Surprise! A whole new room!

I've been feeling a bit restless lately. Maybe it's because we have been denied a true spring and are still stuck in winter-like weather. Maybe it's because my neighbor/friend/running partner sold her house and is leaving me. Maybe I'm just in a rut. Whatever it is, I've been feeling like my house is closing in on my lately. Too much stuff. Too much clutter. Too little "ahhhhs."

Anyway, to cure myself of this feeling, I've been watching some HGTV. Ok, maybe a lot of HGTV. Alright, alright ... a TON of HGTV. Well, I started to get some ideas floating around in my brain.

Cory knows it's dangerous when I start to get ideas, and I think he gets very scared. So, instead of scaring him, I decided to surprise him. He was going out of town on Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon for the Berkshire Hathaway stockholders meeting in Omaha. This was going to be my chance.

I had been tiring of our bedroom for a while now. We had painted it a tanish brown color when we moved in  9.5 years ago. Yes, we've lived in our house almost 10 years. I know. It's insane. Anyway, I think almost 10 years with the same color is plenty long.

I wanted something fresh, crisp and clean. A place to relax and chill. My bedding was already white and brown, and I knew it would look good with a teal/blue/turquoise color. I was planning this all in my head without giving Cory a heads up at all.

So, on Friday, I go to Lowe's and get a couple testers of different colors. Saturday morning, Cory leaves at 3 a.m. Charlotte is up by 6:15, and I start painting the testers. I proceed to empty out the whole room and take everything off the walls. Then, when I see my neighbor/friend/running partner out at her garage sale, I make her come over to help me decide on one of the three colors.

Blurry, but the three choices. You really could barely tell the difference in real life, though.

I decided on "aqua chiffon," even if there was a little voice in my head that told me it would be too bold and too bright, and headed over to Lowe's to buy the two gallons of paint. My mom, painter extraordinaire, had graciously agreed to come over to help me paint. We stopped at Einstein's for breakfast as long as we were out and about.

Charlotte at Einstein's.

Charlotte wanted to take a picture. Please forgive the lack of makeup and crazy hair: I was going to be painting!

After we got home, and my mom got over, we started painting. It actually went pretty quickly, even after I decided to paint the windows and the big light box in my kitchen white. I figured, as long as the paint was out, I would just get it done. 

Sunday morning, the paint was dry, I hung everything back up, and even made it to the store for a couple new decorative pillows. 

When Cory got home at 3:30 this afternoon, he was definitely surprised. The room went from this:

Ok, I forgot to take a "true" before picture. This is when I was halfway down with unloading everything from the room.

And, the other side, also half unloaded.

To this:

Quite a difference, no?

Yeah, Cory was shocked.

But, I'm super happy with how it turned out. Love, love, love it. Here's hoping it will kick me out of this restless rut I've been feeling. I mean, I can now relax and recharge in my seaside escape, centrally located in Olathe, Kansas. You can't beat that, right?