Fly By Painting

An enjoyable short holiday break combines a bit of sightseeing, exploring new neighbourhoods, meeting old friends, trying out different restaurants (Korean, Portuguese, Chinese, Indian, and Greek!), and just a little shopping. It is even more fun when we can paint a room or two and help the hostess dramatically change her surroundings in a very short period of time.

The first step in any painting project is getting color samples and looking at them in different light at different times of day. We found out very quickly that every shade of grey selected turned a pretty shade of blue in the east light of the kitchen. But some people never give up trying to find the perfect color. It is 9 p.m. on the last night here and our hostess is still painting squares of color - and she now has so many in the kitchen that she has just run out of wall...

Some rooms are easier than others. The living room shade was picked in one day and painted the next. It is clean and crisp and looks classy with white trim. Unfortunately, we can't stay long enough to see it come together even more with the gorgeous new wall hangings and a large, new mirror. The walls are plaster so the mirror hanging is going to require a drill, plastic wall plugs, and careful math!