oh, I love the color...that's one of the nice things about being single...you can paint whatever color your little heart desires.
The handspun is gorgeous as well.
AND good luck with the cabinet. Have you checked IKEA?

[kim]

I love it. We ended up with a 'pink' room that scared us silly before we put the furniture in. And now we adore it.

[moiraeknits]

Beauty! I helped my brother pick the colors in his home (now the apartment I'm living in) and it's amazing what it'll do for a place. I love the color, and fantastic job! YAY!

[Claire]

It does look amazing!! Color is so good! I long for the days when I will actually own my home instead of rent and can do all sorts of improvements. Very, very nice. Our stairwell and opening hallway in the house I grew up in was a similar color.

[heather]

oooh, i dig. perhaps we need another weekend field trip to appreciate it fully, though.

[Lee Ann]

That looks incredible. Good for you. I took the colour plunge in our bedrooms but not in the rest of the apartment when we first moved in (Montréal landlords actually encourage bright colours, it seems), and now sheer laziness prevents me from moving crap around to finish off the place. But Twink's got watermelon walls and a midnight blue ceiling, which I swore I would not do but she saw the ceiling in my bedroom and made me do it again. You see, glow in the dark stars and planets, they have to be on a midnight blue ceiling...

I have two red walls in my bedroom, the rest midnight blue, trying to add boudoir accessories little by little. I thought it would look too teenage boy, but if you add Indian fabrics, it looks funkalicious. A word I never thought I'd use.

I am seriously considering the need for that soft glow...living room's still white...

[Norah]

Mmmm, it looks great!

[Cassie]

You might actually be scaring me. With recovering the footstools, not the orange walls. It looks great.

[stitch-dom]

Very gorgeous! It must feel like a brand new home when you wake up every morning -- without the pain in the ass move.

[Diane]

Wow, the tangelo is just fabulous and so is your yarn! We really need to paint our living room/dining room and I really want something other than the off-white.

I bet you could adapt a pattern from a felted bucket-type purse (is that the right name?) to cover your stools. Maybe you could felt a top and use fabric for the sides. Sounds like a fun project, can hardly wait to see what you come up with.

[Yvonne]

JUNO! That is AWESOME!!

[Peeve]

Looks great! Good on you for taking the plunge!

[Chris]

Wow. It totally works. I would NEVER have guessed. I'm a color wimp, too.

[Heidi]

Yummy! Yay for color! Is it wrong to covet those fabulous deco chairs? It probably is, but I'm going to covet anyway.

[lanea]

Yay orange! I could eat those walls. Well, not all of them-I guess that would be glutonous.

And you are very welcome. I'm so glad you like.

[Stephanie]

I do so love being right.

[mamacate]

Love it, and love the coordinated home dec posts between you two. I'm hopeless with the paint-choosing and Rhys is no better, but I will be inspired by your courage and think...tangelo.

[Adrienne]

Love it! Of course, my dining room is a much bolder, University of Texas-ish orange, so I'm a littled biased....

[julia fc]

Orange is so flattering a colour, indeed. I may have to come a visit.
And what is the gift, praytell? Unable to discern from here. Pretty though.

[Thorny]

It's gorgeous!!! Congrats on having the nerve to take the leap! And so glad it turned out so marvelously!!

[Imbrium]

The best advice I've ever received, perfect for writing, knitting, and painting your living room:

"Sin bravely."

It looks beautiful.

[Steph VW]

SO NICE. I LOVE IT!

I grew up in the "land of beige", so when my hubby and I bought our place, we jumped at the chance to paint our house whacky colours. Our dining room and living room positively GLOW in the morning light. It takes some time, but once you embrace the colour, it embraces you back.

[Suzanne]

That room is gorgeous!!

[--Deb]

It looks beautiful!!