Painting the House

Gary and I decided that our house needed to be painted - inside. We have lived here 10 years and it was time to 'freshen up' the house. Hmmm, I am the only one who paints, Gary doesn't.

I have a project ahead of me.

First we have to choose some colors. We had an idea of what we thought we wanted so I brought home some samples.

Then more samples

And more samples.

This is what we finally ended up with.

I know that some people are wondering why in the world it took me so very long to paint the rooms of my house. Let me try to explain. Each room was totally emptied. Totally!  Then the entire room was washed down, walls, ceiling, baseboards, crown molding. Everything!  I also used Kilz on all three bedrooms and the bathrooms.

Oh, did I mention that I also emptied the closets and painted them as well?  So after a room was emptied and washed and Kilzed, if needed, I painted. I painted every surface in each room except for the floor.

The ceilings were painted. The crown molding then got painted. Then the wood trim (closet doors, baseboards, etc). Finally the walls were painted.

Then I had to clean up my mess. And I cleaned the floors. And then everything was put back in the room.

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that this was done is shifts. I would work on my painting after I got home from work of an evening. This was really quite a project. For me.

I started with Chris' old bedroom as it was the worst in the house.  The color we chose was supposed to be a soft peachy color.  It turned out orange.  I call it the Orange Room.  I think my giraffes go quite well with this room.

From there I moved to the big bathroom then the small bathroom.  Then on to the other two bedrooms.  As I was working on the last bedroom I knew the next project would be the dining room/hallway area. We thought we wanted to use purple here but this was a big change. I got some sample paint to paint various areas so we could see what we thought of it before committing to the big room.

I took pictures of my 'samples' and sent to my girls and some friends to get their opinions. Reactions were mixed.

After each room was painted we got curtains and rods and put up. Many many thanks to our good friend Mr. Rick for his assistance with this part of our makeover project. He also put in a new ceiling fan in the master bedroom one weekend when we were out of town.

Each closet was painted - ceilings included. And each closet was better organized when put back together. I know have a large collection of garage sale items.

By the time I was finishing up the dining room/hallway and getting ready to move to the kitchen K.C. showed up. See my happy face

I was happy to see her as it meant she and her family were moving back to Tulsa.  It also meant that she was there to help me with the kitchen.  Every item was emptied from the cabinets. K.C. referred to me as a hoarder. Let me say she referred to Gary as a kitchen gadget hoarder.  She thinks we have to much stuff. We probably do but I just don't know what to get rid of.  (Gary here:  K.C. is obviously just jealous of all the cool stuff we have!!)

With K.C. helping the kitchen did not take as long. She was able to do almost all the prep work while I was at work. She washed walls and cabinets. Scrubbed floors - major major help to me.

So the whole house except for one room has been totally painted. This takes care of my initial project. Only room left is the living room and I am considering it. Have brought home more paint samples but that room will wait a while.

Any issues while painting? Well, I only had two major mishaps. While putting things back in the hallway closet I misjudged which step I was on on the ladder and stepped down farther than I thought I had to step. That brought a yell out of me and Gary came running. I was able to limp off and assure him I thought I was okay. Luckily the hallway was narrow enough that I fell into the wall and not all the way to the floor.

Second mishap occurred in the kitchen. Not real sure what happened here but I was painting the cabinet and somehow fell off the ladder. I grabbed the handle of the microwave but that door swung open as I fell.  K.C. was nearby and was able to prevent me from falling all the way. This is a very good thing as if she had not done so I would have gone all the way down and either hit my head on the cabinet behind me, the refrigerator or smack dab on the floor.

So now I am going to enjoy my new house and my 'free time' for now. I will also start contemplating what color to use for the living room.  Any suggestions for me?