A Painting Project

A number of years ago there was this really attractive Kleenex box. I loved the design, and when I had the choice, made sure I bought that package for home. I thought it would make a really neat jumping off point for a wall treatment.
 After I couldn't buy that box of Kleenex anymore, I still hung on to an old empty box, thinking to someday redecorate our bathroom, and jump off that jumping off point.  (Note: our bathroom was a good candidate for redecorating. The man had painted it in flat paint, and between that, and some unfinished edges slowly chipping away, and dirty blacksmith hands, it was getting kind of sad looking.)

 But somehow the renovation never seemed to happen.

 But I still had that empty box, and it came along with me to the new place, probably because something else was in it, but maybe just because the design has stuck with me all this time.

 And while I wasn't particularly planning on re-doing the bathroom here, the wall opposite the door had some obvious 'we have moved the towel rack' signs, with some scruffy patch marks. And I had purchased and built a cabinet behind the toilet that really wanted affixing to the wall. But because of the thick baseboards, was going to be sitting a ways from the wall, so simple ordinary attachment would look weird.

Well, somewhere I just decided Hey I always wanted to use this design, let's do it! So this weekend, I bought some paint and have started.

 (Even the completion of phase 1 alone is a difference in there....)

This is the start. I emptied some stuff out of the way, and taped off the perimeter. To do a really professional job, I need to move the cabinet, but part of the 'construction' of it involves a bar that runs behind the plumbing near the base, and when that strut isn't there, it's a remarkably flopsy sort of cabinet, and mammothly heavy. So I resigned myself to an only partially perfect job in that back corner, and if I move someday, and take the cabinet, I'll have to touch up or repaint. (I even tried to get a bit more space by wedging the cabinet away from the wall with the kleenex box. Not THAT kleenex box...)

It's a cramped little space. The ideal thing would have been to have done this at the beginning, before I started putting together cabinets. But I was way busy back then, and a bit unravelled, and hadn't even decided what decorating I wanted to do. (Story of my life. You mean it isn't the story of yours?) So every time I wanted to set up the step ladder, I needed to move something else. Fortunately the cat stayed a-nap and never noticed that I'd moved her box!

The colour is starting to show now. It's an interesting light grey-green called Forgotten. My points of reference in choosing a colour had to do with a small random tile in the bathroom floor in a greenish tone, and that I have two exciting shower curtains, one in purple, one in turquoise. (This will make more sense with the final design.) The aforementioned Kleenex box was a mosaic pattern, and I also felt that this colour might possibly work as a kind of cement or plaster background to the design. (I'll be doing a deconstructed partial mosaic pattern with some plain wall as well.)

All painted! Very exciting!

And here, after it had dried, and I could shove things back in their places, and attach the cabinet to the wall, and add a small shelf between the existing vanity and the new cabinet. (Because who can't use extra space? Not me!)
 So here ends phase 1.
  Now I need to decide on the other colours. And how small a quantity of paint I can buy at a time or in a single colour, or if I need to do some of my own tinting, and where I wanted the deconstructed mosaic to be placed.
 But even just this one hint of mild colour, and the fact that the cabinet is now attached to the wall will make a huge difference!

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The Wandering Dinner Party

So, the day after The Numbers Game closed, before some people went one direction, and as other people just arrived to start on the next show, we decided on the first test round of our Grand Experiment: The Wandering Dinner Party.

 There are a handful of us living in walking range of each other. (A very novel concept after 24 years in the country, where the nearest 'next door' get together was the exciting New Year's Eve dinners at friends' farm, about 18 km away.) Admittedly, the walk is easier when the weather is good. Our evening was a bit chilly, but clear, dry weather.

 I'd wanted to be part of the Grand Experiment, especially in this first round, while it was still small in numbers! But I wisely decided I was only able for cocktails and canapes, where people might expect to just stand around...nibbling something on a toothpick.

 By some quirk of fate, we actually managed to sit. Kind of. And I contrived some table space for the canapes. (Greatly in need of some cooking, even with no time, no tools, and minimal ingredients, I chose a Spanish theme, and did some tapas and sherries.)

                                                                            Guests!

 Next we had a brisk walk across downtown Orangeville, past our final location, and across a small bridge over a stream. (Tim shone his flashlight down to show it to us in the dark! I hadn't even realized this pathway existed, and it certainly tightens up our little route.)
Our next stop, for the entree, was the lovely little apartment where Paula, our Stage Manager from the show which just closed, and Kevin, our incoming Stage Manager, live. (They're also brand newcomers to the place, though with fewer boxes!)

Here we had a succulent roast with all the best accompaniments. Then we wandered back to our final address for dessert.

An amazing chocolate ginger cheesecake, and a cocktail with citrus and ginger. And an elderflower liqueur.

Then a final nightcap of blueberry wine, and music on Tim's victrola! (And a stagger back home in the nippy evening air...)
  Of course, the very next day I started three days of intensive packing and moving, (still not finished) and all empty spaces are now filled with boxes. And I've started working on the Christmas show, so may not have time to breathe till we open...

Film at 11

I'm wondering if I should just rename the blog, "Film at 11". I have a friend who keeps wondering at me if there's *more* Film at 11. And I have to keep confessing that no, there isn't. But it does seem a little like a major news story if I accomplish something.... Mind you, at some point I'm sure this will just return to Random Acts of Thinking, so I'd hate to re-brand it as something more exciting!

 The show, our first of the season, World Premiere of John Spurway's The Numbers Game has opened. I think it's the pure charm of the married couple playing the roles that it delightful. And because of late night schedules, I've actually been at the flat a few times. And this past weekend I actually put together some shelving, and unpacked some books. (Actually, I was looking for the box of towels, and that eventually required me to check each box, and then it made sense to relabel them in more detail, and then I found the cookbooks, and voila!)

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And this is AFTER purging a huge lot of books, as well as packing another couple of boxes for storage... I guess I have a bit of a fixation with cookbooks.

I improvised a bit of a living room space, and created a coffee table, so I could actually eat. (Yes, I'd set up the bedroom so I could stay over. I just had forgotten that if I was staying over for more than a day, I'd probably have to eat meals before crew call, and I might  need somewhere to do that.)

  

My kitchen unpacking isn't going particularly quickly. I find I'm stymied by deciding where to unpack things to. After 24 years with more or less the same kitchen set up, my natural inclination is to replicate it as closely as possible. But this kitchen is as physically different as it's possible to get. And the apartment was designed to maximize the use of space. So the cupboards are quite high, because the ceilings are high. (The original house dates from the 1860's.) And then they've got a couple of open shelves beneath the cupboards. So I'm perplexed about where to store dishes, or where to store pantry items. Consequently, I end up unpacking little. Or when I actually look for things, like glasses, say, I simply can't figure out which box I put them in. It would be nice to be methodical about unpacking, but that may just keep me living from boxes till 2014!

(The plaid bag is show laundry, and behind that louvred door is a little apartment washer and dryer!)

    

Anyway, I have officially cooked my first dinner. (Since I don't think that take-out pho counts.) It occurred to me that I didn't really have much by way of actual food in the house, beyond jars of preserves I'd moved, and some of the "hateful condiments". So I bought myself the replacement sandwich grill I knew I'd want to get, and some cheese and bread. And took some of the leftover sweet-cured ham I'd made for a Thanksgiving fete, and grilled myself a ham and cheese sandwich. It's not the most exotic of culinary explorations, but it was tasty.