Going to Bed with a Clean Conscience-- and a Clean Ceiling

Saturday morning: the day to start painting the ceilings. I woke up in good time, and got out my eight or so little paint cards and stuck them to the ceiling so we could all evaluate which color looked nicest with our new walls.

Hmm. Cashmere white? No, it's a little too gray.

Meringue Peaks? Ooh, too yellow against the yellow walls.

White? Too stark.

Soft Linen? Sugar Wafer? Dandelion? Nooo, maybe not.

Cocoa Mocha? Absolutely not! Too pinky brown. Looks AWFUL.

Ahh. Here's the perfect one: VANILLA CREME. (It was even unanimous.)

So we were off to Walmart, jiggity-jig; and home again, home again, jiggety-jog.

And with a little help, I got the kitchen/dining room ceilings all painted. Done!

And in the process I got a new ceiling fan.

See, when Hubby went to take the ceiling fan down so I could paint around it, he discovered the mounting was broken. (Oh so that's why it was hanging kinda crooked and funny all summer....) As we debated how to deal with this unexpected turn of events, I suddenly remembered that we had a brand new ceiling fan stored away. We bought it a while back--a LONG while back-- hoping to use it in our porch, and haven't installed it yet. I brought it out, and lo, it matches the dining room light we bought relatively recently, and also the new futon. And also the new floor lamp. Score!

So now the ceiling is wonderfully clean (painting beats scrubbing in my book). And the color, while being close to what we had before, is different enough to feel fresh. Besides, the Vanilla Creme paint, especially dumped out in the paint tray, really does look like some kind of creamy dessert element.

In addition, we bought it in satin, which, as far as I can tell, is not supposed to be used on ceilings, but we like a bit of sheen on our ceilings. This part of our house has unusually low ceilings, which is a very loong story; just know that it's not our fault! Anyway, the mild glossiness gives the ceiling gentle reflective properties which make the ceilings seem higher and the room seem bigger. At least, we think so.

And when I cleaned up the mess (the papers and dropcloths and paint smears and dishes from supper that I didn't clean up because I was painting and the painting supplies) I discovered that underneath it all my kitchen was actually clean. And so is my dining room. So hey, it may be ridiculously late, like, it's really Sunday morning now, but I can sleep the sleep of the just tonight!