It’s been a busy past few weekends around here, and not because of events. My mother had decided that we needed to paint the house before the holidays! Which meant we had 2 weekends to get it all done, now we did manage to get it all done. And we got it all done without killing each other! Its one thing to live, and work together, but to throw painting into the mix, wasn’t a good idea.
Painting in itself isn’t hard, its all the prep work! You have to take everything off the walls, fill holes with spackle, move everything out of the room, tape the room, cover anything you don’t want paint on. Mom and I are horrible at painting, we manage to get paint everywhere and most of it ends up on us and not the walls!
So we decided to start with the entry way, thinking it was small and no big deal. Now, the entry way has been MANY different colors over the years, yellow, blue, beige, cranberry and I’m sure more. Well we had to start with a primer on this whole area because it was red and we were getting ready to paint it brown. So we did the primer, had to wait of course. Then painted one coat of the brown, also called Toasty from Sherwin Williams. It was beautiful, BUT we weren’t done, because it was such a drastic change, we had to paint yet another coat of brown. We finished that night and were so tired. When we woke up the next morning, we realized it needed a THIRD coat of paint. So I painted that third coat while my mom got the downstairs ready for paint.
Here is the look of our entry room now! So pretty and I would post more pictures, but its a SMALL space.
So after the entry way was done, we moved downstairs to the basement. Now this hasn’t been painted in 15 years. My mother hated coming downstairs, she always refered to it as the dungeon. We of course had to move everything out of the room, tape the room, fill the holes in the wall, lock the dogs outside for the day, cover the sofa, etc. Then we started painting with Compatible Cream also from Sherwin Williams. Now did I mention when my dad bought the house the basement was unfinished? It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but he had this brilliant idea for the walls. They aren’t smooth, and that’s an understatement! Christina (our wedding planner and AMAZING friend) came over to help paint because I think she likes to be tortured. She refered to them as the grand canyon! We had to do 2 coats of paint in that room too! And part way through had to run to the store for more paint! Finally finished that room Sunday late night.
This is a good picture of the room and the color now. My mother now LOVES this room! And if I get some time I’ll post a picture of our fireplace, which just POPS against this color!
So because the past weekend of painting wasn’t torture enough, my mother decides we need to paint the upstairs living room and kitchen as well! Of course, because at this point I am so in love with my mother 🙂 Well Friday morning we start moving things out of the room, taping, filling holes and draping the couch and other things in which we don’t want paint on. Now if you think the entry had a lot of colors, you are sadley mistaken. The upstairs has been blue, yellow, beige, and even purple! Cristi (my mothers friend) comes over to help and I think she really like torture because she came back on Saturday to help! So Cristi and I start paiting most of the room in what’s called Ryegrass also from Sherwin Williams. While my mother preps the red wall! We had a beautiful red wall, but my mom never liked the shade of red she picked out, so she had to prime that wall, and of course half way through she runs out of primer and has to go back to the store for more. Of course we couldn’t get away with painting just one coat, nope we had to do 2! My mom had to do 3 coats of the new red which is called Radish and also at Sherwin Williams. So Sunday afternoon we finally finish the upstairs! And mom had the nerve to say we should paint both bathrooms this spring – she is CRAZY!
This is one of the better pictures showing the Ryegrass.
And here is our Radish wall which looks VERY good!
While I may be complaining because it was VERY hard work, the house looks AMAZING! It was a lot of work, but it really did pay off and all I can do is hope that these colors will be in this house for a very long time!
Love,
Jen
