One Room Down!

The other day I wrote about painting being hard. Well after finishing what used to be known as the pink room, I can say that it is by far the least fun thing I have ever experienced (probably a bit of hyperbole). Allow me to guide you through the journey of hell known as painting a room!

step oneWe began by doing what everyone says you should do first. We taped off the entire room. See how pretty all the blue tape looks? Lindsey finished sanding a few of the wall repairs we made and then we wiped the walls down to free them of dust, dirt, and other nasty things.

Before I tell you about the actual painting, I need to be honest about myself. I am not very meticulous. People told me that when you tape, you should be very careful and that it seriously takes the most time. Well I thought my tape job was good and did not really slow down to check to see if the lines were straight or if it was sealed tight against the wood. You can imagine what happened. Also, another quick note. The previous owners were not that good of painters either. Not a criticism of them, but they definitely lacked a Lindsey, who must have everything perfect. This will be important later.

step twoWe started out by painting around the tape. Lindsey used this edge tool we bought, which actually worked quite well. Minus the fact that she did not know how to use it at first and put too much paint on it. It dripped all over the place and made a bit of a mess. I used a brush and did the edges near the ceiling.

After that we started rolling paint. We were terrible with the rollers. We painted over every single receptacle. I hit the ceiling a bunch, Lindsey hit the trim. It was a nightmare. It was basically the result that most people said would happen your first time painting. I sooooo wanted to prove them all wrong, but I guess it was not meant to be.

step threeOnce it dried, we put on the second coat. This was not nearly as bad. We had a bit more control with the rollers and only made a few mistakes.

When that dried we peeled off the tape and to our horror discovered that there was paint underneath! How did this happen? Remember when I said that I am not meticulous? I did not press the tape down hard enough to make sure it was completely tight against the wall. Little bits of tape ran underneath.

We had paint on the ceiling, paint on the trim, not one straight line. What were to do? Well we got smart. Lindsey tried a small piece of wall around the trim. She taped it and used a small brush to paint the edge line. When I say a small brush, I mean one you would use to paint model airplanes. She went around and taped off all the screwed up parts, using small brushes to correct the mistakes. I told you that you need a perfectionist. It took almost five hours yesterday to fix all those little mistakes, but she did most of it herself. I did the ceiling and that did not take nearly as much time, but I did learn from her and made sure to tape properly.

Once that was all done, we had some nice straight lines and a bit of a mess to clean up. We removed all the tape and plastic. We still had stuff on the floor. We cleaned all that off and then I went to Wal-Mart to buy some new receptacles. I was a little nervous about replacing receptacles. I shut the breaker off, but I have a healthy amount of respect for electricity. Even knowing the breaker was off, it still took me a second to be comfortable touching the wires. I know, I am weird. Once I replaced all of them and turned the power back on, we checked to see if they all worked. They all did! Small miracles. Or I had a good teacher (thanks Tip!).

step fivestep sixWe cleaned the floors and put the bed together. Since our furniture has not arrived yet, we have been sleeping on our old bed, but without the frame. The plan was to put that bed in this room, take everything out of our room and get it painted before next weekend. We can do it, but it will be a rough time. Anyways, we set the bed up in there and slept there last night. It felt great to sleep in an actual bed. Who knew the frame would make that much of a difference?

And now I present to you, for the first time, no longer known as the pink room, we now have the Navy Room!

step sevenThe bedspread is a mint and cream color. The plan is to use some of the wedding decorations in this room since our colors are mint, coral, and navy. Also, the room is not completely done yet. We still have to buy outlet covers, furniture, and a rug. But that is the easy stuff, we did the hard part. Now we just need to finish our room.

Author: Ngewo

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