Our $500 Facelift - Part 1 - Looking Good

Astrologically speaking, 2 Cancers living together equals some serious pressure on the crab shell to satisfy a wide range of nesting needs.

Add to that the fact my wish list is quite different from Robins; he wants to stay ahead of structural weaknesses and has some clear ideas about landscaping, whereas I want the building to be extremely energy efficient with the ability to function off-grid if necessary.

Our wee home has brought us both more than halfway to our goals, for which we are very grateful. But prior to mapping out further depletion of our nestegg, we agreed it was time to inject some colour into our surroundings. After 8 months of living in the house, experiencing dark days and bright full mooned nights, it seemed the calming, austere palette wasn’t working for us.

It was time to paint.
And paint we did, from the inside front door foyer, through the living room, down the hall to the bedroom, the office, kitchen and dining/sun room.

One full week, five rooms, seven colours … (and two feedings from friends and family)

From the front door, a turquoise called Wasaga Beach runs from the foyer, folding around two sides of the living room where it meets a wall of Vermillion.

These three walls are balanced with a warm grey covering the north-south expanse, the longest in the house. We had applied a beautiful, lemony yellow on this wall but found it too intense, even for us.


The arches in the closest, foyer and hallway are now fully three dimensional, popped out or sunken with contrast, and the ultrawhite woodwork and ceilings now appears pristine.

The warm grey continues south, now appearing sepia tinted, backing a gallery, which once was a hallway pass through.

The bedroom is three sides Victory Garden green, inspired by and matching perfectly a felt-like throw we recently brought home from Ikea.




The remaining fourth wall, the only in the room without a door or window, is coated with a different, warmer and greener grey.












The kitchen, once oak cupboards and pastel walls trimmed with wallpaper, is now backed in deep Balsamic with celery-like Spring Fling cupboards.




Continuing our favour of 3 walls one colour–1 wall another, we’ve applied the purple brown to 3 and covered 1 in the green.







The 10.5 ‘ x 8.5’ dining room was cool and soft, and quite bright even in the evening. Too bright for me but the sun's warmth provides much of the heat.





With the three outside walls being 80% window, I wanted to see more depth in the room, more character and warmth.






Now, the room boasts five sides of Victory Garden green, as we’ve painted the ceiling as well. The horizontal blinds are gone, replaced with Roman blinds in cream and red plaid, lined very well to prevent drafts and block blinding afternoon sun.






Its cosy and fresh, like sitting beneath a weeping willow with green arching up the solid, trunk-like wall, blocking the sky, branching down occasionally to interrupt the 180 degree window view to the outside. Some see Christmas, but we see Lodge.


My office, which is also the spare room, is study-like with three grey walls and one of green balancing the wood of the shelving, floor and furniture.




Robin’s work looks brilliant throughout the house, newly framed with these strong colours, debunking the myth the paintings show best on neutral walls, and I’ve re-set all our blinds flush within the window frames, patching the holes from where they were mounted on the outside top.



As tricky and stressful as it was to choose colours and colour combinations, to patch and tape and sometimes work freehand edging one colour to another, to disassemble the kitchen and paint cupboards, replacing hardware, as hard as that all was, the big worry for me was finding the right source for paint.

Of course, I’d done my research; Part 2 - Feeling Good