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View Full Version : Paint . . . The Final Frontier (long)



Belinda Barfield
02-23-2010, 9:22 AM
These are the voyages of the Starship Turpentine.
Our ongoing mission, to seek out new textures,
and new color combinations.
To boldly go where no roller has gone before . . .

(No turpentine was involved, but Starship Latex just didn’t work for me, ya’ know?)

A friend once told me that the being wealthy meant never having to paint your own house. Of course he also told me several years later that love meant never having to paint with your spouse. I disagreed on both counts. I always sort of enjoyed painting. There’s the excitement of choosing the new color, the smell of fresh primer and paint, the squelch of the roller on the wall, the thrill of seeing that first stripe of pain appear and thinking, yes, that’s perfect. At least that’s the way I remembered it.

So, let’s paint the condo. First, haul all the paint up the stairs to the third floor . . . hmm . . . that was a little different but that’s okay, all the paint is upstairs now. This is the first time I’ve painted a furnished place and that’s something very different than painting an empty house where you don’t have to move furniture and sleep with the windows open. I got home at 5:15 yesterday just itching to get started. Dinner was going to be something simple but I needed to get it started. In the old days I would have ordered pizza, but that was when I only ate one meal a day and pizza didn’t immediately add 5 pounds. So, I browned some ground beef and – oh, the horror – poured in a jar of sauce and set that to simmer. Everything down off the walls – check. All cover plates removed – check. I put on my official painting shirt and went in search of a Cool Whip bowl to hold the primer. Drat, I don’t have any Cool Whip bowls. I don’t even have a plastic lunch meat container. I poured my Kilz into a Styrofoam cup and started cutting in around trim, receptacles etc. I wish I was one of those people like architects and designers, and most everyone else, who can visualize a project and see it through to completion without changing at least three other things to make it perfect. But no, I can’t. I started thinking about the opening over the upper bar that looks into the dining room. It’s never been “open” enough. So, if we just take out another 12 or so inches of the upper wall I can install those cool pendant lights I saw the other day, or maybe change out the stemware racks for some nice wooden ones. Then, as I got near the door to the laundry room I had the thought that since we had to move the washer and dryer out to paint, we might as well replace them with one of those over/under units, and put in shelving for a pantry area on the opposite wall . . . yeah . . . that would give me a lot more storage room.

At this point I stepped back to admire my handy work and noticed the cat sitting in the doorway with that forlorn look that says, “Hey human, I know you told me not to eat the greenery in the birthday flower arrangement because it would make be sick, but as you are an inferior being I did not believe you. Please come and clean up the carpet where I was sick, and remember that this is all your fault!” Off I go with carpet cleaner and towel in hand.

Okay, the carpet is clean and the flowers have been moved to a closet (where I can really enjoy them:rolleyes:). Stop to check the simmering spaghetti sauce and decide it needs a little more oregano. Pick up paint brush and get started back up. Debate whether or not to pull out the refrigerator and decide not to for the primer (don’t tell anyone). Find a hole I missed filling with spackle and decide to just hang the same thing there that was there before. Finally, everything is cut in and rolled with a coat of primer. I finish up the spaghetti, eat, shower, brush my teeth, walk back into the kitchen to turn off the light and have a revelation . . . Kilz white is a really nice color for a kitchen . . . and I’m playing the lottery tomorrow.

Pat Germain
02-23-2010, 12:41 PM
That's a great, literary post, Belinda. You're a regular Jane Austen.

Belinda Barfield
02-23-2010, 1:11 PM
That's a great, literary post, Belinda. You're a regular Jane Austen.

Psst, Pat, your sarcasm is showing. LOL :D

Prashun Patel
02-23-2010, 1:21 PM
Kilz White is beautiful. But that stuff stinks to High Heaven. In my basement, that phenolic/antisepticky odor didn't stop for about 3 months. At that point, I became immune to it.

Belinda Barfield
02-23-2010, 1:29 PM
Kilz White is beautiful. But that stuff stinks to High Heaven. In my basement, that phenolic/antisepticky odor didn't stop for about 3 months. At that point, I became immune to it.

Hopefully the paint odor will mask the Kilz odor. My bathroom also got Kilz'd last night and the odor was almost overwhelming in that small space. I wonder if that's why I had such strange dreams last night!

Rod Sheridan
02-23-2010, 1:38 PM
Hopefully the paint odor will mask the Kilz odor. My bathroom also got Kilz'd last night and the odor was almost overwhelming in that small space. I wonder if that's why I had such strange dreams last night!


Unfortunately Belinda, I don't think that's the reason:D

Good excuse however.......Regards, Rod.

Phyllis Meyer
02-23-2010, 4:01 PM
Belinda, you crack me up! Will you come and paint for me?

Phyllis:)

Belinda Barfield
02-23-2010, 4:06 PM
Belinda, you crack me up! Will you come and paint for me?

Phyllis:)

Oh Phyllis, I'm so embarassed that you know that I didn't make sauce from scratch!

I'll only come paint for you if you pay me enough so that I can pay someone to come and paint for me. :D (or if you are sick and really need to get your house painted before family descends. . .)