Welcome Home!

I have two cans of paint – Restoration Hardware’s “Butter”– sitting behind a chair in the corner of my living room. I’ve had the paint for several weeks now.

I picked the color because I love it, and I’m more than ready to warm up the cold white walls in my house. But the thought of moving furniture, setting up the ladder, spreading a cloth on the floor, taping around windows and doors and then cleaning rollers and brushes paralyzes me. The job feels too big.

And when will I ever find the time to paint? It’s hard enough to locate a minute to buy groceries or fold the laundry. And those are tasks that need to be done. Never mind claiming time for reading a good book, or soaking in a long bubble bath or just a little quiet time to think and dream.

Now the holidays are upon us. Shopping, wrapping, baking, and decorating the tree move to the front of the to-do list. Everything else has to wait.

I know I won’t get to it for weeks but hate to put the paint away. It serves as a reminder that I have a project to do. A project I want to do.

And I know that once I get started, and see my rooms take on the glow of that buttery yellow paint, I’ll get my second wind. Suddenly, painting won’t be a chore. It will be a pleasure. I’ll look around at the way the fabrics and furniture and even the paintings hanging on the wall look so much better against the new color, and I’ll be so glad I did it.

That’s how it is with home improvement projects. They loom large when we’re planning, but once the job is done, it all seems worth it.

Life is busy. But one day soon I’ll take the lids off those cans of paint and then I’ll see everything around me in a new light.

This week in Home

When Mike and Amie Whittle moved to Spokane, they brought more than furniture with them. They also brought their love of the architecture and colors of Tuscany and went right to work transforming a dated 1970s split-level near Comstock Park.

Now, the interior glows with rich color and the organic look of natural stone and burnished wood. It was a hands-on project, most of it done by Mike, and the result is outstanding.

Garden columnist Pat Munts has lined up books that will make perfect gifts for the gardeners on your list, and she brings us an invitation to a very special birthday party in the conservatory at Manito Park.

We’ve even got a big decorating job, and a big offer, wrapped in a tiny package: The woman who won an exquisite miniature house is looking for a good home for her prize.

From over-the-top stonework to scaled-down craftsmanship, we’ve filled the pages of this week’s issue with quality.

I hope it brightens your day.