Speaking of Spring and Red...

Some of you know and some do not that we are located in Dunwoody, Geogia. And, that we are planning to move to the west coast within the next year. What that means is that we need to sell our house. And that means STAGING it. Having had a Staging business and been a trainer in the field qualifies me to stage and do it beautifully. I have staged two houses for my daughter Aimee and husband Jason. They have sold in good time for the market and with rave reviews about how the houses looked. Enough bragging! It is time to do my own house now. This is equivalent to a surgeon operating on herself I have been told. Well, we will make a stab at it and then call in my dear friend Jeanne, Stager extraordinaire, and her friend, Aimee's realtor and now good friend, Cheryl for their input.

What does all of this have to do with Spring and Red? OK, when we bought this house some 16 years ago the house was still decorated with the original 1970 colors, avacado green, gold, and orange! Also, we had been in the Navy for 30 years, living in quarters or houses that we would have to turn around quickly, so all of the colors were beige-beigy beigy, beigy pinky, beigy icky, you get the idea. It was time for my wildness and love of color to explode all over the walls of this new to us house we planned to live in forever more. (Best laid plans) Hence, RED!

The powder room was the only room small enough to handle this RED tulip wallpaper I fell in love with. It reminds me of Spring everytime I look at it (I still love it!) However, both the color red and wallpaper have become outdated, especially for staging and selling a house. So, I must remove it and oh yes, the other layer of pastel daisy wallpaper under it and somehow create a smooth wall for paint. Easier said than done. The tulip paper came off easily. Now I am left with a layer of paste on top of the old paper which is imbedded in the wallboard because the builder did not prep the wall for paper. AHHHH!

Step 1: Remove tulip paper CHECK

Step 2: Remove paste and really ugly daisy paper Time to google solutions! Any ideas wouldbe greatly appreciated.

More later.

Signs of Spring

Every year for as many as I can remember, the first sign of Spring blooming has been the daffodils and forsythia. The color of Spring has always been bright, sunshiny yellow. I’ve seen forsythia blooming around the neighborhood, but not in our yard this year as we decided to take down the out of control bush in the Fall. And, with our crazy weather, all the daffodils have succumb to frost.

This year is different. Outside the window by my desk are two camellia bushes. They are finally blooming in all their glory and the color is the most gorgeous shade of crimson red. And then, today when I arrived home I noticed the twig wreath with red berries that I put on the front door after the holidays. It was on sale and since it didn’t scream “Christmas”, I figured it could brighten the otherwise drab winter days yet to come. Once there, it was forgotten. As I approached the house I noticed a long raffia like streamer hanging from the wreath. As I walked up to the door, I was amazed by the most perfect wren’s nest I’ve ever seen, tucked in amongst the pine cones and twigs and berries of the wreath; the opening to the nest, a perfect circle. It is a delightful reminder that Spring is indeed here.

Now our front door is not to be opened until the wrens are finished with the nest and the babies have flown to bigger and better places. I am thankful for garage access to the house!

I love that the new color of Spring is Red!