Painting Lessons

I thought I should let you all know what I've been up to for the last few weeks, since I haven't been around much. Before we moved, I got this crazy idea that I was going to do a few painting projects. We have been lucky enough to be the recipients of several pieces of free furniture from friends and family, as well as found a few deals at flea markets and yard sales. That's the good part. The not so good part is that our collection of furniture is sadly lacking in any type of cohesive theme. In other words, nothing matches! I decided I was fed up with this, and since buying an entire houseful of furniture was not an option for us, I would have to repaint everything the same color. While I was at it, I might as well paint a few bedrooms in the house too. (We're just renting here, but luckily the homeowners said it was fine for us to paint.)

Andrew tried to warn me that maybe I was taking on a little too much at once since I have never painted anything, ever, in my life. But I figured, might as well get it all done at once! So, since we moved in, I put aside the normal project of unpacking, and started painting. I have now finished (almost) everything I started out to do, which includes painting the following items:

one large, heavy desk & drawers

one slightly smaller desk

one tiny desk

another desk/sewing table (how did we end up with so many desks?? i guess since we paid for none of them, it was easy to justify!)

a VERY large bunkbed

a tall bookshelf

a smaller bookshelf

an end table

After priming and painting all those items white, I moved on to painting the house. (Actually, all these things happened more simultaneously. I think I was constantly painting about 4 things at once.) We painted an accent wall in our family room red, Tyler's room blue, and Robby & Annie's room green.

Whew!

So I know that many of you are probably quite experienced in home renovation projects, such as painting. And so for you, this post will probably just make you laugh at my inexperience. But just in case there is someone who is a step behind me, I thought I would share a few things I've learned.

1. Painting is a lot of work!

2. Don't tell your husband that you'll do it all yourself, even though he thinks it's ridiculous to do any of this painting in the first place, because you will really need his help. Only tell him this if you know that he will only let you paint because you said you'd do it all yourself, but then he will feel so bad for you that he will lovingly step in and spend his nights painting with you anyway.

3. Preparing to paint is even harder than painting. Taping a room especially...it takes at least twice as long as painting does! (although spending more time being careful while taping will really pay off...it makes all those mistakes you make while painting easier to hide!)

4. Buy really wide painting tape, like the 2 inch kind. Especially if you are like me, and somehow get paint in several places that you never thought the roller could even reach, like the middle of the ceiling?!

5. For middle of the ceiling emergencies as mentioned above, keep a wet cloth handy. Paint will wipe up fairly easily if it is very wet and immediately wiped off. If it has dried, it really just doesn't wipe off so well.

6. If you decide to paint something red, and you spend forever at the paint store with a kind employee who takes half an hour just to help you choose the right shade of red, and then you come home and open the paint can and it looks hot pink, and you put a test coat on the wall and it still looks hot pink....take a deep breath. Let it dry. It will probably be fine. (just to be safe though, you might want to put that test coat in a small space that's not too easy for anyone else to see...just in case!)

7. If you know the exact shade of green you want for a room because you saw it in your cousin's house and totally fell in love, don't try to go to the paint store yourself and choose the sample from memory, because you'll get it wrong and have to go back again, at which point you will still get the shade wrong, and have to resort to what you should have done in the first place, which is just ask the person who already chose the perfect shade of green exactly which shade they chose. Then you can go buy the right one the first time and you won't have several leftover samples of the wrong shade of green while your kids are rooting for the shade that you REALLY don't want to use!

8. If you decide to try and be a fun mom (or if you just feel guilty because you haven't really paid any attention to your kids in days), and let your kids help you paint, stay nearby. Drips dry fast, and once they are dry, it is really hard to make them look nice and smooth. (although, if you are staying nearby, you WILL get covered in paint, probably even more than you can cover yourself. and of course, so will your kids!!!) Oh, and one of the most important lessons learned, before you decide to paint, go buy your kids bikes at Walmart (or some other comparable exciting activity that they will happily spend ALL DAY doing) so you can actually get a little painting done, and don't quite feel like such a bad mom since they really do seem to be having fun without you.

9. Even if you are sick of wearing the same old cutoffs because you've worn them almost every day for a couple of weeks, it's probably best to stick with the same old clothes. Because no matter how careful you think you are, you will still get paint on whatever you are wearing...as well as your hands, your arms, your legs, your face, your hair... you get the idea. So you might as well not ruin more than one outfit, since paint REALLY does NOT wash out.

10. Painting is hard work, but somehow, once it is done, it really does seem worth it!!!

I'll post some pictures as soon as I can find that camera, oh, and get a few more things unpacked, since that normal project got put on hold for a while.