Back to work...

After spending a relaxing extra-long weekend in the Smoky Mountains, it's back to business as usual. I was really proud of myself on vacation; aside from one middle-of-the-night anxiety attack about the living room colors the night before we came home, I didn't think about the house at all. Seriously. I'm very impressed with myself. Here's the obligatory we-were-really-there picture:
We were dumb enough to start our hike in the afternoon, so we got stuck in a thunderstorm. We were soaked by the time we got to the waterfall, but it was warm enough that it wasn't really a bad thing. I was very glad that we both had waterproof boots, since our feet were warm and dry (and that really makes a huge difference). Hiking made me realize how much I missed backpacking, and my goal is to make sure I go at least one weekend a month so that I don't get so stressed out and caught up in the house. I didn't even realize how much the house was stressing me out until we left.

Of course the house here waiting for me when we got home, in all it's half-finished glory. Half finished... That must be the optimist in me. We have one room about 75% complete; I can't even realistically call the house half-finished. Maybe one-tenth. Maybe.

Regardless, I'm much happier with the living room colors than I was when we left. I'm not sure if the week of rain affected my thinking or perceptions, but the red seemed too dark and the gold too much of a contrast. When we got home last night, they seemed very welcoming and inviting. Today, they're downright cheery. Once the floor is lighter, it'll open the room back up a little again, and having furniture and decoration will break everything up. I'm much more confident now that these colors will work in the room and look the way I imagined them.

I spent today putting the second coat of gold on the ceiling and walls, so I'm just about done. The red still looks a bit shiny in spots, so I'm probably going to put on a third coat just to be sure. Here is how the living room looked as of an hour or so ago. The top photo is the best for the red, but the "Hubbard Squash" is off in all the pics. It's a much warmer yellow/gold than the photos show.