Pull up a chair and sit a spell

La Gringa's sala principal

I can finally say that. For years, our sala principal (living room) has been a storage area. It's one of the only rooms in the house that doesn't leak through the windows when it rains, so the stuff we had stuck away in other areas always seemed to make it's way back here during rainy season.

The reason we have so much stuff to store? We have no finished clothes or linen closets, shelves, or laundry room storage. Why? Well, that is a story for another time, but if you know a good and reliable ebanista (cabinet maker) in La Ceiba, please let me know.

It was really an embarrassing situation, because as you enter the house, it is the first thing that you see. It was okay when strangers came. We could pretend that we just moved in (and haven't been living here for four and half years − heheh).

We had been looking for some rattan furniture for that room and finally found some in San Pedro. The fabric was even in deep orange like the room! Furniture styles in Honduras are mostly the very heavy, formal, ornate styles with brocade upholstery. I wanted something more tropical and casual and it wasn't easy to find.

The furniture is made by PROIMI here in Honduras. You can see their entire catalog at the website. Some of the styles are...well, not my style, but we really love this set. Look at the detail. I think it is very attractive and seems to be well made.

The lamps are definitely different. They weren't part of the set, but I just had to have them.

The shades, though, don't look right to me. First, they are some sort of cheap bright-white paper. Second, they got smashed and those wrinkles are not coming out. Third, the shape just doesn't look quite right to me. Are they too small? Is it the shape? My plan is to cover them with a sheer fabric and see how that looks. Maybe some fringe at the bottom would lengthen the shade a little. Ideas?

We took a daring chance and even put one of the oriental rugs down. So far we've been able to keep the dogs out of that room − fingers crossed. The dogs have grown up without rugs and have a different idea of their purpose than I do. :-/

The rugs are another thing we've had rolled up and stored for ages. Between dogs, workers, construction, and painting, it just never seemed like a good time to put them down.

The room gives me pleasure every time I walk past it. I can't wait to have some company!






P.S. More embarrassment: Yes, that is our chicken coop on the terraza. No, there aren't any fish in the aquarium. And those are uninstalled door moldings piled behind the chairs. − Give me another four years, okay?