365 Photos Day 267

267/365

This was my Saturday project. I figured this would be a super-great!!!! weekend to finish up a couple of projects which have been dragging on and on and on and on and...well, you get the point.

Steve & Amanda were in Iowa for a softball tournament, so I didn't need to be done by a certain time, which was good, because this took me 3 hours.

See, this color is one of those colors that I can't always distinguish between the shades of when I'm comparing them. This was SUPPOSED to be the same color that was in the closet already and thus would have taken me 5 minutes to touch up the paint, and ta-da! On to the next project.

Yeah, if by "5 minutes" I meant "3 hours". Which, apparently I did.

I didn't bring up the roller or pan with me. Oh, no. Just a 1.5" brush. When I started to touch up the paint, I was not-so-pleasantly surprised to see that no, this was not the correct color. In fact, this was actually the color of the closet in the hallway where we have the laundry hampers.

Since I no longer had the correct paint for THIS closet because it'd gotten too goopy and unusable and had already been recycled, I ended up repainting the closet this color. With a brush. A 1.5" brush. (I was too mad to go downstairs and get the roller/pan at that point)

I did use the roller & pan for the second coat, which miraculously went much quicker. Gee. Who would've known?

365 Photos Day 230

230/365

Painting done, now to move everything back in. Why I seem to think 11pm is a great time to do this, I haven't a clue. I worked until 1am, and gave it up. I also don't know how I'd gotten everything to fit in my office before. Either that, or since it's been in the hallway, it's all expanded to double in size.

But I'm loving the light color and the way it changes throughout the day. It'll be even better once I get my desk area (which is still mostly in the middle of the floor) back in place and organized.

365 Photos Day 229

229/365

Getting a new camera because the old one finally gave up the ghost has been great because now I can actually take pictures. However, the Kid likes the camera too, so getting my pictures from said camera onto here may be interesting.

Anyway...

I'd forgotten I had this handy-dandy tool until I cleaned out and reorganized the basement.

This is a lifesaver when I don't exactly get enough paint for a room (which is most all the time). It's a roller scraper/cleaner. When I really crank on it, I can usually get enough paint to do a quarter of a wall, which is fairly impressive.

It's now with the rest of my painting supplies so that I don't have to re-discover (re-re-re-re-discover?) it again.

365 Photos Day 228

228/365

My painting crew and I painted my home office tonight. They are SUCH a big help, I can't even begin to thank them enough.

The color I went with is Martha Stewart's 'Magnolia Grandiflora'. Partly because I really liked the color in all it's variations throughout the day, and partly because I liked the name of the color.

What? Doesn't everyone pick paint colors by the names? I judge books by their covers ALL. THE. TIME. so this really isn't any different.

I'm just glad I got the first coat on and that it covered as well as it did. I didn't want to have to do another coat of primer. I wanted to get cracking on painting the real color so that I can get all my bookcases & books back where they go so that I can traverse down the hallways without feeling like I'm running through an obstacle course.

Steve wasn't too sure about the color when I started painting. He said it looked just like the primer. Nah. If anything, it's kind of like the ceiling paint I like that goes on pink and dries white. Except this went on pink and will stay pink. One hopes.

Tomorrow I'll put on the second coat and see where it's at.

One step closer to a 'new' office.

365 Photos Day 221

221/365

My home office has informed me that it is NOT a blue kind of room. In fact, it's not anywhere on the blue or green spectrum, which kind of negates my entire (rough) plan of what I thought that it should look like.

One thing I've learned since choosing paint colors for rooms is I have to let the room be what it wants to be, rather than what I think it should be. Yes, I'm aware that rooms don't speak out loud, but they do speak. How many times have you gone into a room and thought, "You know, something's not quite right with this room..." but you're not sure what. Sometimes it's the decor, sometimes it's the paint color.

So, I thought about it for awhile and figured out it still needs to be in the red spectrum of colors, but a bit less saturated than the red it was previously. And then I went to Home Depot to get some color sample cards and hung them up. I think I can discard a couple immediately, but I'll leave them all up for a couple of days so that I can see them in all sorts of lights.

Then maybe, just MAYBE, I can paint the walls and put my office back together (which in turn will make me very happy indeed).

365 Photos Day 218

218/365

I've been working on priming my home office all day. I had to do 2 coats to make sure all the red was covered.

I'm pretty sure I've hit the Point of No Return.

It'd be a pain to repaint the red (and at $64 a gallon, there's NO WAY that's going to happen), so it's onward and upward.

