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There’s something about that paint colour that just sounds wrong, don’t you think?

So, instead of the fun of watching paint dry, I’m going to write about paint drying… fun for all!

Over the past few days the lounge has been transforming. With the addition of the new Poang chair on Saturday, a new curtain for the couch wall the other night, and now today I have finally painted the doors.

Matthew, David, and I agonized over the paint chips, trying to determine just which of the thirty shades of brown would look best. I kept wanting to match the brown to the leaves in the new curtain, but under the lighting conditions of the lounge it looked far too maroon. It finally came down to two, Cabin Plank and Soul Chocolate. Cabin plank being darker and muted, with Soul Chocolate being a bit more… chocolately, clearly.

The Soul Chocolate is very similar to the overall tones of the Eucalyptus veneer on my new bar cabinet, close enough to the leaves in the new curtain, etc… it seemed like a good choice, plus it was a bit more fun in the more esoteric sort of ways. Cabin plank coordinated with the blue-gray of the walls a bit better, but… ahhhhh… so much to be concerned about.

I took the paint chip from Lowe’s to Walmart so that I could get the lovely plastic Dutchboy pails… I’d happily buy the paint from Lowe’s, plus it would have been easier, but… I can’t stand metal paint cans. The guy at Walmart was slightly displeased that I didn’t just get the paint at Lowe’s, but then… for the primary reason as above, I wanted the Dutchboy. It also is more convenient because at 11pm I can still get paint at Walmart, while Lowe’s has been closed for hours.

The colour matching process itself was a bit unnerving. The original guy started the process and was getting ready to add the pigments when a guy from the neighboring sporting goods department came over to see what was going on. Apparently they just received this new colour matching machine and he wanted to play with it. He proceeded the re-calibrate the machine and match my paint chip, astoundingly it came up with a completely different formula. The two guys went about figuring just which changes should be made, as original paint mixing guy had already started adding pigment. I’m glad the second guy was curious, because clearly the original formula (pre-calibration) would have been quite wrong.

Ultimately they managed to get a fairly dead-on match, perhaps slightly different, but it’d be like splitting hairs to worry about it.

I just finished putting the second coat on the doors and I’m not all that sure I like the colour afterall. It did darken considerably between coats and I do suspect it will continue to darken, so I can’t quite judge it yet, but by this evening I’ll be able to know for sure. It is a nice colour, certainly, but perhaps not the right colour for the room.

I’m also thinking that I should have not bothered to buy the gallon of it, because I used practically nothing to paint the three doors. My justification was that the cost of a quart was such that I’d be better off just paying twice as much for four times as much paint. Since I was having this paint custom formulated, and knowing that weirdness like above is prone to happen, it is just a better idea to have way more than needed.

If I don’t like it, I’ll eat the mistake by going to Lowe’s this evening and buying a quart of the other brown… and it’ll be okay. ;)

I forgot to add the little description to the above image. As is decently obvious, the new paint is on the doors to the left in the image. It is also on the matching door on the other side, and the entry door (behind the vantage point of the camera). The new curtain is the light brown with darker brown leaves on it. My old curtains, the white panels, are still in place until I can find something else appropriate to break the monotany of the pattern. Lastnight I had a bit of inspiration and ran out (along with getting the paint) to get a ~$2 “picture frame hanging kit” that consisted of twelve feet of hanging wire, eyehooks, and hanging ‘things.’ It turns out there was nothing of any substance behind the wall to anchor the ‘hanging things’ into, so I re-appropriated some of the ‘J’ hooks from the paper lanterns and anchored those into the ceiling. I basically created a cheapie diy version of a much more expensive musuem style hanging system, yay for me!

Oh, and that new curtain, it’s actually the flat sheet from a set I found clearanced to $15. Thus far I’ve done nothing special with the exception of ironing it (and eep, ironing a full sized sheet is kind of a pain) and attaching it to the Ikea Deka wire system on that wall with the little clips. It is a bit too long for me to be able to turn the heater on, so I’ll need to make some adjustments, but for now it works.

