It Stung Me!

I have a new bee in my bonnet that keeps buzzing around and around. I want to redecorate my living room! Well, I've wanted to do that for a long time—almost since we moved in. But now I really want to redecorate it. First I want to attack the fireplace. Yes, I do mean attack; with a sledgehammer.

Before we bought our house the entire thing was PINK: pink carpet throughout, Pepto-Bismol pink walls in one bedroom, pink roses on the wallpaper in the master bedroom, mauve countertops. Ugh! A product of the 80's, decorated by a lover-of-pink. Our fireplace is made of faux stone, in reddish-brown to pinky colors, and I just don't really like it. I guess I don't entirely hate it, but I don't care for it. So I want to pound out the stone and redo the fireplace in tile. I looked at it pretty closely a few days ago, and I really think it would come out fairly easily—provided I can muster up the brute strength it will require. It would take 35 square feet of tile to refinish it, so I think it could be a less-than-$100 project.

Jessica, as Vanna, showing off my tile selection. I'd use a darkish-brown grout.

Here are my swell fireplace drawings that I spent hours and hours on (mostly because I just kept measuring wrong—also I am apparently incapable of making parallel diagonal lines). The shaded tiles are 4-inches square, in an accent color (the ones I like are kind of bronzey). Which tile layout do you like best . . .

. . . the diagonal layout (above), or the straight layout (below)?

The diagonal layout would require more cutting of tiles, and would take a few more tiles than the straight layout. But that's not a terribly big deal. I think. (No, I'm not painting the walls in a white and blue plaid pattern.)

I also really want to paint. Our walls were done in cheap, ugly white paint just before we moved into the house in April 2000. A lot of it has chipped and peeled, and what's still physically intact is just plain dirty. [Hmmm. I'm afraid I am making my house sound incredibly unattractive. At least, for the most part, it isn't pink any more.]

Well, anyway, I want to paint most of the walls in a creamy-tannish color (the actual color I chose is called "Almond Oil"), leaving the doors and casings white. Then I want to do the wall behind the fireplace in a deep color. I had a hard time choosing a good color because that particular wall continues into the kitchen, which is open to the livingroom. And while the living room has sage-colored carpet, the kitchen counters, you remember, are mauve. But I finally did find a color that matches both rooms nicely; kind of a brick-red (actually a lot like the current fireplace color).

If it's possible to do nicely, I'd like to repaint the iron railing that's between the kitchen and livingroom and follows down the stairs. Right now the railings are painted with cheap, white, peeling paint; I'd like them to be matte black. And if it could be done well, I'd like to put a wood cap on the tops of the rails too.

And then, if money were no object I would also replace the sage carpet for wood or laminate flooring. That would be nice! And I would replace the mauve countertops with something much more neutral. Maybe re-do the kitchen cabinets while I'm at it. And put tile on the kitchen floor. And buy a new couch. And hey! New chairs for the kitchen, too!

But for now I'm just dreaming of doing the fireplace and the painting. Who knows? Maybe in a couple of weeks . . .