Color my world

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

Last issue of the year. One year ago today, I was writing an Editor’s Note discussing my arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol. I gotta tell you, despite the fact that a good attorney, John Oakes, was able to attack the merits of the prosecution’s case, and the charges against me were dismissed, the whole thing cast a pall over my year that I’m just starting to recover from. Don’t drink and drive.

I was thinking today that painting a wall in the home is an excellent way to launch a new year. It’s kind of like well-coifed people who change their hairstyle or beard to illustrate or initiate some more profound change in themselves.

I painted the most metaphorically important wall in my house—the one with the picture window in the living room—fresh-blood red. It was white. The obvious symbolic meanings of the change from white to red had nothing to do with why I painted. At least, I don’t think so, since my son Hunter picked the shade, but I can tell you it changed the character of the house. A white wall—particularly an eggshell wall—has no density to the eye. The red wall made the room seem smaller, warmer, cozier. It’s a beautiful frame for the ravine across the street.

I guess I invested about $70 bucks in paint and materials, and I’m going into the new year with a new house. I took the time to cut in the corners by hand. My world changed, improved, because of something I did. There’s more color in my universe. Get it? Even though I only spent a few dollars and hours planning and painting, my entire next year will be different every single day from this year—which kind of sucked. It’s a consequential change.

I should also mention that the folks down at Carter Brothers Hardware on Virginia Street gave me as much good advice as the employees at Home Depot gave me bad advice. The Home Depot got the price of the paint. I won’t make that mistake again.