After venturing down memory lane yesterday and blogging about my first home, I found I had a deluge of memories come flooding back.  Writing about my first date with Mr. Renovate, who later became my hubby, I was reminded of another funny incident.   After refinishing the hardwood floors I decided that the living/dining room needed painting (again!).  My colour choices were inspired by a charming old brick building I had noticed on my daily journey to work via public transit.  The building had aged terra-cotta coloured bricks and trim work painted a wonderful deep historical blue.  Popular colours in the 80’s.  I thought that with my hardwood floors, white trim, blue/white striped sofa the historical blue and deep terra-cotta paint colours would complement well.  So my date (now bumped up to boyfriend status) and I painted the blue on all the walls except the stair wall which was to be painted as a feature wall in terra-cotta.  But that darned feature wall was giving us problems.  The first time we painted it – not good, second time we painted it – streaked with white.    So the third time (days later) when we painted this terra-cotta feature wall we purchased new rollers, brushes and another can of paint.  I told boyfriend “OK, this is the last time – let’s get this right”.  He was going to paint and I was going to make some popcorn to celebrate the successful completion.  So out to the kitchen I go and just as I was bending over getting the pot out of the bottom cupboard I felt something hit me.  Something wet and runny!  My date/Mr. Renovate/boyfriend had followed me into the kitchen and had been vigorously shaking the paint can when the lid popped off and I was now covered in terra-cotta paint from head to toe!!!    We never did have our popcorn nor was the painting completed that night but we still laugh about the time I became the painted feature!        

Eating Popcorn with Mr. Renovate!

I have a confession.  I am one of those people who before reading a greeting card (birthday, thank-you etc.)  turn it over and check out the ‘label’ on the back. GUILTY!   Now I know that some people take offence to this and feel slighted by my ‘flipping action’ but that back page tells so much about the card.  On the back is a notation about the front page art or artist, or what charity is responsible for the card, or what country the card originated in, or whether the card is 100% recycled.  Etc. Etc.  Once I have these details I can then take my time on enjoying the inside of the card.  Just my standard procedure.  Now while on confessions, I have another one.  When I am perusing through books, the hard cover kind, I always fold back the dust jacket to reveal the cover.  I run my hand over it to feel the texture; some are smooth, some are rougher.  Very tactile.  I prefer when the hardcover is void of any printing or decorations.  But my favourite part of the reveal is to see the colour of the book’s hardcover.  The colour that was chosen for that particular book can tell so much.  Classic design books, often black.  Fashion tomes, the colours of the rainbow.  Cookbooks, travel books – limitless.  I love finding orange books, or chartreuse, or bright pink, canary yellow and robin’s egg blue.  A stack of great coloured books (sans dust jacket) sitting on a coffee table can add so much to a room   I once found two old books (vintage romance –sweet stories) that had the colour and texture of linen.  So…….who else is guilty of this fascination?!!

I love the colour orange.  Orange is my new red.  So often orange is mistaken for the orange of the 70’s, an unfair reputation that has been hard to shake.  But look around; the orange of today is classier and more tasteful, seen in interiors ranging from traditional to contemporary.  A colour that was once so prevalent in pop-culture has now made a transition to commonplace; although there is nothing ‘common’ about orange.  Orange is a combination of red and yellow so it shares some common characteristics with those colours, but orange has less intensity and aggression than red as it is calmed by the yellow.  When red is combined with dark woods in interiors it often gives the room an identity of Asian-inspired or Zen-like, whereas orange has its own identity and speaks of your own personal style.  To decorate with orange or even to wear orange indicates confidence and a sense of playfulness.  The colour orange has been synonymous with autumn and if coordinated with too much black it reads ‘Halloween’.  But to highlight a neutral palette, add a splash of orange in any season and your room will read ‘current’.  Stay away from the complementary colours that sit opposite from orange on the colour wheel like blues as your room will start to feel Moroccan.  (Unless that is what you are after.)  I have a lot of orange accessories in my home; vases, cushions, artwork, throws.  But my favourite pieces of orange that I have are my two orange lamps.  The lamps were recently passed down to me from a favourite aunt who had them in her living room.  The lamps were part of an unchanged ‘70’s décor that was coordinated with purple and brown!  Truly a blast from the past.  I had always admired these lamps so after the passing (sadly) of this aunt these lamps made their way into my home.  The cousins had no idea why I would want these ‘ugly’ lamps and were about to throw them into the dumpster!  I like to think I saved a bit of ‘history’.  The original lamp shades were gold and almost 24 inches high, appropriate for a ‘70’s style.  I replaced the shades with white drum shades and voila, new, re-interpreted, up-to-date, contemporary lamps were born.  So if you are looking for a hit of something new “squeeze a bit of orange’ into your room!