Tiptoe through the painttray

Heh...the cats were apparently very curious about all the painting I did on the weekend. I ended up having to clip the paw fur of Gavin...he's wandered all around the painted stuff after I was done and managed to get it all over his paws. I figured it was fingerprints in the paint. Nope...Gavin prints.

The snow melted over the weekend and we're back to our regularly scheduled fall...kind of. There are still some leaves left on the trees and it's my favourite season, so I'm glad to get a little of it. I am pumped...it's fuzzy everything season. Fuzzy socks. Fuzzy hats. I broke out the micro-fleece sheets last night. They are so warm and cozy - like a giant fuzzy cocoon. :)

As a random odd link, here's a good one for you. In planning for emergency awareness and response, the University of Florida has included zombie awareness in their plans. Go here to see their written plans to respond to (*snort*) "zombie behavior spectrum disorder" or ZBSD as they so quaintly describe it. Good to know film scifi trends are trickling over into regular life. Now all we need are response plans for the coming apocalyptic robot hordes and we'll be all set.
Erm...I'll make sure I have my chainsaw ready and renew my zombie squad membership...just in case...
image source

Whew!

So close...we are nearly nearly done painting. I can hardly believe it.

*grin*

Sunday and monday were hardcore get up early and paint like a nutter days. It nearly rained sunday which would have screwed it all up, but luckily it just spit a bit and stopped, so the painting could keep going. If it weren't for a family supper last night we'd be finished.
As it is, all that is left is a second coat on the little bit of purple on the front of the house, as well as the mailbox and the metal sun that is for the front of the house. About an hour left...not too shabby. I had to laugh as we ordered in chinese on sunday and the guy couldn't find the house at first as we'd taken down the house numbers to paint...heh...oops. We realised we'll have to find some new ones pretty quick. J's brother works with aluminum so we might ask him to cut out some numbers for us at the shop this week. Then we could design them however we'd want...we're thinking big and blocky, kinda like the old space 1999 numbers.

I have to say, I'm so impressed with the way it turned out. We did good! It looks really good, and we've already gotten random compliments on the purple from people walking by :). Our neighbors were out doing renos too, so we got to chat with them while working...made the time go by faster.
It's odd- we rented 15 feet of scaffolding as J figured it would make it easier for me than teetering on a ladder, but it was so huge, heavy and bulky that in the end only used one layer of it and then teetered all over on the ladders of varying heights as we would have had to take it apart and move it 3 times...WAY too much work. In the end, J was the official "hold the ladder so I don't die" person while I scampered up and down and all over the place and we got it done. I'm so proud of this - it was a lot of work, but we did it. It sure takes a lot out of you to work that hard, but it's very satisfying to look at it and think "Wow. I did that".

Last night I was so tired could have gone to bed right after supper :) Today I'm still tired and a bit stiff, but I'll live I think . I'm taking the afternoon off work to take back the scaffolding and finish the last of the purple painting while it's still nice out. I've come to realise that the weather forecast is utterly meaningless, so I'll just take what I can get and finish up the painting today while the weather holds, as I don't know when I'll get to it otherwise.

The front door is already a fine deep purple.
Yay.

Oh my giddy arms

Well...day one of house painting is over. I am pleased to say I have scraped all the trim and sanded, washed and filled gaps and cracks in the house. I even primed it all. So tomorrow I actually get to paint. The fun part...Cool.

Our house is conveniently facing east. This means I can paint the back of the house until about noon and then switch over to the front after that...avoiding direct sunlight is a good thing. Today was a beautiful day actually - sunny and about 26 degrees. I got started in the morning before it got too hot and then took a french toast break at lunch. I kept at it until supper when we ran to get a pizza and pick up the accent color of paint for the house. Then I did the priming.
I am very pleased by the colour - not only is it called Morpheus (didn't know that until I looked at the chip later) but it's something new. Our house is grey and red and we were going to keep it that way...but then J and I got talking right before we went to get the paint...and decided there was no reason it had to stay that way. So very soon it will be grey and dark purple. This is infinitely cooler than just making it exactly the same as it was before.
PURPLE!
Eccentricity here I come!

:)

I only got a pint of purple paint....at the time I was sure it was enough. Now I'm wondering what I was smoking when I decided that...I'll be pushing it to not need more. The thing is when we got to the till (we were in a rush) the lady said "did you know it is 2 for 1 paint today?" Grrr...no no one (not even the lady who mixed the paint) mentioned it but it was too late to go back. I'm sure I'd have enough paint if I had 2 pints...but now I'm not sure I will...just cuz. It's not a big deal really - more an inconvenience of having to go back, as a pint is only $15 -I'm more annoyed at the lack of mention of it. I wish we'd had time to go back and get another one...oh well. Should have just gotten a gallon. I just hate adding to my 1/3 full paint can collection in the basement...

