Little Changes...

So...

I made a few small changes yesterday... And they seem to have gone over rather well. I was a bit unsure at the time, especially as they were changes in someone else's home. Someone else as in The Boyfriend.

Yeah...

I did that thing that "other" females have always been the ones to do. That thing that I swore I would never do. That sort of thing that I have teased other females about (relentlessly) for years... I nested.

Yeah...

I went shopping for a dinner party that we were having for a work colleague of The Boyfriend's. You know, for a soap dish and some milk... That sort of thing. The sort of thing that does not cross boundaries and lines... That sort of thing that says: "I am a loving and supportive girlfriend and I respect your home for being your home." Except that it wasn't a home, it has just been a place for him to stay. And I did not respect his boundaries, I jumped into the wild blue without any idea of where the boundaries may have been, or how far I might have been crossing them.

So over to the dark side I went. Happily...

And I do mean dark side. Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I have a thing for all white dishes. All white linens. All white bedding and towels and rugs and pillow coverings and draperies. I love the neutral mix and match of all things beige and white. Tonal differences of the slightest degree. I love the differences of texture and fabrics to make up the cozy statement of my home's decor. (And before you gasp and say that I must not have children, know that if you have white in a natural fiber you can easily use bleach to remove any stain... Yes, perhaps I am related to my Father after all... He uses bleach like the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding uses Windex... My life is like that movie... Really. But I love that.) Even my furniture is being "restored" and painted a mix of whites... Heaven to me has been the palette chart at Lowes that has all of the different white paint chips in one handy book... And when they are side by side like that, you can really see the nuances of pinks and blues and yellows that are hidden under the white of the whites...

The Boyfriend once sent me a text that said that I am a bit like the color in the movie of his life... I love that message. I keep it on my phone and delete other around it so that I can look at it when I feel a little down... But really, it is likely the other way around... He is vibrant and into bright colors... Bold colors... Lots of colors... He likes burnt umber and rusty oranges... Sage greens and deep olive tones... A mix of woods and black leather make up his home furnishings... And somehow, those colors have been bleeding into my mind's eye... Seeping into the crevices of my brain while I have been spending so much time visiting The Boyfriend at his residence.


Notice that I have not used the word home in reference to The Boyfriend's abode? He has been on the move, much as I have been, for the past few years... And has not yet settled in... (I may never settle down, he may never settle in, this may never go anywhere... But then magic happens, so you never know...)

So...

I went shopping for a soap dish. For the bathroom. So that company would not have to reach into the shower to get at the soap if they wanted to wash their hands... But that was not what happened...


I found a soap dish. White. Ceramic. Oval and just the right depth to hold the truly decadent soaps that a friend of The Boyfriend's makes... It even went into the shopping cart. But near to the soap dishes were shower curtains. (The Boyfriend has a plain white thin plastic liner as his shower curtain... Shhh... Even I have limits for things that are white...) There was a curtain that called out to me. Singing out my name and begging me to take it with me and hang it up and to cross over that line where it seems all females eventually end up crossing... It was similar to a shower curtain that The Boyfriend's Uncle had in the guest bath that both of us just loved. It looks like something out of Pottery Barn. It is all of the colors that make up The Boyfriend's linens and all the colors that I have been leaning towards all these past months without reasonable explanation... It was... Perfect. It would tie it all together and make his bathroom a room. So into the cart it went...


I had napkins on my list. Fine. But I grew up using cloth napkins. The Boyfriend even has four somewhere that we have not been able to find since I helped him to unpack. So we have been using wash cloths, or paper towels, or our clothing... But there is company coming. I can't... Well... I won't ask then to use their trousers to wipe their hands upon. Just like I won't ask them to use the soap out of the shower to wash their hands. So napkins were on the list. Turns out that I like the fall and winter sort of neutrals too... I added three sets of four napkins to the cart. A gold satin striped set, a muted rust cotton set, and a super soft natural open weave linen set edged in chocolate brown. Perfect. Of course a set of four place mats joined the napkins... A set of woven (plastic, washable) industrial looking place mats in a mix of taupes, silvers, grays, and black. They are minimalist and modern and masculine. All the M's that The Boyfriend would like. I just knew it, so in the cart they went... As well as a single muted rust linen over-sized place mate with taupe detail to place in the center of the table or on a side board...

You would think this was where I stopped. But no.

A set of silverware for six. (I counted out forks before I left and no, there were not enough for salad, dinner, and dessert. There were enough for dinner and three salad, or dinner and three dessert, but not a whole meal for four.)

And then I saw it. That thing that made my heart swell up and pound like it was the drummer in a ticker tape parade... A bowl. Not what you were expecting right? A bowl. Sort of anti-climatic huh? (But those are the simple things that have made my passions soar... I have long had a thing for kitchen stuff, especially dishes... And this was some dish...)


Unlike all of my dishes... White and clean lines and from the euphoric bliss of Crate and Barrel... This bowl was COLOR. (And it was not oven safe, which up until THIS BOWL has always been a requirement for my everyday dishes...) But it was THIS BOWL. It was perfect. It was... Well... I could easily wax on about THIS BOWL for paragraphs, but I won't torture you. But I will stop with this... For the moment...

So...

