OH NO ALLIE HAS A PAINTBRUSH!!!!

I am known among close family and friends for my extreme incompetence with a paintbrush and an iron (Which is another story altogether). I usually spill more paint on myself, the floor and on things not intended for paint, than I get on the walls. I am always covered and spend weeks trying to get it out of my hair. We have even had to replace carpet after I have attempted to wield my weapon of choice; the roller. I am not an edger either. I have always been impatient to get things done; therefore, painting is very hard for me. I have a lot of issues trying to take my time and go slow.

However, I knew I was going to repaint our home, and wanted to do a nice job this time. So, first I called a painter and asked for an estimate. For $7000 and the cost of materials I would have a professionally painted home. Yeah, I do not have $7000 just lying around, so I decided it was time to get serious about this endeavor. I am an educated and determined woman. I have trained myself to do a variety of things, so I used my techie skills and found a whole bunch of websites about painting. I scoured these sites, and watched 30 videos on painting, "cutting in" (Yeah, I even learned new vocabulary!), sanding, using tsp to prep the walls, taping, and even one on how to tape a plastic sheet to protect the floor. I also read some how to tips and went to Valdspar.com to get some great ideas for color schemes. I really wanted to do my best at this job. This may seem like overkill, but believe me if you have seen my handiwork, you know that I probably needed to buy the Painting for Dummies book I thought about purchasing.

So anyway...

Every time we have moved we make it our first priority to get the kids' rooms set up first. They do not need to feel unsettled any longer than they have to. Therefore, the past three days I have filled my time with painting two rooms. (The girls share a room because they "just enjoy having someone to play with all the time, and at night it is not as scary.") I have never taken more than a day to paint anything. I also never taped before, or prepared the walls. So the entire first day I spent it patching holes, sanding, wiping down the walls with TSP, and taping. Then on Monday and Tuesday I painted their rooms.

Wow! There is a reason the painter charges $7000. I cannot tell you how much work it is to paint when you have three kids running in and out every five minutes to have a look or to beg to help. However, they would also hit a wet spot on the wall or trim on their way in or out of the room, so I kept having to touch up spots. It was a slow, slow, slow process. I had to do double coats on everything, and the wainscoting on the bottom of both walls required 4 coats. The small details we added to give the room flare were enough to kills my wrists. In fact, my size 4.5 wedding band was stuck on my finger this morning, because my hands were severely swollen. If any of you are Friends fans, my right hand looked like Chandler's after he had played Pac Man all day long. Needless to say, I realized what muscles I have not used even for Insanity lately.

Irregardless of the aches and pains, the spilled paint, touch ups and stress of trying to provide entertainment for a 10, 8 and 4 year old , I finished painting today. It looks absolutely beautiful. I am so impressed and proud of myself, I even thought this could be a good summer job for me... Then I laughed hysterically as the thought passed as quickly as it had come. I do believe it helped that we have not had our own home in a while, and I am plain sick and tired of living out of suitcases. So, I want to move into the house where it feels warm, inviting and relaxing.

Evelyn and Lilyan's room is a soft purple, with white wainscoting and accents are in hot pink. Inside their closet I drew a big flower, and some abstract designs to incorporate their personalities. Nehemiah's room is Nautical. It is blue on top,white wainscoting and accents in a bright olive color. Is is very "outdoor fisherman/ beachy," and he is all about those things.

Next I moved on to the Master and Office. The office windows are surrounded by Lilac Bushes so my inspiration led to me paint it a lilac color and white. It is BEAUTIFUL, and welcoming. I unpacked Grandma Margaret's collection of bells in this room on a little shelf. The bells are from all the places she has visited, and there are four from Alaska. They really make the room homey. The master bedroom was going to be gray and have a blue focus wall. I painted the focus wall and then the gray. Well, once the gray was up it looked as though it had a soft purple tinge next to the blue. So, back to Wal-Mart for a paint that did not clash. I was determined to find something that was not purple so I would not have three purple rooms. However, when I went to get my wallet out of my purse an antique purple paint swatch fell on my seat. I felt my heart speed up and I realized I had found the perfect color. Although, purple it was dark and romantic. I just knew it would make our room a soft sanctuary we could enjoy in the winter and summer. It definitely turned out well.

Next, I went on to paint the touch ups upstairs. I needed a focus wall in the dining room and decided red was the color that would make it all come together.Well, I realized red is the hardest color to paint. It took me six coats, and after Gavin installed a new register cover and put a hole in the wall it will take me more coats and another can of red paint. Growl. However, if you do not look at the golf ball sized hole it looks AMAZING!!!!!! Thankfully, my mother-in-law, Melissa, knew exactly which wall would look great in red from her previous visits. Thanks Mom!!!

I started on the touch ups only to realize the paint was faded and I had to repaint the entire upstairs. So, I spent two days painting the upstairs and entry way to make it look fresh and new. I am glad I was forced to do so by my desire to have a house that did not look like a safari of leopard prints. It looks so incredible and clean now.

I was ready to scream with painting, and Gavin took over and painted the basement. I sat on the couch, and watched him paint his way around the room. It is Mid Day Mocha and very pretty!

All the new doors are in and the house is painted. I did not destroy anything, and it looks great. The new carpet really adds to the homey feel. Although, did you know you are not supposed to remove tack strips when you remove carpet for the new to be laid down...? We could save $300 tearing out our old carpet, and being farm kids we do not shy away from a little savings with some hard work. So, we did just that, and removed EVERYTHING. Well, when the installers came they charged us $350 for putting down new tack strips. I thought this was an included cost, but Lowe's does not feel that way I suppose. All well, it is nice, and once they fix their ordering mistake we will have carpet in our room. They forgot to order the upstairs bedroom (master) and so we have to wait for another month to get the carpet shipped up here.

I am just happy to have new registers, fresh paint, soft/clean carpet, and new six panel doors to add to the luster of our home. So, if any of you want to visit we are ready for you now. The guest room is pretty, and comfortable with closet space.