DAY 1: Buy paint, rollers, tray liners, tape, etc, spend lots of money and pray that some of it gets reimbursed. If I hadn't gotten so stuck on my color plans I'd cut the cost in half at least. Start setting up around 11am. Finish painting primer on ceiling and two of three main color walls around 4pm. By this time I am physically exhausted (woke up early, spent a few hours climbing up and down a ladder) and ready for a nap, and I have obligations for the evening. So far, it all looks kind of messy and blotchy but maybe I can pretend it's supposed to look like that? And it's just primer, so maybe the paint will look better. Go home for the day.
DAY 2: Go to the house at 9am. The primer from the previous day looks miraculously better. Apparently the problem is that as it dries, it changes color and reflectiveness, which means that when it's not fully dry it looks like a hot mess. The color is gorgeous (the primer is tinted to match the main color paint). Put a coat of paint on the ceiling. It looks great! And isn't that messy! Done by 11am. Will come back in a few hours to decide if I want to do a second coat. (Everyone says ALWAYS TWO COATS, but it looks really solid and vibrant and besides, isn't tinted primer sort of like a first coat of color?) Go back at 1pm, decide the ceiling looks good. In order to paint the walls, I'll need to tape on the ceiling, and the paint is still too wet to take the painters' tape. Go home, wait a bit. Go back. Repeat until it's 6pm and painters' tape is STILL taking bits of paint off with it. Go home depressed.
DAY 3: Try again after work. Tape is still leaving little peeled up bits on the ceiling, but they're not THAT big and I can go back over them with a tiny brush when everything else is done. And I really want to get this done. Paint primer over the last main color wall. Make a plan for the rest of the week.
DAY 4: After work, attempt to put a coat of paint on all three main color walls. It is really hot, and the room has no circulation because the air vent is mostly covered up and the windows don't open all the way and I have to keep the door shut because it gets in the way. I am thirsty and underfed and the heat makes me exhausted and miserable. I get two walls done and I can't imagine beginning the third. And the walls look terrible. I mean, really, really, terrible. Even knowing that they dry better, I can't imagine them looking enough better. And I'm off schedule. I go home and hate the world and myself until I fall asleep.
DAY 5: Drink more water all day. After work, bring a fan over from home, and paint the last wall. Realize why painting makes me so miserable, besides the heat and the tired. (I am clumsy. I trip over things and bump my hands into things and that means I'm constantly messing things up, and I'm constantly afraid of messing things up disastrously.) Stare at the already painted walls. They no longer look awful, but I can detect some faint differences in tone. In the corners, for instance, where a little bit of paint pools in the crease and makes each wall look outlined. The paint is a tiny, tiny bit lighter than the primer, so the extra paint makes the wall brighter. And there are a few spots that just look thinner. If I'm going to do a second coat, I'll need more paint, so I make another trip to Lowes. Since part of the purpose of the second coat is to make the walls match the edges better, I paint the second coat without cutting in first. Sometimes, to make sure the transition is smooth, I'll take a nearly dry brush and sort of smooth it towards the edge, but I'm only adding paint with a roller. This is WAY faster, and instead of just getting one wall done, as planned, I get ALL of them done by 9 or 9:30ish. Return home almost back on schedule. Decide to paint inside the closet next time, because the closet door doesn't work right and I'll be leaving it open.
DAY 6 (projected): Oops forgot one small spot. Go fix that. Then rest.
DAY 7 (projected): Prime inside closet
DAY 8 (projected): Early morning, prime accent wall. Go to breakfast/proto-date. Early afternoon, paint first coat. Then paint inside closet. Then rest a bit, maybe, and then paint second coat on accent wall.
DAY 9 (projected): Evaluate for possible third coat. I want maximum saturation.
______________________________
If I had decided to simply paint four walls all one color, like a sane person, and maybe also paint the trim, here's how it would have gone:
DAY 1: Buy stuff, spend lots of money. I could probably prime four walls in the time it took me to prime three walls and a ceiling.
DAY 2: Show up at 9am, paint first coat on the walls. Finish by early afternoon. Wait until evening, paint second coat, probably not finishing the whole room.
DAY 3: Come by after work, paint the remaining walls.
DAY 4: Rest
DAY 5: Rest
DAY 6: Paint trim. Done!
______________________________
The thing is, I am hating and loving this project at the same time. Because the difference that colored walls make is spectacular. The room is bright and cheerful and open and airy. I am in love with it.
No comments:
Post a Comment