Six of the bowls went into the cart. As did four small and deep cereal style bowls. (They are a plain natural ceramic glaze with a super soft sage band around the top and tie in the totally perfect bowls with the rest of my dishes... And I needed something to put another course that was added last minute in... So they were practical too...) A serving plate, that was also not white made it into the cart, along with four small white salad/dessert plates and a white coffee maker (to brew and serve hot tea with ease)... I contemplated more, but (finally) figured that I had enough...


I purchased my booty, loaded it into my car, hauled it up the stairs, washed and dried everything. Ironed the napkins and shower curtain, and set to work making The Boyfriend's house a home.

Dinner was ready. Salads plated and waiting in the fridge, main course plated and warming in the oven, dessert plated and sitting on the sideboard with the trappings for hot tea, bowls prepped and waiting for the added course to the meal... I was ready.

Ready, but nervous. I had not mentioned anything about my changes to The Boyfriend other than the soap dish. And I have not done this sort of thing before. I only just got my own set of keys to his place and now I am making changes to it... Oh... The nerve and the nerves...

He came home with his company. He looked a little surprised at the place mats and napkins, but not overly so. He gave a tour of his home and when I he got to the bathroom he blurted out something like he thought it was his bathroom... But that was not his (meaning the shower curtain) and look there was a new soap dish... We joked about it for a moment... He really did seem to be okay about it. But then again, The Boyfriend is a very, very laid back sort of person. It is one of the things that I like best about him. The man is virtually unflappable.


And then he saw the dishes as I set them on the table. And the next set and so on as the evening unfolded. His eyes kept twinkling and dancing at me from across the table as the night wore on... He looked happy and contented and relaxed... And it was good.

When he returned later that night from taking his company home, we talked about my "changes" at great length... (Yet another huge reason that I adore this man... He will talk about the things that I love to great extent, even if he would have had a two minute conversation about it if it were left up to him and his interests, and he really cares what is running around in my head about it all... I love that.)

It turns out he is okay with all of my additions to his home. And he was a bit in wonder at how easily I tied all of his things together with just a few pieces. And he was interested in what else I would do... And he love THE BOWLS. (So of course now I just HAVE to have a whole set... And before you ask, a whole set is 24. I have a large family and I like to entertain. And with bowls that I could not later replace, I would be content with 30, just in case for chips and breaks and so on... Excessive, I know, but it is me...) It also turns out that he loves one have of the bowl and I love the other. It is an "US" bowl. It also turns out that his eyes are hazel. Mostly green with a ring of rust around the pupil and flecks of gold shot through. I love his eyes. My eyes are dark brown with shots of espresso and mahogany shot through... Not as exciting, but I like them. These bowls are the colors of our eyes. These bowls really are "US" bowls...

I love these bowls...
I love that I can make these sorts of additions and changes to The Boyfriend's home and he is happy and (possibly) even content for the effect that they have...
I love The Boyfriend and the way that he loves me...

Yeah...

Life is good.

And he just may be a bit like the color in the movie of MY life too...




Note:
If anyone wants to know... The dishes were from WalMart of all places... Not Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel witch are my usual places of preference. Remember that I was just out for a simple soap dish...

The Manufacturer is Home Trends and the Style of Bowl that I fell in love with is called Jazz. ($1.96 each)

The style of the serving plate, that is really just a huge dinner plate, is called Natural Serenity. ($3.77 each)

The cereal style bowls are manufactured by Mainstays Home and the style is called Valejo Tan Band... (For $0.56 each they were the bargain of the day.)

There is something to be said for keeping an open mind when shopping... While none of the dishes I purchased were oven safe, they are dishwasher and microwave safe... An irony for me, since I do not use either... But I know that most folks do...

The place mats were also by Home Trends, the style is called Central Park, the code 092041VPM-Multi. they are made with an outer shell of Polyvinyl Chloride and an inner core of 100% Polyester. (According to the tag you can order them on-line...) They were $2.84 each... A good price considering that they will likely look like new in 15 years and they seem durable enough to withstand children as well as daily use. And I really like the option of wiping them down and/or washing them in the sink rather than the washing machine... No shrinking and ironing for these babies...

The napkins that The Boyfriend liked best were the super soft natural open weave linen set edged in chocolate brown. Turns out that they are not linen, they are 100% Polyester. (My fingers and the iron knew this, my eyes did not...) They are a Holiday item, soon to be gone, but the manufacturer is Harvest, the item number is 7HVTC-PC2NP, and the price was $1.96 for a pair.

The other napkins were by Home Trends, the style was Copper Pipe, the price was $3.96 for a pair. They are the most wonderful muted rust color and 100% cotton. They were yummy to wipe fingers on and thick enough to keep my clothes clean when I spilled a bit of salad on my lap... The gold satin stripe napkins came as a set of 4 and cost $4.97. The item number is 082092402131.

And lastly the shower curtain is called Braden by Home Trends. It is 100% Polyester and was a dream to iron out the folds and creases. It is actually really long, as you can see from the photo, which I really liked. The price is a secret, since it was a gift. But it was reasonable and fair.

So... Mom... If you are wondering about a Christmas gift... I would love a gazillion place mats...

Everyone else... Happy shopping!

(And no, WalMart and Home Trends did NOT pay me to advertise for them. I am just that thrilled. And that is as uncommon as my posting product information.)