Painting Marathon!

Last week my parents came to help me paint all the interior walls of our house/apartment. We were geared up for a whole week of painting including 12 gallons of paint(4 different colors). We also had to gear up for a whole week of painting in 95 degree heat with no air conditioning. Fortunately, we did have a window unit, but that's only in the living room and it didn't get very cool(probably got down to 85 degrees, so certainly much better).

It's true what they say though. You DO get acclimated to the heat and it's not like we were in the sun like everyone else going from car to store in a parking lot. The only thing I got tired of was feeling so sweaty and disgusting all day. The only thing I could think about at the end of the day was a shower.

(side note: the photos in this post have nothing to do with the writing associated with it. i just thought it would be better to break up all the text with the after photos thrown in throughout)




My color selections(all color matched in Sherwin Williams No VOC Harmony paint that I got for 40% off):

Sherwin Williams White Base(2 gallons)- ceilings
Valspar Sanibel Gray(4 gallons, it's kinda aqua/sea green/gray)- Living Room/Kitchen/Hallway
Glidden Antique White(2 gallons)- Master Bedroom
Martha Stewart Heavy Goose(1 gallon)- 2nd Bedroom/Master Closet
Benjamin Moore Melon Popsicle(1 gallon)- Laundry Closet

I finally invested in those of those extension poles for painting. Even though my dad painting the very top of the walls and ceilings, it was well worth the $20! I can't believe I ever lived without one. I bought the 4-8ft pole, but found I used it at 4ft most of the time and only extended it to 5ft a few times. Part of the time when I didn't need 4 whole feet(but needed more than just the roller handle) the pole got in my way and I wish I had bought the 2-4ft pole instead.

In all my years of painting(and I've been painting rooms since I was about 14), I always had to roll where I my 5'7" self could reach, then go back with a step ladder to do the top foot and a half of the wall. NEVER AGAIN!




The bathroom color...well that's yet to be determined. We don't have to have anything painted to get our CO(certificate of occupancy), but it's just easier to not have to cover and paint around furniture after we move in. Especially since we are painting 12 ft ceilings and need to move 10 ft. ladders around. The bathroom has regular height ceilings and we won't have to worry about moving out furniture that's in the way, so I decided to wait until later to choose that color. Also, it's the only room that the color isn't predetermined by current furnishings. With a white shower curtain the only thing I would need to match to the paint would be towels and bath mats(and we could use some new bathmats).




Here's how our schedule worked out(working 8 or 9 hrs a day):

Monday- paint all ceilings, living room/kitchen, hallway
Tuesday- paint bedrooms, closets
Wednesday- caulk, puddy, and sand trim
Thursday- tape and prime trim
Friday- paint 1st coat of trim
Monday- paint 2nd coat of trim




Yeah, the tape is still there because we were mid-painting when I shot these. Also, I am usually a non-taper. We did not tape off the walls at all when we painted them. But cutting in with a brush when painting a wall is much easier than painting trim and trying not to get it on the walls. Believe me! (We kinda did it backwards) While taping is tedious and time consuming(so is painting trim), it will reduce many frustrations and need for touch-ups.




I did pretty good estimating the quantities of paint. The only question mark was the master closet. After painting the little 2nd bedroom, we thought we had enough to paint the master closet. There was lots of antique white leftover from the 2 gallons, but that sounded boring for a windowless closet. And it was really hard to see where you already painted since it blended in with the white primer. We decided on heavy goose because, still being a neutral, it would blend with the colors of our bedding well.






Painting the closet commenced. I started rolling and got about half way done...and ran out of paint. Darn. Wednesday morning we made a run to Lowes for some supplies. Sherwin Williams Harmony doesn't come in quart sizes(and I figured I needed just one more quart), so I figured it's just a closet! I'll just get the heavy goose color matched at Lowes! There quart was $8 compared to about $20 at Sherwin Williams. And it's not like it was a Sherwin Williams formula color. Color matching is color matching, right?




Wrong!

I didn't really check the color after she mixed it for me because we were in a hurry and Sherwin Williams was a perfect match, so why wouldn't theirs be? I started painting right away, and while paint is wet it looks different, so I didn't notice until I ran out of paint AGAIN! By that time, where I started had dried and finally took notice that it was NO WHERE near the beautiful soft gray in the photo above!

Not like, "Hmm, do those look the same to you? One looks a tiny bit different." No. We are talking totally different color. And this is in poor light mind you. It looked like a darker battleship gray. Like cold, harsh metal. And no, I don't have a picture.







Not to waste time, my mom and I made the 20 min drive to Sherwin Williams while my dad and my in-laws were caulking and puddying the trim work. I told the guy there(who I think knows me by name now) what happened and his response was "Yeah, don't go to Lowes." Lesson learned. You pay more(at lot more), but the expertise is worth it. What I try to do is wait until I get the email or mail flyer announcing a holiday sale or sending a coupon(usually 30% or 40% off all paint and supplies). Now that's a deal! Why would you go anywhere else? I also get 10% as a "preferred customer". I didn't actually know I was a preferred customer until this last visit. So I don't know how you become one. Spending tons of money?



(this trim only has primer on it)

Anyway, to make a long story long, we got a gallon of paint(since I needed one quart to finish the closet and one quart to paint over the Lowes paint and the price of two quarts is almost the same as one gallon and I had a $10 off a $50 purchase. nice run-on sentence.) Problem solved. The paint looks great.

The rest of Wednesday was spend prepping the trim, sanding, and clean off the dust so that my mother-in-law and I could paint the next day. To clean off the dust, I got tack cloths from Lowes that feel like really sticky/waxy cheese cloths. They were leftover from when I had to sand the wall in between priming and painting(yeah left that part out). Sounds terrible, but it was surprisingly easy and simple. I already had the paint extension pole, so all I needed was a sanding block that attaches, sandpaper, and tack cloths. It was as easy has mopping walls. First with sandpaper, next with tack cloths. Done. Took me 40 minutes the morning I was wait for my parents to arrive. I didn't do the walls I couldn't reach because I would never feel the prickles up there because, duh, I can't reach them.

I've said it before, but I HATE painting trim! It's so slow! Matt does not appreciate this because I think he's only painted once in his life and he spilled a gallon of paint onto the rug, so I fired him. Banned for life I tell ya'. Haha No, while that story is true, he was at work making the money that paid for all this paint. He actually thought we could get all the trim done in one day(when it took 2.5). And we are fast. I am very happy with the way it came out and very happy that I don't have to do it again(aside for touch-ups after flooring and furniture get moved in and bump walls).

Lucy just chilled in the garage the whole week. Poor thing isn't used to this heat. She was too hot to even get into much trouble(lucky for me) and just slept.




Love her.