365 Photos Day 190

190/365

Earlier today I went to get paint so I could finish the touch-ups from when the drywall guys fixed some things last December. I had tried to get one color color-matched, but it didn't read right on the wall, so I figured that it'd probably be best if I just got the same paint, from the same place. So I did.

And spent almost $140.00 on 2 gallons and 1 quart of paint. This particular gallon was $63.99 before tax.

Almost SIXTY-FOUR DOLLARS.

For ONE GALLON of paint. ONE. (the other was $40-something which was bad enough)

Um, wow.

This is a gallon of paint. ONE. GALLON. True, it's a custom color, and it's a red, which, according to the guy who painted the house, is a "very difficult" color to work with.

So, what's a $64 gallon of paint look like?

I think I'll take my chances at color-matching next time. I'm pretty sure I can get a couple of gallons for less than $63.99.

365 Photos Day 172

172/365

I was kind of hoping to get a picture of the sun today, because it's the Summer Solstice. Apparently, though, the sun was on vacation here because it rained for most of the day.

So I painted.

Normally I don't paint when it's raining because the paint tends to get kind of wonky (that's a technical term) and I don't like how it turns out. But since I'd started last night, I had to keep going. I turned on the air conditioner to help out with the humidity thing and got the walls done.

These are my painting clothes. I've worn them for 2 days now, so it's time to wash them. I don't usually drip or get paint anywhere but on my hands and the wall. The smears that can be seen on my shirt are from me wiping my fingers on it.

And the walls I was working on? They're good to go. I just have to let the paint cure for a couple of days before I start hanging things on them.

365 Photos Day 165

165/365

Ahahahaha...I figured out the math-y stuff. Now it's on to the next step.

Yes, I'm inordinately proud of myself for figuring it out on my own. Yes, I fully understand that quite possibly it could've been done in both an easier and quicker fashion. However, I wouldn't have been able to shout, "BOO-YAH! I AM A MATH WIZARD!!!!!" after I'd figured it out.

It rather reminds me of the time in 6th grade that I was doing a math problem, but had forgotten the steps, so I kind of, well, did it my way. I ended up with the correct answer, but also had the teacher saying, "There's no way that should've worked. Absolutely no way. But it did. Huh."

Anyway...I figured it out!!!! GO ME!!!! Now I just have to decide which font to use for the BINGO part.

365 Photos Day 155

155/365

This is the wall that I was having difficulties matching greens from Day 151.

Obviously I managed to get the color matched just fine. Turns out it really was Hirshfield's Olive Branch...but it was from a color deck they don't use anymore, although they still can make it because they have the formula. So I had them mix me up a quart and spent part of the afternoon painting the wall.

And then I made sure to really coat the stir stick well so if ever needed, I can get it color-matched somewhere else. Just in case.

365 Photos Day 152

152/365

I'm hoping the weather stays nice the rest of the week. I have a date with a couple of paint cans. It'll be nice to see the real color on the walls, as opposed to primer white (which has irritated me since December).

365 Photos Day 151

151/365

Today I attempted to match paint colors. I wish I could say it went brilliantly, but, yeah. No. It didn't.

The color on the paint can says it's Olive Branch from Hirshfield's. So that's the color chip I brought home...which is not the color that's actually on the wall I need to re-touch. Not even close.

When at the store, without the label or can or stir stick, I thought about trying to get other greens just in case the Olive Branch wasn't the right one. But I can't really tell the difference between some shades of green (like what I'm trying to match), browns, and greys. It makes it interesting sometimes.

I didn't know I had a problem seeing some colors until I was in the 9th grade and we were doing a color blindness test in Health class. Even when the teacher brought the card right up to me, I couldn't see the number I knew had to be there, at which point he said something along the lines of "Females aren't color blind." Ooooh-kay.

I do remember when I was 4 or 5, I asked my parents about our green cat. They of course looked at me like I'd lost my ever-loving mind and told me we didn't have a green cat. But I knew that cat was green. I would've sworn it on a stack of Bibles that cat was green (stripey with white and black). It wasn't until that day in Health that we put it all together.

Apparently it's not color blindness as such. It's a color vision deficiency. And yes, females can have it (obviously). Trying to sort these hues into order gives me a headache, but entertains my other family members greatly (because of course they can do it just fine).

It's not a big deal, just frustrating sometimes, especially when I'm standing in a paint store looking at the wall with the color swatches trying to find a particular shade that we need. Mostly I have Steve or Amanda help me, which works out, except when they're not there. Like today. I'm just going to have to either take the can or the stir stick in and see what color we need. Otherwise that wall will have to remain primer white.

And that green cat? According to my parents, he was actually grey. Go figure.

