posted 6 years ago
in 2009, my mother was diagnosed with alzheimers
in 2009, i made the difficult decision to move her to my house
in 2009, she was sent to a specialty hospital where she could be further diagnosed, and have a medical plan arranged by a team of neurologists, psychiatrists, and medical doctors, while there, we moved her things from her little apartment into my home
in april of 2018, we moved here...mom and her no tailed black cat in tow...to our new homestead...half the size of our old home...half the amount of land to take care of...and 5 hours away from anyone we knew and all we loved...
mom and i were stranded here for one week before marty could get back up with our horses...the last thing to move...and our truck broke down...so he was down south in the timberlands and mom, myself and the no tailed cat were here during that time...i would spend any spare second i had putting up panels and preparing a place for the horses...that would be when mom was either asleep or quiet...somehow, it got done...but, this thread is about a room for mom...so, here goes...
her bed was set up in the back room...where she and i snuggled to keep warm with three electric heaters (we had no firewood, no central heat, or stoves to put firewood in. although there was a fireplace in the front room of the cabin...it had been years since it had been used...and needed a good inspection before trying to burn it...and that would take someone smarter than me! :) there is a door from the front room that leads to the bedroom...and i set up a small tv and dvd player to keep mom entertained while i began work on what was to be her room...and i wanted her room PERFECT for her!!!
when we bought this cabin, we bought it not for what it was, but the hope of what was to be...
everything, including the fireplace, had been totally painted white with some kind of something (who would do that to these beautiful moss rocks...) no matter how much paint thinner, drill powered scrubbing, coke, soap and water, vinegar and baking soda, paint stripper, wire brushes...etc. i used, nothing would even begin to penetrate!!! never seen anything like it!!! i had run out of options on the mountain, and had no way to go get anything other that what we had brought with us...so, because i had already decided what color i wanted her room to be, and had stopped at a hardware store and bought that and interior painting supplies on one of the trips up prior to... i had enough to paint mom's institutional white room with a concrete floor...
i never intended a move to an inner city condo...i wanted a cowboy cabin...and that meant mom was gonna have to play along...and since she is no longer at a place where she can articulate her wishes...i had, over the years, developed this ability to play both ends...mom would love the condo in the city...i wanted a cowboy cabin...and we were here...on a concrete floor...walls, wood, and rock fireplace ALL painted with a bright white paint that would NOT come off (because of the fumes, i couldn't have used an acid...thus my attempt with the coke, which actually worked better than anything--ill NEVER drink a coke again)
i painted her room a soothing coconut color and 'fauxed leathered' over that with a saddle tan using leather chamois. unpacked a box that contained some of my old paint...hadn't painted anything in a while...but, boy did lights go off in my head...and that is where the fireplace painting began...fake it till ya make it, right ???!!! :)
one by one...each rock was painted with an acrylic craft paint, and then stained with a penetrating walnut color stain...hey, it was all i had! ;)
almost a year into it....still not too many signs of wear...a little faded...maybe some sealer? didn't want it to be too fake looking....will keep ya updated...at least for up to now, it is holding up pretty good, so that i can concentrate on other things...and mom likes it :)...but, soon i will need to do something to make it a little more vibrant if it is fading any more...any ideas to toss around???
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