PAINTAPALOOZA-Part 1

Home Depot is our friend...You would think our best friend because we (Carynn and I, Michael and I or just me) have been going there it seems like every day since we got here. But I digress....Here's what happened:

Monday night, January 4-Home Depot for child proofing supplies

Note to readers: Carynn and I found the best time for us to do OUR exploring, errands, etc. was during Ty's afternoon naptime when Papa was available to be with him.

Tuesday afternoon-Home Depot for paint choosing and painting supplies. I picked out Behr Paints Classic Taupe for the living room/kitchen/hallway walls with the color called Cliffrock as an accent for the long way in the living room. I was a little hesitant in that I didn't want the overall effect to be too dark. Carynn's a great sounding board she shared her opinion (she happened to like what I'd picked out and I think was even a little surprised that I was willing to be so BOLD) and then let me make the choice since it's my house.

We wanted to get at least the living room area painted as we were having a couch delivered (thank you Ashley Furniture) on Wednesday afternoon and I didn't want to hazard getting paint on it. So Tuesday evening Carynn started prepping for painting. This is not a favorite task, but so important that it's done correctly. You can have the best looking paint, buy if you've done a lousy job prepping it significantly takes away from the overall look. I could tell you stories.... Anyway, after Ty was down for the evening, we began in earnest.

We had borrowed a ladder from one of our neighbors-we have tall ceilings so couldn't quite reach with our three step step ladder. Carynn did the lion's share of the work-what I like to call the "hard stuff." She did the cutting in at the ceiling (we left the ceilings white) and at the right angles where the accent color abutted the taupe. I rolled the paint roller and went along and looked for spots we missed. We ended up doing two coats on nearly everything to get the coverage we wanted.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
I'm a paint convert! Wow! The Classic Taupe and Cliffrock really makes the white trim POP! The home seems more warm, more finished and more livable already and that's with just the living room done.

Wednesday, January 6- We deliberately gave ourselves the night off. During naptime Carynn and I visited some of my favorite places (see separate post) and at night we saw Sherlock Holmes. Great movie.

Thursday, January 7 - We wanted to get the kitchen done before I left for our nephew's wedding so we began the prep work and got to it after Ty went to bed. We decided that we might as well get as much painted as possible so I did the taping in the front hall too (5 doors mind you PLUS the pantry door in the kitchen makes 6 doors! I don't want to tape anymore, but I will if I have to.).

We kept painting and painting and painting and it was getting later and later and later. I eventually pulled my suitcase and carry-on from our bedroom closet and threw my clothes on top of them so I could pack for my trip the next morning and not disturb Michael too much. (He gave up and hit the hay around 11:00 PM or so.)

We painted until we ran out of paint. The kitchen looked SO good (the hall as far as it was done did too.) Carynn pulled the tape and started putting the switch plates back on. I started putting the kitchen back together. Carynn went to bed around 1:30 AM and I stayed up and packed. I also couldn't resist doing some more "finishing" touches to the kitchen.

Can I have another WOW!

To be continued....

NS