Written March 29, 2025
reviewed 4/5
Hello Dear Readers,
This morning, my wife and I made an early pilgrimage to the sacred land of DIY dreams—Home Depot. Our mission? Paint samples. Our vision? A house reimagined through the lens of our favorite books and authors. First stop on this literary tour? The bathroom. Destination: Wonderland.
Yes, you heard right. We’re giving our bathroom an Alice in Wonderland makeover. My wife has been brewing this plan like a tea party with the Mad Hatter—delightful, slightly chaotic, and full of charm. The only thing that delayed the madness was the whirlwind of year-end busyness. But now that things have calmed down, she’s full steam ahead.
She’s already chosen a few color palettes—somewhere between “Mysterious Mushroom” and “Twilight Teacup”—and she’s got a new shower curtain that screams Wonderland… possibly literally. It’s whimsical, yes, but with a touch of “is this watching me?” about it. And while she loves the classic illustrations from the original book, the curtain looks like something the Queen of Hearts might use to hide a trapdoor.
The irony? My wife can’t stomach horror. She closes her eyes during mildly intense insurance commercials. And yet, here we are, about to paint the walls in colors that could double as names for Halloween nail polish.
Me? I’m oddly excited. After moving into this house, we’ve tackled a few projects ourselves—most notably turning the oversized storm shelter-slash-storage room into something halfway respectable. Half of it is now a functional storage space, complete with a sturdy wall shelves my wife designed like a woman possessed by the spirit of Marie Kondo meets MacGyver. That thing isn’t going anywhere.
Inside, we’ve stockpiled emergency gear: canned food, kombucha (because hipster emergencies are still emergencies), and other non-perishables. My wife, an accountant, often reminds me that even the fastest-growing companies crash when their inventory runs amok. She runs our pantry with the same logic. Minimalist? Not quite. Strategic and pragmatic? Absolutely.
Her quiet mission is turning this house into a haven—beautiful, yes, but with function tucked into every nook. She’s carving out cozy corners for reading, clean-lined spaces for writing, and nudging me gently toward making my workspace less “creative chaos” and more “well-oiled thinking machine.”
The book theme? That’s our shared guilty pleasure. Reading is our thing. So why not let it spill into the walls, quite literally? After Wonderland graces the bathroom, she already has plans to transport our dining room straight into The Great Gatsby. Yes, the Jazz Age is coming to dinner. Apparently, we even own a few paintings that “go with the theme.” Who knew?
So yes, it’s going to be a busy year. We’re not rushing. We’ll roll out the literary carpet one room at a time. Slowly but surely, like any good novel—chapter by chapter.