The Firewall…Creating a Creative Space

This is a selfie…oh, I know…I just booed about this…but I’d just gone for an interview that resulted in a new job!

I am starting my own company as you may well know. Equine Publishing is very close to becoming operational.  All the furnishings are in place.  Most of the legalities are taken care of.  I am getting close.  Exciting!

What has been bothering me lately is the colour of the room.  I’ve never really liked it.  In fact, when I purchased the place, both bedrooms were done in chocolate and tan.  The colours made the rooms cavernous and rather blah as far as I was concerned.

My home office at about 10:00 AM today.

I painted my bedroom a lovely sage green. It is a restful colour, a soothing colour.  My daughter, however,  liked the colour of the room so I left it.

Now that she’s moved out and I ‘ve transformed it into my office, a space that I want to be creative in, the colour had to change.  I pondered my choices.

The idea of a burnt orange, a deep autumn colour held a great deal of appeal.  So it was off to explore and I brought home swatches and taped them to the wall.

I wanted vibrant.  I wanted heat.

The home office at 10:00 PM this evening

At first I considered doing the entire room in the chosen colour  Lunch with the girls on Sunday convinced me otherwise.  It would be too much for a space that wasn’t very big.  So I would keep the feature wall, that was currently chocolate and paint it Caribbean Spice ( a deep orange). The other three walls would be painted Salmonberry which has a peachy tinge to it.

I’ve never had an orange room before.

Last night I hit the hardware store and got them to concoct my colour schemes.  I felt that curl of excitement race through me.  I love to paint a room for a particular purpose.

Trust me when I tell you some of my choices in years past have become legendary and not for all the right reasons either.  Still they are remembered by friends fondly and sarcastically.  And you know, I’m fine with that.  If there is one thing I’ve always done it’s take chances with room colours.

Approximately twenty years ago I had been living in the basement suite of a house and had the opportunity to move upstairs.

The walls were a dull beige in colour, the kitchen had brown tiles and the rest of the house had glorious hardwood!

It was an old house built back in the 1930’s.  One of the owners had developed the attic into a loft.

I had been in a year long depression around that time and I was emerging from it.

I found the rooms drab and depressing so I asked the landlord if I could paint the place.  Affirmative and I could submit the cost of the paint and they would reimburse me.

The attic, which was my daughter’s bedroom and space, was done in a dusty rose.

My bedroom and the spare bedroom were done in a light lavender.  The kitchen was done in white and baby blue.  The floor tiles replaced with white and nave tiles and the living room was done in white and pink.

And the bathroom…well, it has become something of a legend.

This I did in florescent lime green.

Even with the lights off I swear it glowed in the dark.  Some will tell you they needed sunglasses on to enter.  Some will say it burnt out their retinas.  Of course, they are being a little mellow dramatic.  Still, I do admit that it was extraordinarily bright.

I like vibrant colours though, particularly in living spaces.  A bedroom for sure needs to be done in muted and calming colours.  I do like warmth in my choices though.

Today was an adventure in a new product I’d never tried before.  I opted to try the combination of paint and primer for the chocolate wall that I was transforming into a deep, burnt orange.  I figured I could save myself some time.

At 10:20 AM my saga began.  At 7:30 PM it had more or less ended.  I still have a bit of trim to do.

The chocolate wall required six coats and close to a gallon of paint.  The other three walls in Salmonberry required two coats of paint with a bit left over for trim.

The time frame noted above includes prep and clean up.

My body is stupidly tired and stiff.  I’ve a feeling that waking on the morrow might well be a painful experience.

Ahhhh! What we do for our art!

Still, its important if this is to be the space where I am to create masterfully crafted stories.

I need the insanity of colour. I need the rich heat.  I need to feel like the walls will burn me if touched.

And I would love to hear from my fellow wordsmiths what colours inspire them.

As stated I’ve never had an orange room before.  After six coats of paint I’m delighted with my choice of colour on the feature wall.

A hot shower, pain relief spray and some Tylenol will hopefully make waking tomorrow tolerable.

It has never taken me this long to paint one room before.

And this was an important choice as noted.

And please I would love to know what colour schemes inspire and entice you.  Let me know. Cheers!