as soon as i woke up i started painting the first coat of "fresh cut grass" in the bathroom. this was the last remaining room in the house to be colorized. progress was slow because it was hard to squeeze a ladder into the small bathroom and painting the edges - since the trims were already done - required a lot of concentration. i used the sponge brush technique recommended by manny, but i didn't go with the edger because paint still spilled across the line. the sponge brush is good because unlike a regular brush, it always keeps a nice sharp edge. i started with the edges first because they were the hardest, then i used the roller for the big areas of the walls, and finally a brush to fill in the gaps in between. i was more than halfway done before my father showed up to help me out (and to bring lunch, some wanton soup). while he finished off the bathroom, i went down the street to an open house of a 2nd floor condominium of 811 square feet selling for $346k. the idea of me going to open houses is kind of weird. i already have a house, so why bother? the reason is because it's fun. an open house is exactly that, an open invitation to somebody house. haven't you ever saw a place and wondered what it looks like on the inside? unfortunately, this one i went to had already been cleaned out, just a few furniture items left to give prospective buyers some bare bones idea of what things might look like if somebody was living there. it's actually a pretty interesting place, two good sized bedrooms, and you can only get to the laundry room from one of the bedrooms. wooden floors everywhere (although i could see they were new wood floors, small wood versus big wood, and the bathroom floor was actually an intricate wood mosaic), nice view, lots of sun, own private deck (which i didn't see). the kitchen was really small though, and missing a dishwasher (not that i'd ever use mine). the bathroom was small too (smaller than mine), so small that it only has a shower. if i was still buying, if had the money to afford a place like that, i think the fact you can't take a bath would be the killing point of the deal. sometimes a shower just won't do!

when the bathroom was finally paint (first coat at least, tomorrow, second coat), i kind of like that green better than the green in the living room, although i wouldn't change a thing. at times the bathroom seems really green, like the air inside itself is green as well, since the paint has a shiny semi-gloss finish. but it goes well with the yellow-orange petal shaped vanity light, and once i put back the wall mirror, there won't be that much green left. having a green bathroom doesn't make it feel kind of cold, but the green goes well with the whole jungle/leaf/forest theme.

next, the issue with the kitchen. i went ahead and repainted the ceiling edges with white, in essence "erasing" the hours of back breaking edge painting i did on friday night. by the time i finished, my sister showed up with a quart of "autumn red," the new potential kitchen color. we test painted it onto two walls to see what it'd look like. it's definitely a kind of dark pink, nobody wouldn't mistake it for red. the lighter color makes the kitchen look bigger, and it doesn't grab attention away from any of the other colors, nor does it evoke such a stronge response like salsa red. i'm sad that my dream of having a red kitchen won't be realized, but for the sake of color harmony, autumn red it is. tomorrow i'm getting a gallon and starting to repaint the kitchen.

i had dinner at the cafe, and then returned to the house with my parents to show my mother the new colors in the bathroom and kitchen. my father and i installed some shelves in the guest bedroom from one of the old bookcases we ripped out from the master bedroom during the general contracting phase of renovation (middle of sunday night we're cutting stuff up with the electric saw). i decided that i still wanted some salsa red in the house, and would paint the coat closet that color. people don't usually see the inside of the closet anyway, and when they do, it'll be a surprise and i'll have a story to tell ("the kitchen used to be this color..."). this would make my place a 7 color house: salsa red, citrus blast, apple green, fresh cut grass, yellow hightlight, autumn red, and little boy blue. the only color from the rainbow not represented is purple. maybe i can get some purple upholstered furnitures...