Ford Family Adventures: Some fresh paint...

Well, I did it. Kind of. I got up off my butt and started my renovations. I completely overhauled my bedroom, got it all cleaned out, and freshly painted, and rearranged everything to make it look more spacious. Easy, peasy. Except it wasn't. It sucked. And I learned a few things along the way.

An old photo, but shows the position and kind-of colour of the room.

First of all, never attempt to paint a room that is full of your belongings. It's just a bad idea. Of course, my room was full of my belongings, so I didn't take my own advice. For 4 days, we lived in a pile of crap, covered with towels, and had to climb over and around paintbrushes, stir sticks, cans of paint, and those tray things that the paint goes in. Every morning I would pile all the crap on the bed in an effort to make walking around the furniture easier. And every night I would pile all of the crap onto the floor in an effort to make sleeping easier. So, yeah. Paint a room when it's empty. Much. Easier.

Second of all, don't paint your walls a dark chocolate brown. I mean, totally do it if you never ever ever plan to paint over it. Cause dark chocolate brown has been incredibly relaxing and comforting for the last 9 years. But it's a bitch to paint over. Thank goodness the lady at Home Hardware tinted my primer blue (to match the paint that was going over the chocolate) because it was a lot less coats.

So cozy, and warm... and so freaking dark!!

Third... don't paint your ceiling a lighter colour brown in an effort to make your room more cozy. I mean, totally do it if you never ever ever plan to paint over it. Cause it really does make your room more cozy. But painting ceilings is a bitch. And it makes you cry in pain for 2 days after you've finished painting because standing with your hands above your head while staring at a ceiling for a full day is apparently not a position your muscles will thank you for. In fat, they will scream at you. Usually at 4 in the morning.

See that smile? It's cause my arms have only been over my head for 15 minutes!

Fourth... always enlist help when painting. It makes the crazies stay away. Because locking yourself in a paint fume-filled room by yourself for 4 days will make you crazy. Having someone helps you means that when you cuss, they'll cuss too, and you can gossip the time away and then painting doesn't seem to suck nearly as much. It helps too if they're not very good at panting, because then you can blame all the little mistakes on them (sorry, Tricia!).

My helper (by the way, she actually turned out to be a pretty decent painter!)

Having a helper means I can take more breaks. Spinach smoothie, anyone??

And finally, never ever ever paint, unless you absolutely have to. Because after you paint, you will have to paint baseboards. Which will put white paint on your freshly painted walls. Which you will then have to paint over with blue. Which will then put blue on your freshly painted baseboards. Which you will have to paint over with white. Which will then put white on your freshly repainted blue walls. And the crazy cycle will continue until you finally scream, "For the love of God, Danny, I can't do this anymore, I'm finished. I'm finished! Holy crap, get this paint brush out of my hand before I throw it at my freshly painted walls!!" Not that I yelled that. Cause I'm not a crazy paint lady. I swear.

Painting over the mini-mistakes, with the mini-paintbrush. That's my "F-you" face!

So that's it. The bedroom is finished. All painted. All done. Thank God and praise Jesus! Wait.... what? There are still 6 rooms to scrub, and three areas to paint? Excuse me now, while I go cry in my paint tray...