Painting the front Room

Our darling kids managed to tear the curtain rod straight out of the wall playing hide and seek a few months ago- we had our handyman ( yes, he is ours and you can't have him!) patch the wall.  We are totally out of the green this wall was, weren't  sure new paint would match the old paint, and were ready to try something a little calmer than basil green on the walls so that I could have more fun with really bright accessories.

J chose the perfect gray!

He had to paint the tall parts, though. " I have a big head and little arms- I am not sure how well this plan was thought through."  The paint went on light and dried dark.

I did the cutting in with a 1" craft brush- I don't like to tape off!

This is what it looked like before we moved in- that railing thing was quickly replaced with a sturdy wall that children couldn't fall through and that didn't need plastic garden lattice zip tied to it.  Ahem.  HUGE thanks to J's dad for making that wall happen!  All the paint colors were so not what we wanted when we moved in- all dusty and faded.  Everything you see in sage here is now gray- the left part will be gray as soon as we have a full day to get out the BIG ladder and have time for J to paint up top.  I am not a big fan of ladders, either.  Guess I'm a pansy!



Here it is Christmas '12 (with my hipster, but not hipster because they're so cliche, adorable sister)  But you get the idea, these walls were G.R.E.E.N.  So green, and it made me so happy, but made all our furniture look so strange...the windows looked strange... we'll try gray on for a while.

Kid Bathroom Renovation

We are in the middle of a bathroom re-do.  So far it's taken two weeks, but the second week has mostly been "dude is here for an hour to put more mud on the walls" every day.

He came one last time this morning to sand down the walls and I gave it a coat of PVA primer this afternoon.  He'll come back and texture Monday, and then I can paint.

So far he (our great handyman) has replaced the ceiling to get rid of a recessed fluorescent lighting box, replaced the faucet to get rid of a cold water handle that hasn't been able to turn on in a year, replaced the fan in the ceiling, and replaced the light switch and GCFI.  Also, skimmed the walls to get rid of the heavy- duty knock down texture so that the new ceiling and old walls could match.  We have primed the walls and replaced the toilet -- it was a fine toilet except that it couldn't handle our kids, and I am tired of plunging.

Still to do: texture and paint the walls and ceiling, install the new light fixture, and hang a new mirror.  Then it's just fluffing- hang artwork and find a shower curtain that matches the colors.  We want to paint the cabinets white, too.  Oh, and the door looks like a large dog was regularly locked in the bathroom- the door and knob have lots of gouges and scratches in them from the previous owners.  I need to putty and paint the door, and J will install the new doorknob.  We have a good thing going- he does the heavy lifting and anything requiring a drill or wires, I paint.  (I am rotten with a drill, and great with a paint brush. Use your strengths!)

Here it is before we moved in.  That towel rack and toilet paper holder soon fell off the wall.  It's been a real classy bathroom, I tell you what!