Coloring Page

Well, I have paintings in progress, but nothing to post. Here is something I did a while ago with a purpose. And here is the background story. A few years ago, I moved from my badly-decorated 70s condo to my 1916 house - a house which is practically perfect, if you can abide only one bathroom and spartan closet space. As I can. In one small corner of oozing charm, the kitchen has a breakfast nook. When I took over the house, the nook was fitted with a 50s diner booth kind of table. It was a nice and serviceable table and I lived with it. It obviously wasn't the original table though, and its lines and material clashed with the built-in benches and cabinets. I'd keep my eyes open at salvage shops, and one day I missed a table by minutes. I stepped up my search a bit, and even considered having a table custom built.

Then there was providence. I was driving to work one Monday morning, trash day in Los Angeles. Right there on Soto Street, at the curb with the cans, was a table. I screeched to a halt. The table was a bit heavy, and too large for my station wagon. A woman with a yard sale in progress agreed to keep it for me, and her son helped me carry it. I drove on to work, and enlisted the assistance of a friend with a truck. One of the best kinds of friends. We picked up my table at lunch, and it was delivered to my house later. Then the work began. While the table had good bones, it was wearing many years of chipped paint, contact paper, and dried-on bits of ickyness. It was stripped and sanded. The top couldn't be saved, which made me a little sad, thinking of the meals, the homework, the crafts, and everything that must have transpired on that tabletop. I got the table a new beautiful and sturdy butcher block top from Arroyo Hardwoods.

I don't have Photoshop or a cheaper alternative. I made a line drawing of the breakfast nook with the table, and I got out my crayons to determine what color the table should be. The kitchen is painted two very pale shades of yellow green with white trim. The floor is patterned vinyl of a similar color and shade. The tile counters and back-splashes are yellow with a green stripe accent. The table, below the top, ultimately received a few coats of a color called Green Balloon - similar to, but a little lighter, than the green stripe. Cheerful, but not too light, and old-timey. Eventually the rest of the breakfast nook and the whole kitchen will get new paint, probably in new colors.

You should feel free to color the breakfast nook picture, and submit your images and/or color scheme suggestions. You should probably also draw plates and food on the table.