Well, Sparky's break lasted one day, but it's a start. It was really HARD missing a blog! But it will get easier for sure..She'll shoot for every other day, and then gradually wean herself away and do the blog about twice a week, as long as she has something to say. Well, she has something to say EVERY day, but it's not always blog fodder....
Sparky learned something about herself today...She is NOT a painter. Sparky tried to save money by doing the den herself after we had hired painters to paint the great room and tear all that nasty wallpaper off 17 foot ceilings in the master bath. It was WELL WORTH it! Sparky had the best intentions in the world this morning starting the den at about 9:00 AM. She knew that painter's masking tape is a girl's best friend so she dutifully taped off the one window, all the baseboards and trim, and started in edging....
Merrily along she rolled...It was a good thing Eldy had errands to do...He would have seen Sparky changed corners several times before finishing one......
Sparky paints a room like she thinks...ALL OVER THE PLACE! Eldy came back and caught Sparky in some weird painting attire, the top's ok, but the bottoms are Sparky's jammies! She wanted to be comfortable!
This is a nineties house, and Sparky ran into a problem right away...popcorn ceilings and flat troweled walls with a slight texture. Ever try to edge the ceiling wall edge through bifocals and too short a ladder? No, well, trust me, it's VERY hard! Sparky got frustrated a lot! But she kept on paintin'......She did complete the room except for one architectural shelf above the closet. Our ladder doesn't reach high enough to reach across the shelf section to the back wall. Phooey! Not sure how we are going to finish the wall back there, but maybe Eldo will have to take over.
When it was all said and done, Sparky pulled the blue painter's tape off and discovered that the tape didn't adhere well to the white woodwork. NUTS! Sparky is going to have to do some touch up with a smaller brush on the woodwork, and a couple of OOPS! on the ceiling where her paint brush mysteriously jumped up and slapped the ceiling. (I think she was getting tired at this point, says a sympathetic E.) He wanted to help, but NO-O-O-O.....Sparky was stubborn and wanted to do it herself, trying to do something nice for Eldy as he ALWAYS does nice things for Sparky. And besides, sometimes it's better to work on your own than get in each other's way.....With Sparky's luck, she probably would have whacked Eldy in the head with the painting extension pole if he had been in there, she was having a hard time controlling it! Sparky also learned that even if you think you've covered a white wall in a rich color, it takes TWO coats to catch all the little nooks and crannies in a textured wall....Maybe anybody who sees it won't notice those tiny little white spots here and there. Sparky tried to get two coats mostly on the walls, but wore herself out in the process. We'll go back and revisit the room in the day time when we can see a little better....Geez, painting is HARD WORK! Sparky is really tired and really sore from all that painting and climbing up and down the ladder today.
As you can see, Sparky's into brown lately...She used to have everything in blues and whites years ago...Always white ceilings and walls. But now, Sparky loves the color milk chocolate...See? She's thinking of candy while she does this paint job! What Sparky keeps forgetting is, the color dries DARKER! Shoot! The den is a little too dark, but it's cozy. Wish we had a before photo--the whole room was white everything. But here's a quick look at Eldy's Man Cave.......He wants some golf pictures on the wall and a bar in the closet. :-) We'll be working on it!
Sparky picked out this lamp...She thinks it looks cool in the den! And it has a rectangular shade with a little shell finial on the top. The table has rattan details on it but they are hard see. It's a masculine looking room, that's for sure! Now Eldy can crank up the TV which takes up one whole wall. :-) A true man cave once he gets a bar in there.....And then we'll be ready for company! (WHOA! Not for awhile! Lots left to do worries E.) Yep, but time to slow down and spread these things out a bit....We'll be heading to Red Bay next week, so we do need to slow down and enjoy the holiday weekend coming up....
See you later...maybe a lot later, maybe not....We'll keep you guessing! :-)
I hate to paint too. I like the color, in fact I like all your darker color choices. Very nice and it doesn't look to dark at all..just very cozy.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how much more painting you have, but we bought a scaffold for about $80 that was very helpful for painting. It saves you from climbing up and down the ladder so often.
We never found any decent paint at either Home Depot or Lowes. Even their high end paint required a primer and 2 coats...even trying to cover light colors with another light cover.
We found Benjamin Moore was great paint. It covered a fairly bold color with one coat and went on so smoothly. It was amazing how different it was to paint with that paint. We also like Sherman Williams, but not quite as well as Benjamin Moore. It's more expensive, but it takes less time and less paint.
I never had good luck with the blue painters tape either. We also had popcorn ceilings in our Florida house and they are definitely a pain! Take a butter knife and scrape a little edge away before you paint. Worked for us.
I love painting, for many years painted apartments, offices and houses part time for other people. Never used painter's tape just cut in everything freehand. That last time used Homedepot Behr premium plus paint and worked very well for me. Good brushes, rollers and paint make the job so much easier.
ReplyDeleteGood luck and try to have fun doing it.
LOVE the color. . .once you get the pictures and drapes, and all the accessories in there I don't think you'll notice how dark you think it is. . .it's wonderful. . .good job!
ReplyDeleteWe managed to paint one room ourselves and gladly hired someone to paint the rest of the condo. :)
ReplyDeleteI always loved to do my own painting and was always good at it, but that was before my eyes became aged. I think I've painted for the last time now. If I ever thought I could get away with one coat of paint I have always been sorry. It ALWAYS looks better with two coats!
ReplyDeleteI don't like to paint but I do it. And when I do, I buy the best paint I can find so that I will only need one coat and I buy really good brushes and rollers. It costs more up front but if you don't do that, you end up buying more brushes nad more rollers and more paint and it takes more time. I don't like more in this case. Love your last shot. It could be in a decorating book.
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