week 94_Renovating for Baby

The norm in Taipei homes seems to be leaving ALL walls/ceilings painted WHITE. Clean and simple can be refreshing... but can also get boring to folks who are a fan of colors...!


Although our landlord was originally hesitant to permit any painting (or touching the walls in any way in our apartment - nails, 3M hooks, etc.), we have gradually gained her trust and she even took me shopping for paint last weekend! We agreed to hire a painter for our 2nd bedroom in preparation for making it 'baby's room'. Aside from providing our landlord with peace of mind that a "professional" would be handling the makeover, it also made it possible to have the room painted while I was away -not even in the apartment, let alone providing the labor - so there was no danger of excessive fumes around me and the baby. He did a great job, and I'm so glad to  have the room painted (even though we would usually save the cash and do the painting ourselves in the States...)

Ah, welcome to COLOR! :)

Bright and Cheerful, just as I'd hoped :)

One of the HARDEST puzzles I've ever worked on!

When my landlady and I visited the B&Q home store in Neihu, she was shocked to learn that not only were low-odor paint color choices abundant, but the staff actually mix the paint there as you wait (!). None of this was news to me - I had assured her that there were more colors available than the painter believed - but it made me wonder how many other locals (even workers who paint homes for a living) are unaware of custom paint colors? The small home shops on our block sell a set menu of paint colors... probably 20 choices total... and keep these stocked at all times. Maybe the Taiwanese don't paint with colors often because the majority of people are unaware of the color and brand choices available?

We chose two shades of yellow-orange, and left some of the white, to create a cheerful room. It is going to be a little boy's room, but could easily be anyone's room - girl, boy, adult - if by some luck we don't have to paint it back to white at whatever point we move out. I've been working on a *challenging* puzzle from a local children's artist that is blue & green with small flecks of orange, yellow and red. Whenever I finally finish, I am planning to hang it in the room. It should pop right off the orange wall and look great with those specs of color matching the wall background. :)

Shortly after visiting the store with me - and before the date the painter was even scheduled to paint at our apartment - I learned that our landlady had her mother's apartment painted by the same man. Inspired by our shopping trip?! Haha.


Other than paint, we also learned, a little late in the game, that apparently in Chinese culture (not limited to Taiwan) they believe pregnant women and their spouses should NOT hammer anything while pregnant. The fear being that doing so could cause a miscarriage or even cause the baby to be born with some abnormality. No hammers, no nails, my friends. Good to know now that we've reached the 3rd trimester... I don't think we've hammered/nailed anything since January... (?!?!?!). This was news to us, and even the hubby falls into the superstition! So... now that we have freshly painted walls and will surely have art/pictures to hang, it looks like it will all be 3M adhesive hooks for us!