Painting the Living Room with Camilla

Camilla has an interesting schedule where she gets Tuesdays (but not every weekend) off. She came over today to help me paint one wall of our living room with me– the other side of the room with the cathedral ceilings will have to wait until we get a 5 step step ladder because we can’t reach the top to do taping or trim.

Again, friends who actually have no problems helping out on such things are true friends. I told Camilla when she gets a home of her own and needs help painting to call on me as her painting slave, because– wow! She’s been amazing!

First she looked around at things since she hasn’t been here since the house was empty. She also met Tad and Darcy and got a look at their Tiny House and thought they were very courteous (politeness is a big issue to her, because most people these days are just rude) and their house charmed her utterly. Her naturally sweet nature likewise charmed our neighbors/renters.

We got to see that bluish gray-green on the wall next to the blond wood trim and fireplace once we had finished painting, and it looks SO good. Really classy and soothing. I’m worried it might be too dark, but the high ceilings seem to help prevent that and so far its really nice.

Then we got a start on painting the small master bath attached to my bedroom. Just 2 walls before we ran out of paint (leftover from dining room). That was it, though– we were tired! I had made a nice lunch for us both: chicken caesar salad and seasoned curly fries, and Camilla very kindly complimented my cooking. The chicken was leftover teriyaki chicken breast from dinner last night, but apparently mixing that with caesar dressing was extra nummy. I hoped so- but its not a combo many would think of on purpose or anything, I’ll admit.

She and I also spent a couple of hours just hanging out and chatting about various and sundry topics while we waited for paint to dry before a second coat and touch-ups. She’s been working a great deal still, but now that her husband Rico has a steady job as a driver (which he really enjoys) she’s looking forward to taking on less hours once they have a couple of debts paid up.

I told her that we’re going to sponsor art parties for various personal projects out in the pole barn, especially during the summer and early autumn (when its drier) and that she can join in for sure. She is ALSO a very talented artist, though she paints rather adorable animals and people, rather than the moodscapes Tess paints or the fantasy inspired creations of my husband. Still, she shares space with her parents and sister and husband and child (SEE!? multi-generational households are more common than ever) and doesn’t really have space to create the way she’d like. She doesn’t have much social time, let alone art-creation time, so it would be cool to help out a friend on that score for sure. Plus, she’s just extremely pleasant company. I realized the other day that she and I and Tess have been friends for almost 7 years now! Still very much like being around one another.

I took off the painting tape just a short while ago, and the wall came out gorgeous. I love it! And I must admit I love this process of taking a new place and making our mark upon it, transforming into something that suits us well.