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i started to paint colors today.

i arrived at the house and like a surgeon i started to assemble my tools and supplies in preparation for the painting. i started with the living room, the color apple green. i cracked open the can of benjamin moore paint and was slightly taken aback on how neon green the color i picked looked. but you can't judge paint sitting inside a can, so i poured out a quarter of a gallon into the painting tray and started going at it with the roller, apply big bands of color onto the walls. i did half the room, then i carefully painted the edges with a brush., before finishing the other half of the room. painting the main sections of the walls with the roller is the easy step, it's painting the edges that takes a long time, the detail work. when it was all over i stood in the middle of my new green living room, admiring my handiwork. i was sad that there was nobody else there to witness it with me! in the afternoon sunlight though, the room looked more yellow than green, and i started to have doubts that maybe i picked the wrong color, but i was hoping that the color would change once the paint dried.

color painting can be addictive, and with plenty of daylight still left (i like to paint during the day, it's easier to see the colors that way), i picked citrus blast (orange) as my next color. in my house there are three areas that will be orange: the foyer, the hallway, and the guest bedroom closet. citrus blast was actually a last minute change, i originally wanted an orange color called tangelo, but i felt it was too dark so i went with a lighter color. also, i had miscalculated and bought way more orange paint that i need. i got two gallons worth but i only really needed just a gallon to cover those three small areas. so when i started to paint the foyer (new roller, new tray, same brush though, just thoroughly cleansed of any apple green paint, put the apple green roller in a bag, keeping it from drying so i can reuse it for the second caot of paint), i was pretty generous with the paint, applying thickly. i rolled the foyer and then the hallway, before i went back to the foyer to paint the edges, followed by the hallway again. i was under some time constraint as alex wong had called me up about getting some dinner in harvard square. i had to postpone our rendezvous to 7pm because i didn't want to stop in the middle of painting.

there was definitely a tranformation once the orange was in place. maybe by then the apple green had already dried, but having the orange as a source of contrast in the foyer and the hallway, the living room walls became green, not yellow. i'm glad i went with the lighter citrus blast instead of darker tangelo, because i think even citrus blast is too strong a color. in the foyer, everything has a warm glow like the walls themselves are a source of illumination. i kept on wondering what the people walking outside saw, with the bright green and the bright orange, whether it'd attract a lot of curious attention (i would've invited gawkers to come in and see the place for themselves!).

with the hallway done, i quickly walked to harvard square to meet up with alex in front of skewer's. i had the lamb schwarma dinner with a mango lassi, alex treated to pay me back when i helped him move to his new apartment in malden a few months ago. this was probably one of the more nutritious dinners i've had this whole week. like yesterday, i wanted to actually make my own dinner at the house (i was thinking something simple to start my first time cooking at the new place, maybe spaghetti), but once again something came up to prevent me from doing so. perhaps tomorrow will be my lucky cooking night.

alex and i walked back in the direction of porter square, cutting through the harvard courtyard. he was going to the porter exchange to get some bubble ice tea, i was going back to my place for more painting. there was still the guest bedroom closet that needed to be painted in orange. i rolled the walls, but before i could get started on the edge details, i went to the cafe to pick up my aunt and grandmother. i'd called them earlier, wondering if they wanted to see the place after the cafe closed. so they came, and i gave them a tour of the house. now with at least some of the rooms painted, the house definitely seems more finished, more complete, and it's also easier to imagine the colors in the rest of the house after seeing the orange and the green.

i drove them home and then came right back to the house to finish up the closet and to clean up. i returned to belmont close to midnight, another 12 hour work day of painting (interrupted only by a dinner break).

tomorrow, the second coat of apple green and citrus orange, followed by highlight yellow (guest bedroom and storage closet) and little boy blue (master bedroom). the kitchen needs some prep work before i can paint it (the color will be salsa), and i also need the other rooms to be done so i can move all the stuff that's currently in the kitchen. the bathroom requires painting as well (fresh cut grass), but because it's sort of self-contained, the bathroom is a project that i can temporarily hold off on doing until i get the rest of the house done. after the kitchen is painted, it's time to paint all the trims and frames. i will probably tape the walls to make things easier, it should probably only take a single day to paint all those details for the entire house. once that's complete, the rosen paper can come off, wooden floors revealed, and i will move in permanently.

colors really do something to a house. i don't know why anybody would ever want to leave their walls just white. painting with colors allows the homeowner to personalize the house, it makes the home more interesting, gives the house a personality. i can't wait for all this painting to be done, i want to just lie in the middle of a room and just soak in the colors. so far, the colors are working. i'm very happy with the apple green and the citrus blast. months of flipping through the benjamin moore swatch book has finally paid off! as i predicted, when you first walk into the house you're bathed in this welcoming warm orange, but then you enter the living room and it's this soothing cool green. walking towards the kitchen, you're once again bathed in orange, which prepares you for the kitchen, will be in painted in a hot red color! there is reasoning behind all this madness.

for a while i was sort of ambivalent about the house, sort of lost the love with all the prep work that went into it. but now i'm actually very excited to be there! i have a tremendous sense of pride just walking around, knowing that i painted these walls (with the priming help of my father, carrie, amanda, julie and drake). it really feels like my home now.