Paint Fumes

The weekend painting party went pretty good.  Thank You Thank You Thank You to Steve H., Maria Cristina, Alejandra, David, Jonathan and Steve L. for coming over and helping out. 

Both Emma's and Alexander's rooms are almost done.  And, while I really want to take a break tonight and not paint, the fact that both their mattresses and all their boxes are in our room and I can't find a damn thing is annoying me enough to put my head down and get at least one room done tonight. 

And while I certainly am not Debbie Travis, I have learned a few more things about painting.

1. Do the fucking trim first.  I didn't do that and now I have to tape the walls and try to get a straight line where the two colours meet up.  This in an old, poorly repaired house where there isn't a straight wall (horizontally or vertically).

2. Use a tinted primer under red paint.  The trim in Alexander's room is red.  And after two coats, it looks like we'll need at least two more.  There will be no more red in this house (despite the fact that I love red walls).

3. Don't be afraid of colour.  Though my children's rooms clearly follow traditional gender lines (big time) the bright bold colours rock.  And I promise I'll have photos when they're done.

4. Choosing fancy techinques is great, but not when you have a whole house to paint.  I decided to paint some circles on Emma's wall, and it'll take another weekend to get that done.  I was seduced by the cool brochure.  I will be wary of this in the future. 

Now to work, which seems perfectly relaxing and paint-fume free.  And at three I'm off to see friends who planned a "Springtime is for drinking beer" gab fest.  Mmmmmm beer.

Comments

[martin m.]

And I promise I'll have photos when their done.

perhaps you meant they're?

[Rebekah]

Those are very good lessons to learn, and pass along. I think after all that you definitely deserved the beer party, but it's not like you needed approval on my part now did you. Okay I'm going back to what I do best, filing divorces and playing soccer with my dog.

[Lisa]

I can understand - I just finished a room with the Ralph Lauren "Suede" and it took hours. Thankfully I only had the one room to paint after our move. You have my sympathies!

[indigirl]

Oh I agree... red is the most sucky sucky colour to paint. With or without primer. We did primer for my office and for the downstairs bathroom and it still took 3 coats of the red to make it even looking. And even that was the biggest pain in the butt ever. But it was worth it. I think.

[Vicki]

I love vividly colored walls. I bet they look great! Fancy stuff can take a while to do, but circles sound so fun :)

[Jo in Ottawa]

Here's a better one for the trim -- Paint the trim and ceiling the same colour as the walls. Then it doesn't matter how prissy you are at the edges. And it often looks good (though in dark colours it makes the ceiling look lower -- not a problem in children's rooms due to the height of the inhabitants.

Spring is for drinking beer, eh? A motto we could all live with except that it implies we didn't drink any beer all winter...

[Mo]

Oh, this is gonna look great, I can't wait to see the pictures!
My Mum tried painting our whole old house. Well, she didn't just try, she actually did it. But GAWD, did it take aages! And the fumes, I know what you're going through! It'll all be over soon, and you'll be so damn proud that you did it yourselves, adn didn't waste money on some guys painting it for you :D

[marti]

hope you enjoyed your well earned beer. old houses are great, but you are right, crisp angles and straight lines are sometimes hard to come by.

[alice]

i'm a BIG fan of bold colors. when i chose crayon-style blue and green for my living room and kitchen, i took my share of teasing. but now, it's nothing but compliments :)