A-painting we will go
So, since we closed on Friday and got the keys right then and there, we started sprucing up the house this past weekend.
Our plan was to get a bunch of friends together Saturday. We’d bring those Colgate-painted furniture pieces over in our cousin Steve’s truck, and a few people would strip furniture while the rest painted. Jen and I painted our apartment, back when we first got it, in one evening. So I figured that, with another five people or so, and a house about twice the size of our apartment, it should only take one day. Right?
Wrong. No plan survives first contact with reality.
The first problem was the help. Some of my friends were out of town. Others were busy. A few were simply wusses. But we wound up with less help than we’d expected. Fortunately, the ones who did show were troopers (no, not literally--it's an expression. Sheesh).
The second problem was the truck. It broke down—last week. So we couldn’t use it to move the furniture. We tried renting one from Home Depot while we were there spending ungodly amounts of money on paint and supplies, but they were out. So no furniture. Unfortunately we found this out after Jen and I emptied our dressers—which we also wanted to strip.
So people showed up at 10am. Glenn, Lois and I went over the house, measured the rooms, then went to HomeDepot and bought way too much stuff for WAY too much money. Glenn dropped Lois and I off at the house with the supplies, then picked up a few others and brought them over—the rest came over in Faith and Spensser’s car.
And then we started taping off the woodwork.
The house has nice woodwork. Lots of it. Everywhere. Which meant LOTS of taping. We weren’t all at the house until probably around 2pm. And we didn’t actually start applying paint until about 5.
Needless to say, nowhere near what I’d been hoping.
So yesterday (Sunday), Jen and I went back over there. Arwen, Lois, and Scott met us there, and we did more painting. Jen and I were there from 9am to 7pm. Right now the dining room needs only a little touch up, the living room needs a third coat, the entryway needs a third coat, the bedrooms need second coats, the bathroom needs a second coat, and the kitchen, stairs, and hall need first coats. The basement also needs paint, but since a small section of the wall also needs repairs that might have to wait.
I’m still hoping to get the painting done this week, so that we can move in on Saturday. We’ll see. But the paint that is up looks nice, and everyone who’s seen it agrees that the house is great.
And, by the time we’re done painting, we’re all going to know the house really, really well.
Our plan was to get a bunch of friends together Saturday. We’d bring those Colgate-painted furniture pieces over in our cousin Steve’s truck, and a few people would strip furniture while the rest painted. Jen and I painted our apartment, back when we first got it, in one evening. So I figured that, with another five people or so, and a house about twice the size of our apartment, it should only take one day. Right?
Wrong. No plan survives first contact with reality.
The first problem was the help. Some of my friends were out of town. Others were busy. A few were simply wusses. But we wound up with less help than we’d expected. Fortunately, the ones who did show were troopers (no, not literally--it's an expression. Sheesh).
The second problem was the truck. It broke down—last week. So we couldn’t use it to move the furniture. We tried renting one from Home Depot while we were there spending ungodly amounts of money on paint and supplies, but they were out. So no furniture. Unfortunately we found this out after Jen and I emptied our dressers—which we also wanted to strip.
So people showed up at 10am. Glenn, Lois and I went over the house, measured the rooms, then went to HomeDepot and bought way too much stuff for WAY too much money. Glenn dropped Lois and I off at the house with the supplies, then picked up a few others and brought them over—the rest came over in Faith and Spensser’s car.
And then we started taping off the woodwork.
The house has nice woodwork. Lots of it. Everywhere. Which meant LOTS of taping. We weren’t all at the house until probably around 2pm. And we didn’t actually start applying paint until about 5.
Needless to say, nowhere near what I’d been hoping.
So yesterday (Sunday), Jen and I went back over there. Arwen, Lois, and Scott met us there, and we did more painting. Jen and I were there from 9am to 7pm. Right now the dining room needs only a little touch up, the living room needs a third coat, the entryway needs a third coat, the bedrooms need second coats, the bathroom needs a second coat, and the kitchen, stairs, and hall need first coats. The basement also needs paint, but since a small section of the wall also needs repairs that might have to wait.
I’m still hoping to get the painting done this week, so that we can move in on Saturday. We’ll see. But the paint that is up looks nice, and everyone who’s seen it agrees that the house is great.
And, by the time we’re done painting, we’re all going to know the house really, really well.
posted by Gryphon Rose @ 11:18 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home