Adventures in Bathroom Painting
So for a few days a month I have this incredible streak of "I must do something right now" that hits me. Usually, it's an artistic streak, but sometimes it gets about as artistic as cleaning my house from top to bottom with disinfectant. This month... this year, actually... it was a room-painting streak.
For the last few months, I've been talking about painting our master bedroom. We've had the paint (3 gallons of it) since we moved into the house. We just celebrated three years in July, by the way. We just haven't ever done it because it requires a heck of a lot of effort to paint the bedroom. It'd be a pretty huge undertaking. From taping off the wall boards, to moving the furniture, to figuring out how to reach the peak of the cathedral ceiling and not kill someone, it's quite a large task.
At some point, I decided I would start with the master bathroom instead. It's a much smaller room. There's no furniture to move except for the two mirrors, and the walls are mostly covered by doors, the window, the tub, the shower, the toilet, and the double vanity. However, the thought of remixing three-year-old paint leaves something to be desired in the motivation department.
So, last week, Lars announces that his friend Ben and Ben's girlfriend (Ben has a girlfriend?!) want to come down to visit over Labor Day weekend. So, after the initial ohmygodthat'sonlytendaysaway and wehaven'tcleanedupstairsinayear panic, I decided that it was time to paint the guest bathroom. It has all the advantages of painting the master bathroom, but mixing the paint will take about one minute instead of twenty years, seeing as how the paint had yet to be purchased and all.
So I took down the shower curtain with the intention of buying paint to match the khaki color in the small stripe, as well as purchasing a little of the navy and forest green to do squares in something like a wall-border pattern. After... discussing... with my darling husband which shade of khaki would look best as the base coat, and then continuing the discussion in regards to the blue and green, the DH picks up this paint roller kit, with a five-year-old's triumphant smile on his face, and proudly announces "This is what Dionne did to her walls!" This profound statement immediately ended the color discussion we were having. The blue and green were immediately abandoned, and the two colors of khaki we couldn't agree on suddenly both became perfect.
Thus begins my adventures in painting the guest bathroom. Now, I would just like to point out at this juncture that by the time we returned home from buying paint it was 9:00 pm. Ben and his girlfriend are expected to arrive somewhere around 1:00 pm the next day, and no, we really hadn't started cleaning out the guest room yet (which also doubles as my computer room, since we rarely have guests).
So, I read the instructions on how to do this faux-finish sponge painting thing. It seems simple. Tape the walls and ceiling up to prevent paint splatters. Pour an equal amount of the two colors of paint into the split paint tray. Roll on the paint, using the same stroke pattern throughout the room. Blend with a dry roller. Let dry, and remove the tape. Easy enough. The mirrors get removed, the walls get taped, the ceiling gets taped, and the paint gets dumped on the floor.
Ok, not dumped, but it certainly tried to be there. I managed to get it in the trays -- without mixing the colors too badly. I dipped the sponge rollers, and then I had the brilliant idea of starting on the wall over the tub. If I made a mess, it would be much easier to clean off the tub, and if I hated the result, it's the smallest section of wall to repair.
I was right, it made a mess. But it looked fabulous. Ok, so four and a half hours later... the floor was nearly the same color as the walls (thank god for linoleum and a rug that covers most of the floor space). The ceiling has a beautiful white stripe next to the walls. The walls look like someone threw mud at them (actually, the whole room sort of looks that way). And my lovely white and cream double vanity now has lovely putty-colored speckles everywhere.
But the bathroom looks fabulous, and I had a great time doing it!!!
For the last few months, I've been talking about painting our master bedroom. We've had the paint (3 gallons of it) since we moved into the house. We just celebrated three years in July, by the way. We just haven't ever done it because it requires a heck of a lot of effort to paint the bedroom. It'd be a pretty huge undertaking. From taping off the wall boards, to moving the furniture, to figuring out how to reach the peak of the cathedral ceiling and not kill someone, it's quite a large task.
At some point, I decided I would start with the master bathroom instead. It's a much smaller room. There's no furniture to move except for the two mirrors, and the walls are mostly covered by doors, the window, the tub, the shower, the toilet, and the double vanity. However, the thought of remixing three-year-old paint leaves something to be desired in the motivation department.
So, last week, Lars announces that his friend Ben and Ben's girlfriend (Ben has a girlfriend?!) want to come down to visit over Labor Day weekend. So, after the initial ohmygodthat'sonlytendaysaway and wehaven'tcleanedupstairsinayear panic, I decided that it was time to paint the guest bathroom. It has all the advantages of painting the master bathroom, but mixing the paint will take about one minute instead of twenty years, seeing as how the paint had yet to be purchased and all.
So I took down the shower curtain with the intention of buying paint to match the khaki color in the small stripe, as well as purchasing a little of the navy and forest green to do squares in something like a wall-border pattern. After... discussing... with my darling husband which shade of khaki would look best as the base coat, and then continuing the discussion in regards to the blue and green, the DH picks up this paint roller kit, with a five-year-old's triumphant smile on his face, and proudly announces "This is what Dionne did to her walls!" This profound statement immediately ended the color discussion we were having. The blue and green were immediately abandoned, and the two colors of khaki we couldn't agree on suddenly both became perfect.
Thus begins my adventures in painting the guest bathroom. Now, I would just like to point out at this juncture that by the time we returned home from buying paint it was 9:00 pm. Ben and his girlfriend are expected to arrive somewhere around 1:00 pm the next day, and no, we really hadn't started cleaning out the guest room yet (which also doubles as my computer room, since we rarely have guests).
So, I read the instructions on how to do this faux-finish sponge painting thing. It seems simple. Tape the walls and ceiling up to prevent paint splatters. Pour an equal amount of the two colors of paint into the split paint tray. Roll on the paint, using the same stroke pattern throughout the room. Blend with a dry roller. Let dry, and remove the tape. Easy enough. The mirrors get removed, the walls get taped, the ceiling gets taped, and the paint gets dumped on the floor.
Ok, not dumped, but it certainly tried to be there. I managed to get it in the trays -- without mixing the colors too badly. I dipped the sponge rollers, and then I had the brilliant idea of starting on the wall over the tub. If I made a mess, it would be much easier to clean off the tub, and if I hated the result, it's the smallest section of wall to repair.
I was right, it made a mess. But it looked fabulous. Ok, so four and a half hours later... the floor was nearly the same color as the walls (thank god for linoleum and a rug that covers most of the floor space). The ceiling has a beautiful white stripe next to the walls. The walls look like someone threw mud at them (actually, the whole room sort of looks that way). And my lovely white and cream double vanity now has lovely putty-colored speckles everywhere.
But the bathroom looks fabulous, and I had a great time doing it!!!
posted by Pami @ 4:11 PM
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