It’s green.
This ex-NFL football-player-turned-pastor gave DP and Tara this ornate, round coffee table (on which I broke the glass while it was in the mezzanine at church when I dropped my computer on it, corner first, yikes…was removing shards of glass for months from my little Dell) and one day, after we exchanged the beloved red couch for the sectional in the family room, I realized I needed a round coffee table, really needed one. I called Tara to ask for this one (knowing I’d have to replace the glass), she said yes and then it sat in my garage until I knew exactly what the heck to do with it. It had a beautiful dark brown finish, with slight gilding to accent the carvings and it is as heavy and solid as can be – as if it were made for an NFL football player. But I didn’t want it to look like it was made to look, for crying out loud! I sought to humble it a little. *smile
during the sanding process
Plus, I’d been looking to cheer up my surroundings a bit since the red couch was gone (*sniff, sniff) – needed something outside the ordinary. For the sectional is perfectly neutral – just waiting to be told what to do.
I considered painting the table white to add brightness, then asked my daughters and sister-in-law for their advice: should I paint it dark or white or maybe a zany color that I love? And the resounding consensus was that anything can be re-painted so I should use a color I adore. And so I did.
the first coat goes on…{paint was custom-mixed from a piece of grandbebe artwork right off my wall}
After I painted it, I looked around the house to see bits of this color was everywhere!
It is the color of my computer and a jacket I love. It is part of the Luke’s HF green in designs and artwork on my walls by my kids when they were little and my grandbebes now. It is the color of my notebooks and planner and the fresh limes on my counter and the inside of the avocado I had for lunch recently. It is the color of some handpainted stoneware saucers I have and most anything printed by Heaven Fest during the past year. It is spring green – the leaf, tender and moist, just bursting forth from the bud when you have all but given up hope of winter ever being over.
“Are those fingerprints on there already?!,” you ask. Is the sky blue? Is there a God in heaven? Do I have 6 grandbebes? Did I have about 60 people at my house for a party last night? Yes. There are fingerprints on the new coffee table already: the sign of a lived-in, loved-in home. ;p
It is what Candi coined as “Jeanie green.”
My coffee table is a raucous green. And now I must add bright-colored throw pillows and move the sepia family tree art and the antique intaglias from the stair wall. Yes, this one simple act now requires more change, as almost any project upon which I embark does. But I will be energized and happy in my family room, where delightful things always happen! And where the coffee table is, unapologetically, green.
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UPDATE 09.19.10 omygoodness!
I was reading an article in the Traditional Home magazine I got in the mail this week (October issue) and there was an article about designer Tobi Fairley using earth-friendly tactics such as salvaging discarded furniture and decorative items to be as environmentally-friendly as possible. Of the design featured she said, “People are looking for ways to take older things and make them fresh again. Recycling makes for more interesting interiors. Nobody else is going to have your grandmther’s furniture painted chartruese. That is going to add so much personality to the space.”
Good. I needed that confirmation that I didn’t just fall right off the deep end!