To paint -OR- Not to paint

The post titled says it all. Or rather questions it all.

You may remember this frame from our midtown house. It was above the ginormous fireplace with a painting of a hunter in it. When I made this purchase all I really wanted was the frame, but the seller was selling a painting and the frame just happened to come with it. (He was looking at it all wrong, the frame was the prize, not the painting.) So...out of the deal I also got a 2 paintings. I gave one of them to my mother right away. It was of a woman riding a horse. For her this is nearly as humorous as me having a painting with a gun in it.  We aren't horse OR gun people (now to explain my collection of white lacquered horse heads....sheesh)

Back to the frame and question at hand.

This frame is HUGE. As in 3 feet x 4 feet.
Right now it is gold leafed with antiquing on it. Quite honestly if the frame isn't white, this is exactly as I would want it.  Shiny white, or gold leaf. That's my bit, right there. My interest in painting it though comes from the fact that it is sitting on a fold leafed table. Does that really matter? Can't I just have a buncha gold? Seems totally reasonable.

Well...

Should I paint it, I have the paint and the brush already at bay. I'm planning to repaint the coffee table and paint the legs of a few other pieces. Regardless....I'm going to get to paint something!
That's probably what I'm really after. (smiley face)

photos around #dwh2

It's Tuesday....

Wanna see some house photos? 

Things are rolling along...little by little.  Fun little changes are happening in the house every day. No paint or construction plans for now, just living. Enjoying it's quirkiness and lovely amenities.

I've been reading various blogs in the past few weeks, it is moving season after all.  There are many bloggers moving and they're making changes before they move into their new houses. Now, I'm no novice house dweller. This is our 3rd house in Memphis and our 5th house together in the past 8 years of marriage. I'm always curious how folks can make such drastic changes prior to moving in. For me, even if I know what aesthetic I'm after I need to be in a space for a while before I can make necessary changes. Every space is different. The way you live in a den in one house, for example, is may end up being different than how you'll do things in another house. I've found this to be true at least. Am I alone in this observation? So, for now, we will continue to adjust to the new space and unpack and decorate...and trim trees/bushes, and make lists for options for the future.

40 Shades of Blue - The Movie

Have you ever had the experience when you watch a movie...and your house (the one you are watching the movie from and actually live in) is the set?

I went 30 years and 4 months living free of this...until Tuesday night.

#dwh2 is the primary set for the Ira Sachs movie "Forty Shades of Blue" filmed right here in Memphis in 2004. I tried to speculate what the movie was about prior to reading the blurb...but I'll spare you my interpretation and let you read it yourself....

"As James is a legend in Memphis, a white man who produced black music back in the 60s and 70s, the heyday of Memphis Soul. Now in his later years, hes still living the high life in a comfortable house in the right part of town. He lives with his girlfriend, Laura, a Russian beauty whom he met on tour in Moscow. Laura spends most of her time alone, raising their three-year-old son, Sam. A stranger in Memphis, she lives a comfortable but alienated life. Alan also has a grown-up son, Michael, with whom he has a complicated relationship fuelled by jealousy, disappointment and anger. When Michael returns home for the first time in many years the initial hostility he radiates towards his fathers girl develops into something much more, and a messy, dangerous affair ensues. In the bars and bedrooms of this very contemporary city, a love triangle forms, illuminating the hearts and souls of these three tangled lives."

The movie was the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Grand Prize winner and nomimated at various other film festivals that year.

This movie is for sure an acquired taste what with the plot line and all, but I was glad to see a movie filmed in Memphis that was free from violence, drugs, and legal activity. It seems as though movies like Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan, The Rainmaker, The Firm, The Client to name a few were full of scandal and legal conversation, and police officers.  (Which many people believe to be the nature of the city.) I am pleased to report that this movie didn't have a single police officer or arrest scene in it.

When we were looking at the house before purchase, we found out that a movie was filmed here but I thought perhaps it was just a single scene. As we were moving into the house, I was unpacking china in one of the cupboards and rolled up on the actual movie script. VERY FASCINATING!

