5 days into my new life as an Oakland resident. Panic over no furniture, fewer friends on this side of the Transberlin Wall, and a general sense of “What have I done?” tempered by typing this in front of a door open to a lush garden, and friends promising to visit very soon.
Plotting my new apartment, I’ve decided to go for themes; the bedroom – oldtimey-trainhopping-depressionera-tarnishedglamour, the kitchen – black-white-modern-finnish-with a dash of hippie, the living room – technicolor mexicana bruja. I’m a little bothered by the cream walls. A lot bothered, but it seems unlikely I will be allowed to paint. I’ll have to work with wall coverings & curtain color to change the feel of the light. My attempt at painting all the kitchen furniture black has thus far been a disaster – wrong paint, wrong color, wrong application. Let’s see if I can take what I’ve learned and turn it around. Strip, sand, thin coats of a latex based wood enamel. That’s what I’d recommend now.
+ secret visits from cats
+ late night ship watching adventures
+ the sound of the train whistle
+ the smell of cypress
+ hummingbirds in the garden
+ fat red teapots
Anna at D16
1 year ago
Yay, I’m excited you’re going to be writing about your new place! It looks like a dream cottage, cream walls or not.
I had cream walls (and brown trim, ick) in the house I was renting before I bought my building, and it was difficult to work. I have so much stuff that’s WHITE, and it just made the walls look dirty. Warm woods looked great with it, so did blues and reds that had a little gray in them.
Will the owner let you paint if you promise to stick to white, at least? Or if you promise to re-paint it cream when you leave?
BTW, leaving LJ was a huge relief for me. I cannot even tell you. Knowing that my blog is totally public now really keeps me from dwelling on things that are unhealthy for me to obsess over!