Amber Morning

On Thursday Susan snapped several photographs in the front hallway and parlor. She was up early with me, and the crack-of-dawn sunlight mesmerized her. Amber morning light illuminating Rosslyn’s elegant entrance. She was surprised to hear that this front hallway — early in the morning, bathed in sunlight — had compelled me for years. Since the beginning. Since before the beginning. I know I’ve told her this over the years, but I suppose it didn’t stick. I told her again.

One of my earliest points of connection with Rosslyn was a morning memory of an experience that had never actually taken place… [We visited] Rosslyn for almost two years before deciding to make an offer, but we never visited early in the morning prior to purchasing. So the material for this daydream was conjured out of desire and various tidbits gathered during non-morning visits. Apparently my unconscious curiosity and desire was pining for early morning, alone with my dog and a hot cup of coffee… to witness the intimate arrival of morning in the home’s entrance hallway…

When Susan and I decided on paint colors, I pushed for yellow. She wasn’t particularly keen. I no longer recollect what color she desired, but my yen for yellow was quite simply a yielding to this daydream. My imagination had confected a morning vibe that needed to be experienced in reality. Not a particularly compelling argument when horse trading with Susan over design decisions, but I ultimately prevailed. Trim we agreed on early throughout the house. Beach hardwood flooring, the period chandelier and wall mounted lighting, the rug, the art,… all of these were joint decisions. But the yellow walls remain a point of disagreement even now. In fact, we’re considering a change, and given her willingness to accommodate me for the better part of a decade and a half with faint yellow walls in both halls, I’m inclined to yield at last. (Source: Morning Light, Front Hallway)

And I did yield. This past winter and spring Kasey McKenna and Karly McKenna repainted most of Rosslyn’s interior for us. Although Susan was in Santa Fe, we three guided her virtually through new colors for the front hallway. And the new hue was a grayer cousin to the warm yellow cream I’d enjoyed for the last decade and a half. At the time I considered the new color a compromise. But you know what? When the sun is rising up out of Vermont’s Green Mountains, and the warm rays illuminate Rosslyn’s entrance, I’m entranced. Yes, the shade is different, especially when indirect sunlight or electric illumination are in charge. But first thing in the morning is still the daydream that came true!

Thank you, Susan. Thank you, Kasey and Karly. Thank you, Benjamin Moore. Thank you, Rosslyn!