. Where I Really Live Vicariously ............ |
. On My PC |
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I spend most of my days in my office chained to my computer. I'm allowed one coffee break and two biological breaks each day. Any more than that and I'm failing in the self-discipline department. Except for the kitchen, this is the last remodel project inside the house. I put this off thinking it was going to be complicated, but once I decided to leave the paneling up and just paint over it, things got easy. And once I resolved to get it done, it took me a little over a week to finish. During that time, I sat on the living room couch with my work on my laptop. That's fun until you find yourself watching TV all day to avoid having to look at the tiny screen on your Vaio.
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I think the previous owners used this room as the den. It had built-in furniture that someone installed after the house was built. This I know because the less-than-professional unit was erected on top of two layers of carpeting. My collection of porn mags doesn't require this much storage capacity so why let all that space to go waste? |
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The paneling was dark and it sucked up the illumination from the many lamps I used to try to brighten the room. It was a near-futile task to try to make the room look cheery. I think you have to have a specific personality to enjoy a dark room, like maybe if you're a vampire. |
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There was a "rowboat 'n' cottage" wallpaper theme before the "pineapples 'n' grapes" design got slapped up over it. The wallpaper was so viciously applied, I had to rent a wallpaper steamer. Sadly, I rented an old piece of shit that leaked, hence the rag wrapped around it in the middle photo. I ended up getting a second degree burn on my shoulder from water that had pooled up and flung off it. This resulted in me wearing the non-OSHA-approved halter top in the third picture because my burn couldn't stand having anything on it. |
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Even though I used the wallpaper steamer, I couldn't get all the glue off, which is the white coating that remained on the wall in the left picture. The white circle in the right picture is where an intercom used to be. This fancy 1950's style of communication seemed like more work than it was worth for a single-story house where screaming would seem equally as effective and less structurally invasive. |
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The walls took two coats of primer to even it out. The paneling was so dark that it took three coats of primer and three coats of paint. It finally turned out white, but only grudgingly. |
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I chose lilac for the non-paneled sections because it's a happy color. Chris says it's girly and made my room look like a nursery. Frightened that I'd be mistaken for someone even willing to babysit, I decided to up the masculinity a tad bit by going with navy blue accents. The curtains are nothing more than two layers of broadcloth sewed together and held up by curtain clips. Since the fabric cost a total of 15 bones, if I want I can change curtains like I change underwear. |
In the "before" photo on the left you can see how the paneling caused me to have poor posture. With the new, improved design, I sit more upright and test a full 20 IQ points higher. Next time you're faced with a redesign, go with bright colors and just watch your skin clear up and your life sort itself out! |
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