Chasing Teal

Yes, that "e - a", as in teal. Wherever was your mind headed?

You know how sometimes you first see or experience something and find it repellent, and then later find it growing on you? That's happened with me. My first, second, even third sights of the blue-green bathroom off the master bedroom in Arizona made me shudder. I'm a basic blue-blue or grey-blue kind of gal. Or for that matter, a grey-green kind of gal. Heather tones, if you will. Aquas, turquoises, any greenish blues or bluish greens you care to name were just not where I was going. So my first sights of that bathroom resulted in your basic, "Ooh, that's gotta go."

Just like the carpets and wallpaper. Only, they are going to go. Dirt, allergies, peeling, ugly: name your reasons.

My first inkling that something was changing happened in Target a few weeks back. I had some time while waiting for a prescription, and started browsing through the store. I kept being drawn to the blue-greens in the bath section. A couple visits later I actually purchased two sets of towels (bath sheets for us bigger folks) and wash cloths. They're packed in the open-me-first bathroom box for the move, including soaps and TP, stuff you need right away. First box I packed, actually. The towels were kind of an if-you-can't-beat-'em-join-'em thing. I certainly couldn't see putting copen blue towels in an aqua bathroom, any more than I could see having to pack our favorite large towels back and forth with the seasons.

Then there was the day I was watching some kind of a makeover show on HGTV. I spend a lot of hours watching over there lately. Somewhere in the back of my head was the idea I might just get an idea I liked, rather than the hundreds I laughed at. It was also fun to make a which-will-they-choose? game out of the shows, as well as a what-a-bunch-of-whiners ongoing commentary when noses got stuck up way to high to be satisfied with anything. Rooms too small, kitchens and bathrooms only updated 10 years ago instead of last month, etc. Plus there's the education of learning terms like "en suite", or traveling via TV to places I'll never go in real life.

Anyway, I saw a room with a teal wall with white trim. I actually loved it! An idea was hatched.

That master bedroom has a 13' long wall, unbroken by windows or doorways. I'm going to paint that a nice deep teal. The other three walls will be more of a pastel teal, one of those complimentary colors the paint colors pre-select for you in the matching-but-lighter/darker paint sample cards. Ceiling and doors/trim will be white. The floor is already a lighter wood laminate, so that part is done. The color samples I carry around in my pocketbook now, having selected the exact ones I want. One gallon teal, two gallons pastel, and a lot of white. It's going on all the ceilings and trim, every room, and likely some of the walls, like in the den or closets. But that's for later. Closer to moving time, gives the paint less time to separate out after mixing.

What's going to make this really pop is the rest of what I'm going to do with that 13' wall. There'll be a bed in the middle, approximately. Maybe a bit towards the window, away from the closet, away from the door to the hall so it looks like the room is even bigger. It'll be a queen, with an underbed storage platform that extends the full way to the floor. That's to keep out dust bunnies and mites, and keep cleaning simpler. Allergies and laziness make good guiding principals in home decor. It'll also be white, though any drawer fronts will be dark teal to match the back wall. I'm thinking about adding 4x4 routered newell posts - if that's the term - on the corners to force us to walk a wider path around the bed so we don't keep knocking knees the way Steve does on his platform bed.

He's still recovering from the last knock.

Around the bed, stacked up along the wall to a height of 6', will be white shelves, drawers, and cubes, partly modular and partly combinations with "found" pieces of old furniture, somewhat ecclectic, all storage, and again, any drawer fronts painted teal.

Among other things this clears the rest of the room of the need for dressers and other assorted pieces of furniture. The tiny room I inhabit now is jam packed with furniture all around the edges and it's hard to move most of the time. Set something down and a path is eliminated.

I started hunting furniture stores and places like Home Depot in the cabinets and closets sections. Nothing quite matched my mental image, and even less my budget. I finally hit Target in the closet storage section. They have a brand called Closet Maid that offers modular pieces that can be mixed, matched, and stacked. Last week I used a 5% discount they gave me for using their pharmacy and did some serious shopping.

The (9) boxes remain stacked in a spare bit of space, unassembled until we get down there, scrape wallpaper off and apply paint, and can turn Paul loose. By then there'll be a drawing he can follow of which goes where. (And he'll tell me which can't.) I have a plan for him to top it off at 6' with something that ties it all together in a uniform look, and makes the bed actually built in with a custom surround measured to fit after all else is assembled.

Part of that custom build is a headboard/wall. It'll have horizontal white wood pieces spaced to let the teal show through, just like it will through the backs of some of the cubes. Attached to those pieces will be a semicircular mirror I picked up at auction a couple years back, knowing it was going to be moved to Arizona and be used there somehow. It's also beveled, double layered in design using clear and smoked glass. That will be the focal piece of the room.

The only hitch so far is the bed.  I can custom order exactly what I want if I care to spend about $7,000. I don't think so: still haven't won that lottery. I can order it from Ikea if I want particleboard for about $350. Again, uh-uh. My next bet is to try waterbeds, both in the only remaining store left in the state, or in ads to sell used ones. I know they are sturdy, and I'm not averse to sanding, re-priming, and painting.Years ago I had one, double storage pedestal, all wood construction, queen sized. Add back problems, and doctor's orders to switch to a standard, sturdy mattress. I don't have that any more. It's twin would be ideal. Preferably somewhere that they don't care if I make three trips to pick it up in order to cram it all in the back of my hatchback.

Make that 5 trips.

Meanwhile each day I'm out driving I'm busy planning another aspect of the room, or the living room, or tile floors, or ....   Hey, it's cheap entertainment. At least until the purse comes out.