What a huge relief it was last weekend when I realized I had 2 weeks to get ready for Tony Field’s arrival rather than one week. I don’t know what I was thinking. While he is here visiting, they will be shooting a documentary on MRSA, and Tony’s visit to the United States-and will be interviewing Marshall and I at our house in the process.

What a nightmare this could be! We live in an 80 year old house built by Marshall’s grandfather, and jeri-rigged by every other Jones since. There is always something breaking, and there is a good bit of cosmetic work that needs to be done. Marshall’s illness last year put any hopes of home decorating to a grinding halt. But, Marshall being back to work, along with this documentary and the upcoming Jones family reunion has sparked some life into the home decor fund.

We have a room in our house that is what I call the back room. It is between the main part of the house -kitchen, dining, living, kids rooms- and our bedroom and the office. This room was originally the back porch of the house, but now is just a big space with no real purpose. To top it off, it has the cheapest paneling walls money can buy, and a hideous drop ceiling, because the original (wood) ceiling is apparently a real mess from water damage years and years ago. This room is my mission for the week. I have spent the last two days painting paneling–I Kilz’ed it yesterday, and today it has one good solid coat of cool white semigloss. So, I am ready for whatever fabulous technique I am going to come up with. Who knows what it might be?? I still am not quite sure. I found a really nice faux painting website today here, that has tons of really good ideas and inspiration. What I know is that I am giving the paint overnight to dry, and then I will start back up in the morning with whatever I choose to do! I found an “oops” paint at Home Depot in a brownish color, and will mix that with glaze, maybe in varying amounts with some of the white, and might try some kind of ragging something or other. I hope it comes out alright, I guess it could not possibly be worse (read: uglier) than it was before. I tell you what, it looks way better already!