I am constantly decorating and redecorating the space around me.
Picture this: it's a beautiful day, the sun is shining and its a toasty warm 83-degrees but there is a nice breeze that keeps the air light and fresh. I'm sitting in a park downtown in the middle of the afternoon listening to a few really good bands and having a couple beers with my friends. Instead of focusing on the music and enjoying the day my attention is drawn to the gal across the street who is painting the inside of a cute little building.
I'm initially drawn to the window because I see someone working on a ladder in the storefront and I wonder what she's doing. I quickly realize she's painting the ceiling. I spend a minute being thankful that it's not me but then find that I'm more than curious. What is the store going to be? (It used to be a pilates studio) How will she decorate it? How would I decorate it?
And that's where I lose touch with reality and begin the fantasy. I'm pretty sure I'd turn the store into a coffeeshop/bookstore. There isn't any green space so I'd have to make the inside of my shop extra inviting. I think the wall should be painted a deep yellow but maybe a nice pumpkin colorwash would look good with the yellow. Then, I would put bookshelves up against every wall to break up the color wash and obviously to sell the product. Maybe I'd create a few walls with bookshelves to give people cozy nooks to curl up in and drink their coffee.
The furniture would consist of oversized chairs in contrasting soft pastel colors. Little coffee tables would accompany each chair. A couple workstations would be tucked into corners for people who would like to use the free wifi. I think perhaps I'd paint the floor the pumpkin color of the walls to unify the place and create a solid contrast to the busy bookshelves.
And then I realize that maybe I don't want it to be a bookstore/coffeeshop at all. Maybe one of those cute garden shops would be better. I'd paint the walls in a graduated oil stipple technique bringing the color from a light pastel turquoise at the top to a deeper green toward the bottom. Maybe I'd even continue this sky to grass imagery by painting the ceiling a lighter shade of pale blue and the floors a deeper green. Then the walls would have trellises painted in bright sunny colors to contrast against the pastels and draw the customers eyes. The trellises would be used to display the merchandise.
It's about this time that I realize that I've completely missed the end of one band and a new one is onstage and everyone seems to know that I haven't been paying attention for quite some time. So, I'm willing to admit that perhaps I have a wee bit of a decorating addiction.