365 Photos Day 146

146/365

Someday this pile of metal will become the framework for our new storage shelving unit in the basement.

Today is not that day.

I haven't been so frustrated with a project since...um...probably last year during Home Improvement 2010 Season.

I followed the instructions. Exactly. I even got one of Steve's big hammers out to help tap down the braces/brackets/stupid metal thingys.

After about 45 minutes of not even being able to get the bottom part of the frame to hold in place, I decided that it was better to give it up for tonight rather than to give into my temper and throw those pieces all over the basement.

On the plus side, I did get most all the priming done for the spots where I have to re-touch paint from when the drywall guys came and fixed some holes. So at least I have that going for me today.

365 Photos Day 137

137/365

What did I do today? Painted/retouched the laundry room. It's getting there.

I also made 3 dozen sugar cookies for the Kid's softball Fan Appreciation day. I'm a little confused how it is that I, a fan (sort of), am having to make my own cookies.

But then again, maybe I just inhaled too many paint fumes today and killed off the brain cells that would help make it all make sense.

At least it was sunny.

365 Photos Day 135

135/365

I taped the laundry room today in preparation for painting (cue angels singing here). This is the ONLY painter's tape I will use anymore. I used to use the blue stuff, but after a few, um, unfortunate incidences last painting season, and the level of frustration I had with it, I have banned it from the house.

I can't say enough good things about this tape...and I'm not even paid to endorse it. If I wanted to, I could walk away for a couple of days without painting, come back, paint, and then take off the frog tape and have it look just like I'd done it all the same day. I love the crisp edges I get, and hey, the fact that it's a green color is just that much niftier.

That said, I'm going to go start painting. I want to see the color up on the walls before I'm 90. And with the way the weather's been thus far this spring, I might BE 90 before I'm all done.

365 Photos Day 131

131/365

I love this ceiling paint. Seriously love it. It's a nice bright white when it dries, but the best part is while I'm painting, it's a pink color. It makes it very easy to see where I've missed, without me having to guess.

Of course, I'm just happy that I got to paint, so there's that, too. I have one corner to touch up, then I can start painting the top half of the room. I even have the paint ready to go for that (it's called 'Sea Turtle' & is a Walmart paint).

Yay for painting!

365 Photos Day 114

114/365

The Kid & I spent part of the day putting one more coat of primer up in the laundry room. Normally I paint by myself, but she's wanted to help me for awhile, so today I let her. She's pretty good, and hopefully will get the feel of it with more practice. Now the laundry room is ONE color. True, that color is primer white, but I can live with it until we get going on it.

One of our friends came over for Easter dinner and she (jokingly) said, "You shouldn't be painting today. It's Sunday AND it's Easter." I told her that if God didn't want me to be painting today, he wouldn't have given me sunshine & warm weather. He did, so I was.

I have my priorities (mostly) straight.

365 Photos Day 102

102/365

Today I started working on the laundry room. Well, I primed it anyway. The laundry room has bothered me all winter long because of the two-toned walls in clashing colors (orange covered by a rich olive green). But now it's primed and ready to go when I finally decide what color it should be. And even in it's stark white primer, it looks better and brighter than it did.

There's just something about the "shoooshhh shooosshhh" sound of the brush and the similar sound of the roller that makes me happy.

Maybe it's that I appreciate being able to see the results of my handiwork almost immediately. I'm not big on waiting (I'm rather impatient). And if I end up not liking the color, well, it's just paint. I can always repaint, no big deal.

365 Photos Day 73

73/365

Too blue. Too white. Too grey. Too I don't even know what the heck color that IS. Oooo, that'd look good, but maybe not in this room. Maybe I should look at other colors. Maybe I should just put up the beadboard first and THEN figure out what color the room needs to be. Nah, it's not that hard. Almost anything would be better than living with this mish-mash. But then I have to figure out what color the trim is so I can color match it and get paint for the beadboard. Maybe beadboard isn't the way to go. Maybe just a board and batten, without the board...so just the batten. Or maybe just one color, no beadboard, no board & batten. But then that would be boring. Well, maybe laundry rooms aren't supposed to be exciting. Except this is MY laundry room, so I'd like it to have SOME personality. Good thing I can't paint right now.

This picture of the day brought to you by my internal dialogue whilst attempting to decide what to do with the laundry room this upcoming Spring. If Spring decides to show up this year.

Waiting for Spring

This sums up exactly how I feel about having to wait to start painting walls in the house.

Instead of "little old lady at twelve o'clock" it's more like "winter at twelve o'clock".

Once warm temperatures arrive (above 60), then BAM! I'm gonna be off and running again.