Progress Photo.

This is just the first coat on the formerly mirrored wall. The beige painted area is a portion of the formerly mirrored wall. The colors are not quite true; it'll be a notch less yellow after 2 coats and when fully dry, but damn, it's an incredibly perfect color already. Contractor gets full credit for that - I'd selected a lighter and a half notch pinker beige. She suggested this, and I agreed that it hit the right tone with the green below, and blends so perfectly up against the stone of the fireplace, and works with the tile floor. I was focused on the green, because it's a beautiful green. (Plz ignore ugly chair rail/baseboards. That's primer. Their final color will be a much creamier, richer sort of white.) This is just a snapshot of the direction I'm taking with this room. I wanted to update, and also make it more resale friendly. It is a huge bonus that Girlchild loves sage green and approves of the colors. If they don't decide to buy it, at least this space should not require further attention - and it's a huge chunk of the house.

It's a dramatic difference already. This room hasn't been painted in 13 years, and while the paint held up extremely well (Sherwin-Williams truly doth rock indeed - the new paint is also from S-W) the formerly strong clear red below the chair rail did change a bit over the years, and started getting a hint more purple-tinged as it aged. Just a shade or two, and only after a decade.

It was way past time to update this room, and the roof leak was the final cue that it couldn't be ignored any longer. Leak damage was small, and is GONE, and now those 80s-era developer-installed mirrors - "They make a room look larger!" - are gone. (Yes, they really do add reflected light to a room, but they also make you really depressed when sitting on the couch drinking coffee first thing in the morning, staring across the room at your own bedraggled appearance in the harsh morning light.)

While Contractor Gal toiled away on paint, I could not just sit around and knit. I chose a long-neglected but had-to-be-done task. I cleaned out my file cabinet. I pulled all the hanging files out and piled them on my bed, and while the painting commenced in the living room, I spent HOURS on my feet, sorting contents of files, shredding unneeded stuff, organizing the rest. I remembered going through my father's desk after my mother died, and finding stubs from electric bills from 1994. In my files I found stuff relating to a car I sold in 2001, among other things that should have been purged along the way. I cut my files to be moved down to one small file box. My back is freaking killing me.

Work resumes on Tuesday. I have a few tasks to get to between now and then, and on Monday we have a second fitting of the wedding dress. Otherwise, I think I want to enjoy my couch and work on that Landscape Shawl - I'm on the home stretch.