Memorial Day Weekend Update

We didn’t go anywhere. We stayed home and initiated the inevitable pack-and-move process by clearing out clutter and staging the house.

• Kids’ rooms – cleared and staged.
• Family room – toys culled, room staged.
• Living room – furniture culled, drapes simplified.
• Dining room – drapes simplified.
• Master bedroom – bonus! new paint. Furniture culled.
• Kitchen – bonus! new paint. drapes simplified.

We put a notably small number of boxes in the garage for storage; and we threw away a surprisingly smaller amount of stuff overall. We did cull out a whole bunch of children’s clothes that have outlived their useful life. That alone made a big, big difference.

The kitchen walls are now a buttery kind of orangey-yellow. It’s hard to describe. But it contrasts the white woodwork against the sunny yellow tile backsplash, updating the color palette while keeping the period feel of the kitchen. The room now ‘pops’.

Same thing with the master bedroom. Though the pinky-taupe color was neutral enough, it just didn’t ‘pop.’ Now, the color is a sort of pale thundercloud blue/gray that plays well with the still-pink ceiling and imbues a sense of 1920’s color sense to the room. Like the kitchen, the woodwork now stands out with the new color, without making the room seem small. It’s a nice, new, updated color that seems quite neutral but delivers something on first impression.

It was hard for the kids to go through the culling process. They did an altogether good job, though. I think that, by the end of the weekend, they felt happier in their rooms because they knew what they had and where it was. They also knew that what was gone was often of little consequence, really.

So. We’re ready for the next showing to be a slam-dunk as every room vibrates with space, grandeur, good taste, fresh paint, and livability. Just in time, too. We’re ready to be done and moving on back.

In the meantime we may take advantage of the upcoming Laurelhurst neighborhood garage sale weekend to sell off unwanted items.

When we land back at the Lesser Way house, we’re going to be simplified on the inside, that’s for sure.