While many of the interior rooms have stayed the same there have been some changes. The exterior is now a different color and the landscaping around the house is quite different. For example, we have a different fence. This was very obvious to us as we watched many of the outdoor scenes. The kitchen and breakfast room are the same, in fact our refrigerator is in the movie! (yes this dates our appliances...they're old) The living room and all of the original brown wood paneling is still the same. The blue bathroom is the same. The bathroom that Laura, the main character, uses in several scenes...what is now Geoff's bathroom, has different wallpaper, as does the master bedroom. Several rooms were repainted. In the little boy's room, there is an exposed brick wall. I knew it was there but it was fun to see what it actually looks like. At one point this room too had brown wood paneling and has since been dry walled and painted pink stripes. (I love.)

I highly recommend the movie. It was excellent.

It is for sure a piece of art and not that of a blockbuster with all of it's loud and flashy bells and whistles. It's an Indie film...it was at Sundance for Pete's sake....

It examines and exposes real live behaviors that probably do in fact happen within families. Many people probably found it to be slow. Instead of slow, I found it to be conceptually rich.
It's taken me 2 days to unpack all of the underlined themes and relationships.  Making connections is a key in this movie. Also, knowing the lifestyle climate in Memphis, I found this movie to be even more amazing. Actually...I suspect being in the space the movie was filmed is in contributes to my contemplation and further examination of the movie. I'm putting away clothes in the very closets, and closing doors in the same rooms. My perspective of this movie is going to be different...always.


to see stills from the movie click here then click on 40 Shades of Blue.
And...P.S. the music playing during the stills is a good representation of the movie's tone.

Details on the move.

The past 3 weeks have absolutely flown by. As in...ZOOOOOOM...Where'd they go? Unbelievable to me how that happens. But while trying to recount the happenings of the previous 21 days, I did find that a lot had happened. So perhaps it's a moot point after all.

When we moved into #dwh2 we had about a week to do it. This was very nice. In fact I don't think if we were to move to another house I could do it any other way. Or rather, that would be my preference.  During the week of our move, it was also faculty out service week at the school where I work. This was slightly problematic in that I did have to work, but there was still time to move. Again, perhaps that is why I now am in favor of the 7 day move option.

My darhling husband didn't share this detail of the move until we were completely finished, but the tally come in at 35 car loads and 2 professional mover loads. Now...Let's go back to the 35 car loads.
1 car load = my car completely full, so we did the trips in 2s mostly. Also any time I was headed to work, I packed the car up and dropped it off. This was helpful. The car loads consisted of all of our china and wedding dishes/bar wear, glasses, etc. Well...Actually we also moved our entire kitchen, dishes of all kinds. We moved all of our wall hangings, clothes, decorative items, books (good lord there are lots), lamps, all of my shoes (again, good lord there are lots). Basically we moved anything that could fit in the car within reason. The professional movers moved all of our furniture, tvs, rugs, and another set of professional movers moved the two grand pianos.

The grand pianos were the very first "furniture" to be moved. Because of their placement in our previous house, they had to be the first out the door, otherwise, nothing else was leaving the premises.
It was amazing how much space the two of them occupied. Lovely, but slightly ridiculous in the last house. In the new house, they both have a sizable amount of room and sound fantastic. The terrazzo flooring is their nice new friend. (Glad they get along because that flooring is staying.)

The pianos were moved on a Wednesday morning. The furniture was moved on Thursday. That took. All. Day. WOW. We thought they'd load in the morning in Midtown and unload in the afternoon in East Memphis. That was partially true. In that they did a load/unload in the morning/early afternoon then they had to go back for the second trip. The quantity of what we had was the understatement of the decade. Remember all of those craigslist finds...I didn't. They added up. (insert silly smile)
Another concept I highly advocate. Professional movers. It's the best thing ever. Seriously, when you're planning a move, include it in your budget and don't look back. They take things apart, move it, unload it in the new place, put it right where you want it, put it back together....fabulous.
Had we had to do that...I don't think we would have recovered and the contents of the past 21 days would be irrelevant.

Last Friday was my "last day of school". So this week has been the beginning of my summer break.
This week I'm working on the place. Making lists, plans, and schemes for all the possibilities to come.

If you follow my Instagram or Vine feed, you've seen some of our house. It's a fun space! It will be very exciting to see where it leads us.