The Room. Revealed! And a painting hangover.

I woke up this morning with a raging hangover. My head pounded. My eyeballs throbbed. Even my teeth were sore.

WTF? I haven't had wine since Sunday. (Scout's honor. I drank it all on Sunday. There's nothing left!)

Anyway, coffee wasn't helping. Neither was water. The bus ride to work made me want to die.

And then it hit me. ... Wait. It's the PAINT.

Apparently, they (you know, those know-it-alls who warn you that fresh brewed coffee is hot and other such duh-isms) were right about the whole painting in a properly ventilated area. And let me tell you ... you SO WILL feel like an afterschool special if you do not crack a window or a door or something after slathering a gallon and a half of Behr Pale Daffodil on your walls.

Eeech.

But seriously. What was I supposed to do? Let in the cool, fresh breeze of January in Chicago waft through my condo while transforming my dining rooming into the world's most marvelous sewing studio?

Doubtful. Unless and of course buying paint comes with some kind of utility bill credit.

But, I digress.

The point being that the room is done! Well, ish. Done, meaning I have yet to hang any of the art that I bought or made. And I still need to tidy. And there's a bunch of other details to finish.

But, done! Almost! Yay!

I was going to wait to post the pictures until everything was completed but someone (you know who you are, ahem, mother) reeeeeeeaaaaally wanted to see pictures.

Here's looking into the room. That big black cabinet is also my food pantry. Not sure why my food appears to be glowing through the vents. Whatever.


That cool-ass piano picture was taken the one and only Lido Vizzutti, a fabulous shooter and former co-worker of mine who you can find kicking ass in Whitefish, Mont.


I think I might paint that bookshelf too. Oh, and the picture on the top right is something I shot. The one on the bottom shows the fountain in Dupont Circle where I used to live and was a gift from my friend Jay.




The desk is currently covered with stuff I need to hang. But here's a closeup of a few things.

This cool word art is from Beth Gumnick, a great folk artist (and drama teacher) in Chattanooga, Tenn. If you like her stuff, you can find it here. What's totally cool about this piece is that it used to hang on the wall in one of my favorite folk art stores and galleries when I lived in the Scenic City. It was an easy walk (there, not back. There was a big-ass hill) from my house and the store's owners had awesome parties. We knew they'd be great neighbors when they invited us in to look and around and offered us beer from the keg on their back porch. This used to hang by their record player (yes, record player) and I wound up buying it during a New Year's visit.



I also picked up these printing press letters during that trip. There weren't a ton of letters available in the store, so my options of spelling things out were limited. But I liked the idea of a hint. Half secret. Half whispered. A helping hand. And I especially like hanging it in the same room as amplify, which is decidedly not whispered or secretive.


I'm also planning to make a big cork board wall. But that will come.

What do you think? Any ideas on what else I should do?