sue’s news

Recently my husband was in a serious car crash. He’s making a full recovery, but he was in the hospital for some time, and then in a physical rehab facility — where I couldn’t stay with him as in the hospital, but where they took very good care of him (this, plus my recovery from back surgery last year, is why I think physical and occupational therapists are some of the most awesome people around).

Once he was stabilized and my panic level subsided, I expended some nervous energy on making things around the house nice for when he came home. I did a little cleaning and decided to refit an old armoire in our front room with a tension rod and clotheshangers to hold his cycling gear. The more I thought about it, the more determined I became to clean out and redo our two small front rooms — something he’s been yearning for us to do, as they have just been collecting junk. He’d even said he wanted to submit those rooms to an HGTV show for a total makeover. So I felt pretty confident that if those spaces were cleaned out and made tidy, he’d be happy no matter what the other changes looked like.

My plan was, of course, completely crazy, as I was already back at work full-time plus visiting him, dealing with insurance claims, etc. But the MLK holiday gave me a three-day weekend, and my dearest friend in the world offered to come visit me to help boost my spirits… she didn’t intend to spend her weekend painting, but she’s a truly fantastic person and worked her tail off to make this happen. I chose some National Trust colors, bought paint and chair rail molding and we got busy.

He loves it!  He’s so pleased, even with the colors. “It looks professionally done,” he said, and added nice things about my design abilities and my carpentry skills. (Which goes to show he didn’t look too closely at the joinery. Don’t ever try to put up chair rail molding singlehandedly, with a cheap miter box and a hand saw. Trust me — just don’t do it.) It was a gamble, but it seems to have paid off — and it’s a nice counterpoint to the rose garden he dug and planted for me last spring.

For any of our family members who might want to see (hi, family members!), here’s a slideshow of the transformation. A bazillion thanks to my dear friend and also to his best friend, who pushed furniture back into place at the end.