Progress in Paint

We were fresh off a two day break, as we went in Venice to celebrate Christmas with Kelly's family. The rest was nice, but we were wrought with feelings that we should hurry back to spend more time with the house.  There's just so much to do, and with our move date just two weeks away, it seems like that day is barreling toward us.  Thankfully today was a very productive day!

Darrell and I started our day early, with a goal to start the family room paneling.  We approached it knowing that the paneling was going to be a real test of our abilities and fortitude in the home improvement department.  So far, it hasn't disappointed on that!  We began by washing down the room paneling with TSP, spackling all of the holes and dings, and sanding everything down.  It was pretty amazing how many holes were in that paneling.  It's a good thing that we're starting fresh!  After it all dried and the sanding dust settled, we started cutting in around the edges of the room and hand painting the primer on the shelving and mantle:

I'm not going to lie... when we got done it looked like this, and I was scared:

YIKES! I had a moment of anxiety, especially as the first coat of primer looked like it wasn't rolling on or drying evenly (at all).   No turning back now, we're completely committed.  We're letting this dry overnight and hope to try a second coat of primer tomorrow.  Hopefully we can get through the room with just one more coat of primer... but I have a feeling we may need a third.  Before we even get to paint....

Soooo after this was finished, we painted the living room ceiling with flat white ceiling paint to finish off that room's ceiling.  We then moved on to the Master Bedroom and painted the ceiling in there with the Kilz Ceiling Primer/Paint combo.  Now that ceiling is done too! Woohoo!

Then we got ambitious and decided to get rid of the green living room walls.  We didn't necessarily have an issue with green paint, but 1) they had done a lousy job painting it on, so it wasn't even and had super sloppy edges, and 2) we have terra cotta colored sofas that we're putting in this room and this just isn't the right shade of green for those pieces.  So, onward with the primer!

This experience actually went well.  The walls are primed, but we see the green still poking through, so it seems like we're probably going to need another coat on there, too.

By this time, we decided to try to knock out a few more things before we wrapped up the day...

Recessed lighting:

As you can see, this light had several issues -- the hole around the canister was too big, the bulb was a standard neon energy-saving bulb, and because they used standard bulbs you could see straight up into the canister. No bueno.

One of Darrell's many talents is in the light fixtures department.  His dad was an electrical contractor, so Darrell spent many days in his youth helping out his dad with light fixtures. So, he suggested dropping the bulb inside of the can, replacing the trim with a wider piece that would cover a too-large hole, and using the correct bulb, a flood light.  (N otice our freshly painted ceiling!)  It looks so much better already!!!

Master Bedroom Painting:
We also decided to start the wall painting in the Master Bedroom.  We got the room about 80% taped off, and Darrell had just started the cutting-in, when the power went out.  One second later, we heard the transformer blow.  As we had to feel our way around the construction zone to seek out a flashlight (thank goodness for Darrell's awesome toolbox full of random stuff that we need all the time!), Darrell said, "I hope this doesn't happen a lot."  No kidding!  I hope this isn't a sign of things to come...

Well that's it for today!  We were totally impressed with how much we got accomplished today.  I hope tomorrow goes just as well!