oh to have color on the walls.....

okay blog friends. i must tell you of my journey - not of finding my purpose in life, or feeling at total peace about helping my kids know the character of God, or even with the perfect, cheap, quick meal to make for my family.

this is my journey to have some color on my walls. it's been a long journey, friends. it started when we bought our house in 2004. it was a new house. an older couple had built the house and could no longer care for the responsibilities of having a house. they had put maroon carpet throughout the house. this is where the problem was. when we moved into the house, we had navy blue furniture and all cherry-colored wood tables. with the carpet being so dark and our furniture being dark, the officer did not want any color on the walls. this past year we have repainted almost the whole interior of the house, but with an light off-white color. you may ask isn't off-white a light color and i would say, "yes it is, but it was the lighter of the off-whites!" the officer didn't want to feel like he was in a cave.

a while ago i asked the officer if i could paint our bathroom with a little bit of color since the linoleum was white. he said, "yes, but not a dark color." i had put off painting because i really wanted a darker color than he wanted.

here are some before pictures of the bathroom.



i wanted to paint while we were doing this no television in july thing. i asked the officer again if i could just paint any color i wanted. he agreed and i immediately went to lowes to get some paint samples.

i brought home about 60 paint samples ranging from off-white (even though i knew i would not do this), greens, beige, chocolate browns, yellows, and reds! i went through the bulk of them and showed the officers my favorites. i knew he was not going to be crazy about all the colors, but i made him pick a dark and a light color he could live with. we picked out the colors garden of paradise (green) and cliveden sandstone (beige).

i went the next day to get the paint. we had almost all the other supplies left over from our last painting job. i don't think the officer really thought i would do it so quickly. i started painting tuesday night. i stayed up until 1 a.m. painting. i got everything finished except around the ceiling. i couldn't reach the ceiling on a chair to tape it up. the officer taped it up for me on wednesday and i finished painting it wednesday night.

except for a couple of small hiccups, it looks great! i think the green may be slightly darker than the picture makes it look. i'm so happy with it!!!! so here it is:

i had a little bit of a hard time with deciding how to decorate it. i'm only halfway finished. however, i couldn't wait to post what i've done so far. since i don't need a shower curtain or have a window in the bathroom i was trying to find something to help pull the two colors together.

i had gotten the two crosses from the treasure chest. i bought another one from hobby lobby. they always have their wall decoration 1/2 price - love it. i also purchased the verse from hobby lobby (also 1/2 price). it says rejoice in the Lord - phillipians 4:4. it also had the word "always" with the verse but it was gold and i didn't like it with the crosses.

since i was having some trouble find decorations to pull the two colors together a little, i decided to paint a canvas with the two colors. you can't quite tell because of the flash, but the canvas is painted beige and i stenciled the swirls on there with the same green color as the walls. very easy to do.


i had this big frame in the closet waiting to do something with it. i found a black and white picture of a celtic cross in front of a church online and printed it off. i like the look and it goes with the other crosses.

i am really getting into the verses on the wall. i know it's more of a trend now, but i like it. i have another place in my hallway that i'm going to put another verse. i'll post a picture of that soon. i have to buy some picture frames to go with it first.

anyhow the verses on the walls always remind me of:

Dueteronomy 11:18-20

Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you like down, and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.

don't you love that verse???? i do. it has really stuck with me every since i first heard it. you may ask yourself how much do i have to work on memorizing scripture or teaching it to my children, but it says it right there in dueturonomy.

always.

forever.

so there's my bathroom. i have to find some more decorations for it. wait for more sales because i just can't bring myself to pay full price for something when i know i can get it cheaper! :)