Two quick notes before I ramble on about paint today:
Thank you SO much for all the concerned emails and comments about lead paint! Having always lived in old homes, we are fully aware, and taking appropriate precautions (many of which were actually done before we bought the home, thankfully.)
Secondly, we are huge fans of - and primarily using - Yolo Colorhouse paints in this house project. A non-voc paint (safe for littles to paint with!), with the loveliest of colorways, we love, love, love it. I must give a special shout-out to Maine Green Building Supply, who have been wonderful in getting us ALL the paint we need for this huge painting project! Also, once the painting is 'done,' I'll write a post with all the rooms and colors we've used. So if you're wondering about a specific color, stay tuned for that.
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There have been a few homes in the past nine months that we thought might really be 'it'. And while the roller coaster was not at all fun for the adults, I know that it was hardest on our babes. The uncertainty, the questions, the never REALLY knowing what was going to happen...it's all just a little too much for little ones whose days should be spent (in my mind) playing and learning and growing, and not worrying about which house we'll live in and when. It's so difficult to understand "we won't know for certain until the keys are in our hands" when you're 4, 7, or 9 (not to mention 33). So an enormous amount of our energy has gone towards maintaining the delicate balance between involving them in the process....and not burdening them with the process. I don't know that we did it perfectly or even well, truth be told, but we really did try.
As closing date approached on this home (and was canceled...and then back on...and then delayed, oh my), we began taking baby steps as a family towards opening up our hearts to the place and planning on making it our own. For the kids, this was most tangible in the act of choosing their (very own!) bedroom color. It's one small choice really, and yet, it was something they could literally hold and see and be definitive about in a process that was often confusing and abstract. Those paint chip cards were carried around like precious gold amongst the family all summer long as everyone carefully chose and mindfully thought about their very own space and what it would be like (all the while still hoping that it would all be true).
In the past two days, after the entire house was coated in primer, we reached the COLOR stage in the kids' bedrooms. With many helping hands from friends and family, ceilings, walls and floors are being painted and just about 'finished' for my little ones. And I am standing back in awe and watching how these simple little color choices (that they ever-so-thoughtfully made) are so very perfect for each of them...such a true representation of who they are...and such a perfect backdrop in which they can and will create a space of their very own.
The three of them had full decision-making over their space and color and how it be set up (despite, I must admit, the twitching that certain colors invoked from this Mama. Though all that twitching is gone now that I see how 'right' they really were).
Ezra...
...Calvin...
...and Adelaide.
(Harper will be with us for a while longer, but eventually have his own room when he's ready, and surely, just like his brothers and sister it will be something that surprises us and feels so right at the very same time. I'm so curious what that will be.)
Progress is being made! Slowly but surely, one corner at a time.