Closets are a pain in the butt to paint
As a kid, I had a lot of odd dream jobs. I wanted to be a singer (I was in love with Celine Dion), a firefighter (I was addicted to watching Rescue 9–11), or a vet (I wanted to take care of animals). I also wanted to grow up to become a house painter “because it was impossible to mess up”. As a new homeowner, I am making that “dream job” come true, and have enough walls to paint to make me question that completely.
Morgan is coated in thick, peeling cream paint that has seeped onto our gorgeous wood ceilings, covered our door knobs, and creeped onto the windows. Unfortunately for us and our dreams of clean white walls— it means we have to paint every last wall, door frame, and baseboard.
While Diego has turned into pseudo-contractor and helping with our bathroom gut job, I’m in charge of painting. It doesn’t necessarily sound as involved or intense as ripping out the tub, butI love that it’s my job to own.
This is a big project, and is not something I’m going to be able to knock out quickly. My first step was to focus on a couple of concrete spots so I didn’t get crazy and could keep the decision-making to a minimum. The bedrooms made sense — I could start on the guest room as “practice” (sorry, future visitors!) and move into our bedroom so it would be good to go before it was time to move in.
The big push was to get as much done as possible before our brand new hardwood floors went in. If you’re reading this, you probably know I’m not always the most careful and like to move fast. There’s a big comfort in knowing I can accidentally roll all the way to the floor, or drip, and it wouldn’t be a problem.
I don’t think I ever realized just how hard work painting can be. From the few weekends and evenings I’ve spent with a roller thus far, I have slept like a rock and have woken up the next day at work shocked how physically exhausted I am. Shout out to all of my lovely helpers: Ashley, Vickie, Elise! THANK YOU!
I ended up getting about 75% done in both bedrooms before the hardwood installation began. Each bedroom has one “naked wall” where we are moving electrical and couldn’t squeeze the work in before it was time for floors. I’m glad I got some work done, but do wish I could have completed more beforehand because now the chance of ruin is high. Here I am on a Wednesday evening after work, laying another coat on our closet in a sea of plastic sheets, terrified of spillage.
My new dilemma is comparing millions of shades of white that just don’t seem to match…but that’s a story for another day.
