Not so much practical


Image from here.

We are painting our boys' room. A long overdue project. Poor pets. They have been enduring pale purple trim, the vestiges of their sister's occupation in that room for quite some time now.

The painting scenario has followed a familiar course.

I see a picture which inspires me.




cottage living

I show the family. They respond with sufficient enthusiasm.

It's a go.

But! Not quite yet.

I bide my time until I find myself in the throes of an especially busy and chaotic week. I make sure that I am really behind on my laundry and that the house is particularly cluttered.

It's time.

I go paint shopping.

I come home and start painting.

Half way through the painting it occurs to me that what we are doing in no way resembles the original inspiration picture and I actually have no idea where we are going with this.. and hold on, why are we painting the walls Egyptian pyramid brown when we were going for a crisp nautical-ish feel to go with the existing red, white and blue bedding....?

Another special thing about my process is that I do not, in any way prepare the room or myself for painting. I walk in the door from Home Depot and go directly upstairs, paint can and new roller in hand. I'm doing well if I take off my coat.

I then start slapping paint up on the walls, sometimes directly from the can. (Can you say instant gratification girl?) wearing my favourite jeans and a shirt I really like.

I just cannot wait to see how it's all going to turn out. Especially since I am not entirely sure how the colours I am holding ended up in my hand.

For the most part this ends up better then one would think. I am surprisingly adept at not getting paint on my clothes. Not quite so effective at keeping it off the carpet (if you get at it fast enough with a wet rag this is rarely a train smash). Oh and one more thing. I tend to embark upon these projects at like..5pm or 8:30pm you know the times when your family wants to eat or your children need to go to sleep. In the bedroom where you are liberally splattering the paint all over the carpet with your best clothes on.

So that's where it stands now. The kids are sleeping in their half painted bedroom. Open window on a rah-ther chilly night.

It is all going right according schedule.


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8 comments:

Aaron B. said...

If you didn't do it this way it wouldn't get done at all. And it is way past time for the boys to get their own style in their room.
Love you and your painting ways.

Laurel @ Ducks in a Row said...

You are funny. I always paint when my husband is out of town and I get bored. It would go so much better if he was around to help, though.

Moore Minutes said...

You are so funny! Seriously, this made me laugh.

Recently I decided that I am too IMPATIENT to paint! It is terrible.

Lydia Moon said...

Oh, I love it! This is sometimes the way I operate with painting too. I would love to see pictures when you are finished!

Janet said...

Well, you must show pictures when completed. And, really, you might as well get the chaos out of the way all at once, right? Happy painting!

Anonymous said...

This is the perfect thing to do after the yucky week you had. Nothing better than to throw yourself into this, caution to the wind and trusting your instincts! Love it! Sister Deb

jmt said...

I wish you luck! I should have considered repainting OJ's room before I rearranged it, but alas, I didn't want to go to the trouble. :) You're braver than I am. And besides, he would have gotten in the way, gotten in the paint, and given me a GIANT headache. Have fun!

Amz said...

Oh, you crack me up! A lot of times I operate this way, but not with my latest purchase! I have been DYING to tell you...I am now the proud owner of a Shark!!!

I got it home and read the booklet front to back to be sure I was doing everything right. It was simple and now I just finished all my floors (which is almost my entire main level) in record time and my microfiber cloths are in the wash as I type. I cannot believe how well of a job it did! My floors have never, never looked so good and taken so little time. I wished I had bought it a year ago when you told me about it.