Now? I'm done for the day (8AM-8PM.Whew!) so I'm relaxing after a nice shower with a rum & coke and all you interweb pixels. My arms ache from all the scraping so I am going to do some stretching and then I do believe I will go put on some music and read a book.
Later taters.

Back at the renos

I've begun priming the trim on the house...FINALLY.

I scraped some of it and filled major cracks in some of the window sills about 2 weeks ago, but seeing as it hasn't stopped raining here for more than a few hours until monday I haven't been able to do any painting until now. I'm planning on doing it all hard core on the long weekend (rain rain go away) but I'm trying to sneak in as much prep and priming as I can here and there before then so I can just paint like a nutter when it gets to that point and do it all in a few days. It's odd repainting something...all that work for it to look the same! Well, OK it needs painting badly so it will look way better, but I like the colors there already, so why change a good thing? :)

I have the tinted primer and the Grey Fox grey paint but I still need a can of black spray paint for the mail box and a small tin of red for the door and a bit of red trim...with any luck it'll all come together and the sunshine will hold for a while. I want to stain the back deck grey as well, but that may have to wait for spring after I pressure wash it...we'll see just how I'm feeling about that when I get to it. I might be done painting at that point and wait for spring :) Thing is, I just need 3 or 4 solid days of painting and it'll all be done.
Here's crossing my fingers for sunshine...

The Leapfrog has landed

Ladies and germs and molecular vectors, the Leapfrog has officially landed.
I repeat, the Leapfrog has landed.

Green has come.
Rejoice and wibble the Happy Dance for the Rubber Duck and all his minions have been vanquished!

Yea, we give thanks to the Holy Horseshoe which has come again to the Bottom of Sweetness, for we have finished our quest with only 2 teaspoons of paint left...*just* enough, thanks to my Roller of Skimping +2.

Here's hoping that in the light of day it looks hunky dorey...Cuz I'll be damned if I paint that room again :)

Bwaha!

I just finished my first coat of green paint.
It looks so nice.

That's all folks.

Speaking of a monkey with a hangover...

Actually it's not *that* bad...I did have a great time last night after a long day of prep and such. Herbaliser was playing on campus which isn't the best bar for *seeing* a band, but their sound is good. We ended up being a bit early, so we went down into Place Riel and played some Twilight Zone pinball for a while..Man I'd forgotten how great of a pinball game that was. I spent many a time as a broke student playing that game, driving the replay cost up. It is the only game where I get all the missions, know where all the little spirals and loops go and can do all the missions...even battle "the power". A good way to start the evening...there's a lot more on-line game stations int he arcade than the last time I was there...cha-cha-changes...
The opening act for Herbaliser was half hip hop half funk, and were very dancable...and Herbalaiser? well they always put on a good show. I mean, with a DJ, trumpet, sax, flute, synth, bass and drums and a lead singer who can, indeed, wail, how can you go wrong?

There was much dancing, and we ran into people we hadn't seen in a while...and they kept buying pitchers...so I drank more than I would have. Not *too* much...but, enough to find myself incredibly classy and brilliant at conversation :)
Now I'm making breakfast, nursing my slightly queasy self, and preparing to attack the yellow monstrosity upstairs. It may take a bit before I'm ready...Today is 2 coats of primer on the Walls, and primer and paint on the ceiling.
The tricky thing is picking the green for the walls...I know *abstractly* what I want...in fact our bedroom is currently a happy bright green, which I'd like to match (we're painting it another colour soon but like it a lot) but all the green chips I brought home taped to the wall are all slightly off that colour...tricky paint. I'm leaning to a colour called leapfrog.

My eyes! They burn!

I'm pretty much prepped for priming and painting now...I'd do more, but I'm beginning to think "what's the point?"
Why am I so cynical?
Well, the painters of the room before me did a shit job of patching, filling holes or even trying to remove tape or other stuff from the walls...the perfectionist in me is cringing at it all. There's (mercifully) only 10 nail holes to fill, but I'm not trying very hard...there are a zillion *under* the paint glossed over and lumpy...and whoever put the window in was a twit. Honestly. A monkey with a hangover could have done smoother mudding and sanding. I take pride in my renos...having to settle is pissing me off. But it's just not worth the pain int he assness of it all to make it more perfect. I'm kiddingmyself if I don'tadmit that I will likely try and fix a few of the holes tomorrow when we pick up a bit of polyfilla with the paint, but it would take a bucket of filler and more time than I care to spend to fix it to my standards...

*sigh*

Oh well...The room is clean, and the holes *I* can fill are filled...I've tried to sand the worst of it, and tomorrow I'll begin the priming.
Oh the priming...have a gander at what I have to paint over.
Go on...feast your eyes.
See why I'm a bit cynical at the moment?

Eez bright...no?
Of course I'm going for bright lime green with white trim, so the wall should be OK...it's the trim that will be a bit of work.
I'm taking bets as to how many coats of primer...I say 2. Anyone else care to guess??

On the bright side (and on a totally other topic - since I have the camera out)...the cats seem to like their early christmas gift. A place for them to relax...and scratch instead of the furniture.


