BEIGE UPON BEIGE

I've had quite a lot of time on my hands this summer.  More time on my hands than I've had for years.  For decades, really.  I was excited when I realized I would be enjoying a few weeks with time on my hands.  I could read all the magazines I've subscribed to, and all the books I've purchased because, you know, it's so darned easy to purchase a book from Amazon.  Push a button and, within minutes, Amazon Prime is pulling up to your door, or the latest best-seller pops right into your Kindle.  It's like a miracle.

And now, a few weeks later, even though I hate to admit this, time on my hands has weighed heavily.  But let me tell you what might really be happening here.  We came to Sun City Grand in the fall of 2001, and moved into this house exactly two years later.  We did what all new SCG owners do.  We carefully chose our flooring--a lovely beige tile.  We debated paint colors...limited though they were to various shades of...beige.  We analyzed cabinets and argued over countertops.  We spent a day in the "Design Studio" choosing this and that and every other thing you might imagine.  If you had a really big house, you spent two days in there.  I'm not even sure they let those people out for the night.  I can't imagine how big-house-people survived.  We were exhausted just deciding how to decorate one of the smaller homes.

We were, though, really happy with our choices.  We have an extremely neutral but very comfortable house.  I think people feel like they can relax when they walk in.  At the time we thought it really looked like a classy resort.  That, I think, was because we went just a little heavy on the tropical theme, as evidenced by  the variety and number of palm trees in our great room.

Having all this time on my hands made me realize that in the last eleven years we have not made one single decorative change to this house.  Not even a  pillow--although I've turned down hundreds of corners on pages from Pottery Barn's  monthly catalogs.   That situation (no decorative changes) is way, way out of character for me and I didn't even realize it was happening.  I'm afraid I reached, and unconsciously passed, another AGE & STAGE milestone.  It's the saboteur milestone whispering  that even  though your house is a little dated, it looks just fine.  It's the geriatric milestone discouraging those of a certain age from taking on redecorating projects because of the mess or the hassle, the dust and the discomfort.  It's the masculine milestone tells your  husband that your house is not dull and dingy.  It's "comfy and homey."  It is not a good milestone to reach.  In my case it's a frightening milestone because (may I please repeat)  it is so against my nature.  AGE & STAGE can be scary sometimes.  You wake up one morning, look at yourself and realize not only are you turning into your mother, you've been your mother for a number of years. 

My mother stopped redecorating shortly after I graduated high school and, now that I think about it, she went pretty neutral just like I have.  She decided on off-white, I chose beige.  I had one of the most colorful houses in all of Dodge City before our move to Arizona.  Oftentimes, when someone walked in our front door, you could hear their gasp as the bright colors and busy prints shocked them speechless.  My mother, in her younger days, leaned heavily toward green walls and carpet, had a bright red kitchen and  two very cool mid-century chairs (when mid-century was really mid-century) in the damnedest shade of orange you've ever seen.  We later learned she had really bad cataracts and wasn't completely responsible for those choices. I, by contrast, had no such excuses.

But now, it looks to me like we have yet another challenge on our hands in this AGE & STAGE experiment.  Do I settle, or do I begin looking at paint samples?  Should we consider hardwood, yet more tile or textured carpet?  Will BC get on board?  Will BC leave me?  Will someone haul off our oversized entertainment center?

It's an exhausting conundrum...   

Margie