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This is the kitchen with its wall of faux-wood paneling (the same paneling that’s in the living room and the room that extends from the kitchen to the furnace room/utility room.)
And yes, that’s the same picture used when I got the new chairs.
This is how that looks today, after painting the wall this morning:
This was shot with flash on
This was shot with flash off. The kitchen window, directly across, yields warm light–green/gold–from trees.
We really like the new look. We’re wondering why we weren’t smart/organized/energetic enough to do this years ago. There’s more to do–this is only part of that wall (we lacked the energy today to move the refrigerator and paint that alcove) but it’s so much better I’m sure we’ll finish. Might even do the other rooms, in stages. (Many many books would have to be moved…)
Comment by Jenn — July 2, 2011 @ 2:37 pm
Very nice and really the chairs are fantastic.
Comment by Beth C. — July 2, 2011 @ 3:41 pm
That does look nice. The “many, many books would have to be moved” reason is why I haven’t painted my computer room. It would take longer to move the books than to paint.
Comment by elizabeth — July 4, 2011 @ 7:18 am
My back has said a few things about moving a table and five chairs and a gallon of paint…it would not be thrilled with the books in the living room and then the bookcases they’re in. Not happening any time soon.
Comment by elizabeth — July 4, 2011 @ 7:26 am
Thanks, Jenn. It’s so nice to have real chairs to sit on that don’t wiggle or threaten to (or actually) give way beneath large persons. These are library chairs I found in an online catalog, after searching in new, unfinished, and used furniture stores to find really sturdy chairs for the kitchen. (Admittedly, those shopping trips were fairly hasty and limited to the time I had in the city–so I could’ve missed something.) I had “library” or “restaurant” chairs in mind (given the usage they’d get) but could not find anything “on the ground”. “Kitchen chairs” were often pretty but had spindly legs or insufficient bracing between the legs.
We really, really like these chairs, and so have our guests of various shapes and sizes.
Comment by arthur Piantadosi — July 4, 2011 @ 9:58 am
This is Arthur. Looks like the way my parents home looks, just recently. I think I told you my dad just stopped working in the film industry in California just this year, and my family has had the time to do some home improvement. New carpet and such. My mom also reads your books, and for a long time she was the only one I knew personally that did.
Great looking chairs by the way. You seem very prudent. I LOATH the commercial elements of our culture. If I could ban ANYTHING, it would be aggressive commercials.
In an unrelated topic, is it true that you said that stuff about Muslims? It seemed truthful and rather mild to me. I have been investigating the core truths of Islam recently, and I have found them as true as Christianity or any other monotheist religion. Indeed, you cannot be a Muslim and NOT believe in Jesus.
Comment by Kathleen — July 4, 2011 @ 6:22 pm
Laughs with you and not at you — the moving of books and it would be years before we painted was the reason that I insisted on painting a few rooms including my office BEFORE we actually moved in. Most rooms did take 5+ years before we did them.
Comment by Adam Baker — July 4, 2011 @ 9:19 pm
Looks really great. Its amazing what a couple coats of paint can to do change the whole atmosphere of a room. I helped my mom redo our kitchen last year, and we went from light wood grain to white on all the cabinets, and the whole room feels brighter and larger, just from the paint.
Comment by Daniel Glover — July 5, 2011 @ 8:44 pm
It sounds like you painted right over the paneling but I don’t see the texture in the finished look! I ask because when I redid my dining room which had textured vinyl wallpaper the paint underneath, the wallpaper under that, the two different coats of paint and the original 19-teens (paper) wallpaper all came off before I could paint. Fortunately only one big chunk of plaster came off with the ninety years of wall covering. 🙂
Comment by elizabeth — July 6, 2011 @ 9:53 pm
I had asked at the paint store and was told that the paint would stick to the old paneling: it has minimal texture except for the grooves (which were not only grooves, but rough and very dark, almost black) and they don’t show in the images though they do in reality. I think the flash blurred them out.
Comment by filkferengi — July 10, 2011 @ 6:58 am
It looks great! The differences with and without flash are astonishing, though.
Comment by elizabeth — July 10, 2011 @ 8:44 am
Flash is a much cooler light. That’s one reason I try not to use flash when doing nature photography; it changes the appearance.