It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

[danceswithwords]

This weekend was the first weekend of my big repainting project--repainting my living room and rear sunroom. I'd been putting it off forever, partly because two walls in the rear are currently covered in textured paint that needed to be sanded down by hand, a job I have been dreading for some two years. Anyway, I finally got the sanding done and

Comments

[youmadeabear]

I did something a little extravagant yesterday--bought a portable DVD player to use on the train ride.

I've been thinking about doing this. How much did you end up spending?

I'd love to see pictures of your living room and sunroom.

[danceswithwords]

I went with a pretty basic Toshiba model, which I got for $199 at Best Buy. It seems like there are only a couple in the $150-200 range and everything else is more like $400+ and I didn't need or want anything very fancy. The one I got has a good display--that's something that seems to vary wildly between brands, and none of the less expensive models had good displays.

I'd love to see pictures of your living room and sunroom.

I actually don't own a camera! I could try to borrow one, though. My house's layout is such that it's really difficult to get far enough away to take a decent picture of any room.

[danceswithwords]

Oh yay! I know you hated that carpeting. Red or green would be dramatic, but as my living room can attest, both together just look Christmassy. I think once I paint the back room (which runs behind both the living room and kitchen) yellow, it will tie things together better. Either that or it will look like crap and I'll end up repainting the living room again. *sigh*

[jebbypal]

You should just say to hell w/ it and buy a potted cedar ;) LOL

[danceswithwords]

Ha! Yes, brazening it out is an option. ::ponders::

[asta77]

I debated on getting a portable DVD player to take to work and to take with me when I travel. The good models still seem a little pricey though and I wonder if it's wise to blow money on something I don't *need* when I'm looking at laptops.

[danceswithwords]

I actually would have just stuck with a laptop for portable DVD viewing were it not for the battery issue, but both my work and personal laptops die at about 40 minutes when doing something power-intensive like decoding and rendering DVDs. If you can plug in, the laptop should be fine. (And they really, really need to start providing places to plug in on airplanes.)

There's a weird price canyon in the portable DVD players--models can be had for $200 and under, but a lot of them are fairly crappy, and everything else starts at $400. The Toshiba I got is in the former category but is of fairly good, if basic, quality.

[brynnmck]

Portable DVD players are the best. We had one, and then it got stolen when our house got robbed... we just bought another one, only it's a 7" display, and I think we had an 8" one before, and the new one looks much smaller. And the 10" one is just too big to travel with comfortably. Woe! Anyway, they're excellent for plane rides, too, and for hotel stays. I bet you'll find lots of uses for it and it'll be well worth the money. (Says the girl with two TiVos.)

Red is a lovely color to decorate with, isn't it? Just make sure you don't buy an area rug that's, like, covered with snowflakes or something. :) It all sounds gorgeous, though.

[danceswithwords]

7" seems to be the standard for most of the available models--the 10" one was enormous in comparison. And I'm considering looking into one of those newfangled TiVO thingies! In fact, I'm determined to have it in place by July, for obvious reasons. Heh.

I'm not sure "gorgeous" is the right word for my current decorating scheme. I'm still leaning towards "holiday-themed." :)