Studyin'

The majority of my work is done here in our lovely study. When we bought our Queen Anne Victorian some 9 years ago, it was a bedroom and the ugliest room in the house. Three walls had wallpaper with pink and blue rosebuds on it, then a third wall had burgundy paper on it. The ceiling was papered with nasty stuff that had years of stains. All of it was threatening to come down, as if that mattered. I wrestled with what I was going to do to the room. We had found a cool, original painting out in the barn, an Impressionistic scene of old men around a pot-bellied stove. It was to go above the mantel and wound up informing me what to do with the room. Ken said he wanted it to feel like a man cave in there, so I chose a wall color that would coordinate with the picture. Then the real work began...

Daughter Elizabeth was my assistant for my decorative painting business (how dare that gal go off and get hitched?) We set to work scraping the mess off the walls. Underneath everything was plaster. Half the paper wanted to fall off, the other half wanted to stick like glue. We spent a month trying to get it at least somewhat smooth, then set about getting it primed. Since there were still bits of paper still clinging to the walls and ceiling, we had to Kilz it with oil-based B-I-N primer. That stuff is beast. We were up on scaffolding in the 12-foot-high ceiling, having a fine old time. The tunes were piping out of my phone and we were enjoying dancing and singing while we worked. Ken arrived home from work and bellowed "why don't you have the windows open?!" Suddenly I understood where some of that joy was coming from and why we were starting to see visions of Elvis. The fumes were thick and noxious. Pretty soon, Liz and I were laid out, sick at our stomachs and higher than two kites in the wind. We threw open all the outside portals, turned on the fans and passed out on the front porch.

After a few days of recovery, we started up again. I faux-finished the painted trim to match the other half that was stained, used textured paint to finish the ceiling, then sueded the walls with a rich mushroom color. Ken built gorgeous wall-to-wall shelves for our mountain of books. The old guys and their stove went above the mantel and we were done. I've enjoyed this room immensely and practically live in it. It's where folks visit me, it's where I do most of my work, practice my music and write stuff. But I am a lover of light, and it's starting to feel like a cave in here. Yesterday I started pulling books and tchotchkes off the shelves and throwing them into boxes. Anything that doesn't spark joy (Marie Kondo, you devil) is headed to the Good Will store tomorrow.  I gotta get some light in here and get rid of all this clutter. Who knows...we might just start over, me and ole' Elvis.