Going Green (in which I come up with a new strategy for saving the earth)

April 10, 2013 by Anne 18 Comments

This might not be the type of “going green” you were looking for if you’re passionate about nature and recycling and organic stuff. Not that I’m opposed to any of that…I just don’t blog about it. No, this type of “going green” literally means I painted something green.

I know that it will probably come as a huge shock to you that I painted something. Well, let me reiterate our situation…Ken and Anne live in a tiny, 670 square foot apartment. We are doing this to save money. Saving money means that painting the walls (and having to paint them BACK at the end of our lease) is a bit ridiculous.

Which means that I have no other option left than to douse each and every possession that I own with the maximum amount of color I can add.

And when one of my readers Kylie left a link on the Planting Sequoias Facebook page (which, by the way, YOU SHOULD GO AHEAD AND LIKE) to this Etsy listing, I was sold.

(It is probably obvious at this point what I am going to do, but don’t worry; I’ll still give you a full blown tutorial.)

To summarize:

I HAVE THESE SAME BIRDS.

I HAVE GREEN PAINT.

This is a mash up that was meant to be. (Also somehow meant to be: Pink and Fun’s Nate Ruess. I, weirdly enough, love this sad song).

Mine gulls were a mere $.99 and are made out of a lovely faux wood that is actually plastic. I have them soaring with some oil paintings above our TV (see them here), and I was never a die-hard lover of the plastic wood look.

So I did this.

It was obviously very difficult.

I should note that spray paint would work best for this type of project…it would give it a more glossy, smooth surface. But I was working with what I had. Not spending money means not spending money…there’s not a lot of gray area between zero and zero.

ALSO, the more that I think about it, isn’t the whole “taking something old and rescuing it” a pretty green concept? Perhaps I am saving the earth a wee bit after all. New life motto: I THRIFT BECAUSE I CARE.

The gulls are once again soaring in all their green glory.

Why yes, I did take this picture in the dark of night.

I have no idea what I’m going to do when we actually do have a house and I have the freedom to actually paint the walls.

It is entirely possible that I’ll go color-wild and you’ll find me in an over-stimulated coma from too much color. I’ll long for simpler times like this, then, I suppose.

But until then, nothing is safe from my paintbrush.