So far so good...

Not-so Mellow Yellow

Meh.

I'm emptying out the room which is soon to be painted and I'm losing the "fun", so I thought I'd take a break for a bit. I just want to get to the painting colour part...thankfully Cloe (she whose room it used to be) was not insane about coverng every inch of wall with some piece of antiquey crap like her Mom & Aunt were, so there's not a lot of holes to fill- just relocate the dozen or so plants in there (from the living room) to the spare room, empty out the bookshelf and wash the walls. She did pick rubber duck yellow walls and neon pink and orange and red trim tho - *sigh* - it hurts the eyes after a while...
Lots of priming to do...I have to paint the ceiling too, as she kept hitting it with the paint roller and didn't clean it off, so there are little yellow spots all over...Oh well. It's a tiny room, so it won't be too much extra work.
I admit I haven't decluttered the table or the kitchen counter which was my deal with myself originally to "get to" do this, but I don't much care at this point. It's big house and I'm done with that for a while - I need to do something other than sift through crap, sort stuff and vaccuum or I'll throw a wobbler. A big one...with party hats and fruit salad.

It's my friday off and J works most of the day so I'm trying to be useful and get all the boring stuff done so I can paint all weekend...there's a great band I want to see in town tomorrow night (Herbaliser) and J wants to go see the Sadies tonight...so it's not all work. I'm just not in much of a mood to do anything really other than stare at all the fluffy snow and drink coffee.

Suppose I'll get back to it then...

Genesis of the living room

Then Geo said "Let the walls be primed all one colour, so that colour might appear". And so it happened: The walls were primed a blazing white and the coloured paint was gathered into the paint tray, and the first colour appeared.

Geo called the new colour "yellow", and the other walls would be "green" and "brown". Geo saw how good it was.

There was evening and there was morning. That was the fourth day.

Another hard day at the paint mine

Guess what sucks more than painting the ceiling of a big room? Painting it TWICE.

Yes...Our ceilings are the same boring beige as the walls and it's taking 2 coats of paint to make them look white again. Thankfully I'm half way through the second coat...thanks to...Scaffolding! Tadaah!

"Hmmm...where to paint first?

Thankfully I could rent scaffolding for a week and it's sped things up considerably...much safer than leaning and teetering all over a ladder. My shins are already black and blue :)
In case you're curious, here are the colours for the room:

I'm starting on the yellow tomorrow. It's hard to tell how nice the colours are form my crappy photos, but trust me...they'll be nice. Yellow for the hall and the other 2 in the living room/dining room. It's finally coming together...it seemed to be taking for ever, but luckily yesterday and today have been much nicer days, so I've been able to get more done. I'm taking a wee break at the moment, but I should get back to it. We're currently buried in tarps and tape, but after the ceilings, I get to the fun part - the colours. It's a big space to paint which is why I've been tactfully ignoring it until now, but I'm beginning to see that it might get done soon.


Back to the land of tarps and paint...back later!

I'm melting...

It's 35 degrees today.
Phew...it's not as much fun as I thought to sand and prime walls in this kind of heat. I'm determined to get the sanding done today, but the priming might be for another day. The heat just sucks the energy right out of you.
I did buy the paint today though - meep! It's so nice. I love the colours.

Well...back at it. I'm trying to think of reasons to stay in my nice chilly basement but there's nothing for it. Back to the ladder...

Good things come to those who work

I'm typing this entry in my empty living room on my new laptop.

Eeees nice.

Someone I know was getting a new laptop and sold me their souped up old G4 12 inch powerbook for a very nice price...so now I have a nice little laptop for all my laptoppy needs. It is the laptop I need and want, set up for wireless and I don't do any hardcore things that I'd need anything more for. I've never gotten myself one as the cost was too much...but used I could go for. AND it fits in my monkey bag...so it was a perfect match.

I lurve it.

I've been a busy little thing here, what with J and I emptying the entire living/dining room yesterday. Then today I washed all the walls twice and filled the holes. There are a few rough areas where the old owners tried to work their particular brand of "magic" that I need to work on tonight and do some sanding and repatching, but tomorrow is "rent me some scaffolding day" and I can sand and prime the walls and maybe, if I feel rather ambitious start on the ceiling...which I am dreading. I enjoy painting, but the prep and anything to do with ceilings leave me cranky.

I've picked some nice colours - a mellow yellow for the hallway and one wall and a nice mossy green and a mushroom beige for the other walls. It'll be nice...I just have to get through all the boring prep work that needs to be done before the fun part of the colours gets here.

And best of all...the gawdawful light fixture above the table will be going - it's all brass and glass and I've hated it ever since we moved in. I actually did a big fabric canopy and redecor of the table area a few years back to hide it until we could get around to this. Also the light fixture in the stairs that has never really worked reliably ever will be replaced. It'll be fantastic!

Let there be light!

But it's really happening! No turning back now. Soon my living room will look spiffy...