I’m planning on either getting this fantastic sheer curtain that has subtle tree branch cutouts, but it’s rather pricey… or either bamboo shade panels or this rice paper bamboo panel. The funny thing is that there’s no window behind the curtain anyway; it’s just the breaker box for the house is there, which makes it impossible to hang something big and difficult to move, and well… the wall panelling is rather ugly, even after painting. Anyway, I plan on getting something to replace the white panels I’d sewn a couple of years ago.

Also in that photo you can see one of the new pillows I made on Tuesday from the ’silky brocade’ fabric. I put this cluster filling into them instead of using regular ol’ polyfill, and my goodness, what a difference that makes! Yay for synthetic down! ;)

This is the first completed knitting project, the weirdness is the yarn itself, not my terrible knitting, because, really, I’m not too bad at that, heh. It’s a little scarf for my niece Madalayna using Red Heart’s Baby Clouds yarn.

This is my new (as of yesterday) Poang chair and foot stool from Ikea. Unfortunately, it’s much larger than I expected it to be. Now, granted, it is smaller than the original chair I’d tried in the room, I’m worried that I just don’t have room for the foot stool. Unfortunately, again, I feel the foot stool is essential to proper lounging, heh. I’m not quite sure what I’ll do at this point, but there’s pretty much zero room to move around with the foot stool and coffee table… unless I move the chair back across the bedroom/lounge barrier. The chair on its own fits decently well, it’s just that foot stool… though I suppose it’s light enough to move out of the way whenever necessary.

I have given some thought to getting a little square cushion foot stool sort of thing, ala a padded box. I could stash that inside the side table, but… I just don’t know. This needs much more evaluation.

Now, this is the bar cabinet that I’d mentioned previously. I do have a bit of junk on the top, but… you have to keep in mind that Ikea packaging exploded lastnight all around the room. It’s utterly perfect for the location and storage/organization goals.

Lastnight we had our “Boys’ Christmas” event here in “London” otherwise known as The Lounge. Here are a few photos, as I’ve realized not many have been posted that would give a ‘whole’ image of what the room looks like. Of course, it is decked out fully right now, hehe.

2 white feather boas from the craft store: $14
1 metal wreath form from the craft store: $2
Uber fabulous winter wreath… oh so Indi. ;)

Wine and chocolate is one of the nicest things even if judging solely on simplicity. One must be very careful when selecting the wine and type of chocolate, and that’s really another topic entirely, but I did want to make note of something utterly amazing that I enjoyed with a friend recently.

I made chocolate truffles following this recipe from Ghirardelli, something extremely simple consisting of chocolate chips, cream, and butter, and followed by a rolling in unsweetened cocoa powder. I’m a big fan of good truffles, but to actually purchase them already made is usually a cost prohibitive experience causing one to reserve them for special occasions only.

Now, of course, this was a special occasion, but I felt that I would be neglecting some form of duty by purchasing them, so I made them as I mentioned above. On their own they are absolutely delicious, but there is something that will cause what can be referred to as a flavor explosion, making them even better.

Sherry, whilst the dry versions are often used for cooking, the sweeter versions, sometimes called cream sherry, are amazing as a dessert and can be used to quite perfect result as an after-dinner cordial.

As an apertif, and I know the idea of eating chocolate prior to a meal may seem absurd, but bear with me on this one. I’m not talking about the sweet americanized milk chocolate here, but lovely dark chocolate with a tinge of bitterness. Dry sherry would not quite work, and cream sherry, I think, would spoil the chocolate as it would be too sweet in contrast to the dark chocolate’s more bitter nature. I’m sure you’re getting the idea that this is about balance, as is most of life in general; versatility is ever so important.

Enter something known as medium sherry; the perfect blend of dry and sweet. It is perfect prior to dinner as an aperitif, and also after dinner as a cordial. There’s one particular sherry, and I am heartily recommending it; Williams & Hubert Dry Sack Medium Sherry.

So this is the perfect “oh shit, dinner is taking longer than I expected” savior, a nibble on a dark chocolate truffle and a sip of sherry. Think of the process as a very upscale tequila shot. ;)

A bottle of sherry is also a very economical pursuit, the first beautiful thing about sherry is that it will keep (after opening) for several weeks and still maintain optimum flavor — as opposed to a typical table wine that will turn quite nasty after about three days. Another beautiful aspect is the cost, at approximately $12 (per PA LCB Store) the Dry Sack is an absolute steal.