Our last weekend of painting…the last thing we wanted to do, but best to get it done before all the furniture is there, right? It was such a wonderful feeling pulling into our driveway and knowing we were home…and of course, we felt just as home when we pulled into Lowes 20 minutes later (LOL) to get another gallon of paint and some odds and ends we forgot. We also ate dinner so we’d be fully prepared to paint when we got back home!
Tom did the first coat in the bathroom while I played with my bamboo. It apparently didn’t go quite as smoothly as he hoped, because there was some yelling coming from there. I guess that’s what you get with a TEENY bathroom and a LARGE body! I just stayed away! LOL!
Anyhoo, I was thrilled to finally be able to use the vases I bought shortly after the wedding…I bought them because they had a similar “square” pattern as our dishes—but they’re not going to be used in the kitchen! I thought they’d look stunning on the mantle, but of course, one of the vases is just TOO big, so it has to sit on the floor, but it still looks good.
We also got to meet another neighbor, Tom (husband of Karen, who we met the previous weekend). He’s another marine on the block—a pilot. He came over when he saw us outside, and proceeded to loan us a ladder! I LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS! Then we messed around the house some, not really wanting to start painting the living room because we were tired…so we decided hit the grocery store so we wouldn’t have to eat out the entire weekend. So as we’re walking out the door and turning off the lights, Tom says “Jen! Come here and look at this!” I rush over and OH. MY. GOD. There is a small green tree frog ON our window. ON OUR WINDOW! Weird. He was cute so it was okay, but still. A frog on the window??? Of course, I had to run to get the camera and take a few pictures (below)! North Carolina is a straaaaaange place. We were home and in bed by 10:30.
Tom was up early painting the second coat of the bathroom. Then tragedy struck. I had just gotten up and had just put my contacts in. I was simply attempting to walk out of the bedroom when I literally SLAMMED my toes into the door frame—WOW was that some intense pain!! The nail of my pinky toe was intact, but I ripped off a huge chunk of skin (although it’s still hanging on) and it was bleeding slightly. I could barely walk on it…how was I going to put shoes on and paint? Goodness. I eventually put socks and shoes on and it wasn’t too bad, but when I took the socks off, the toe next to it was really bruised (the pics I took were from the following morning when it doesn’t look quite as bad).
Then, just as we were about ready to start painting the living room, our neighbors showed up for our “mail delivery” (they’re watching it until we get there). I tell you, I like this neighbors thing!
So, painting the faux finish. Let me just say upfront that (1) it was a MAJOR pain in the ass, (2) it doesn’t look much like the pictures, and (3) I will never do that finish again, ever. It seemed simple enough: mix matte paint with wallpaper paste (for a sort of glazing effect), brush on the paint, stipple the paint (to get rid of the brush strokes), then rag the paint (with a chamois). They did mention you had to work quickly because it dried fast—and man, they were NOT kidding. We had planned on working right behind one another (one painted and one ragged) but it dried too fast for us to be moving ladders, so one person did everything. If Tom was on the ladder, I was handing him paint brushes filled with paint and if I was on the ladder, he was handing me paint. The chamois (one of two things they suggested using) was useless. I don’t know if we had too much paint on the wall (I didn’t think so) or a too-thin chamois (do they come in different thicknesses?)…but after two or three uses, it was FILLED with paint and seemingly useless. But we pressed on. After half the wall, we said “Are we sure we want to do the WHOLE room?” I said no way in hell. Then we agreed on doing two walls and seeing what we thought. Okay, fine. So we finished the two walls and it was okay, although it was not nearly what we expected. The second coat was another “glazing” coat which was supposed to be 1½:1 (paste to paint) instead of the 1:1 ratio of the first coat… but that still seemed too thick, so we added more paste and then even added water because it still seemed too thick. By the middle of the first wall (second coat) I had had it (I had done the majority of the work so far) so Tom took over and finished while I showered. Afterwards, we went out to dinner with our neighbors. When we came home, we decided that two walls WAS enough and we would just paint the remaining two walls with plain paint. That process went SO quickly, after the time-consuming finish of the other walls!
A funny thing happened while we were painting, though. Tom went out in the garage for something and I heard “Jen! JEN! Come here!” I had no idea what on earth it could be, so I went out there. Oh my goodness! Gold paint tracks all over the garage! He had left the paint lid off the can and on the garage floor. One of those little toads had hopped right onto the paint lid and then proceeded to hop around the garage! Tiny toad tracks everywhere! We laughed and laughed and laughed—it was so cute! I wanted to leave them to dry, but Tom cleaned them up! I did make him take pictures, though! Again, we were in bed by about 11.
Sunday morning, Tom was up early (he let me sleep in) working on the ceiling fan…so that by the time I got up, our new ceiling fan was in the newly painted room—and it looked awesome! It looked like it was made for the room!
Then it was time to start picking up and getting ready to go back to Virginia. I did another load of laundry and then we made another trip to Lowes…we had found out they were having lots of installation specials ($69 instead of $99) so we decided to go ahead and have them do the garage door opener. And of course (of course!) we bought some other stuff. Then back home, Tom decided he had to mow the lawn (it had been raining on and off all weekend so he couldn’t do it before then) so he borrowed a neighbor’s mower. I continued packing/cleaning/laundering. I tried doing some work outside, but it was SOOOO damn hot and humid it was awful! And the flies! Oh my goodness, the flies! They must have come out after all the rain, because we never had flies before…but they were all over and all over everything everywhere! Yuck! Tom took his shoes/socks off after mowing the lawn and they were covered by probably 100 flies! When I went to get clothes out of the washer, it would have 10 flies on it! Every time you get in the car to go somewhere, you get flies along for the ride! Oh, I hope they go away! Anyway, after Tom mowed the lawn, he decided he wanted the lawn mower we had seen at Sams Club…so off we went to Sams to get it (we’ll need it the next time we come down, and he was sure it would be gone by then).
Before we left, we returned the ladder…and got to see Tom and Karen’s house. I was really excited to see it because they have the same house as us—just in reverse. It was great seeing a house actually completed and decorated. I was afraid once we got the furniture and stuff in it would be a lot smaller, but they still seemed to have lots of room so I feel better now! Then it was back home (across the street!) to pack the car and head out. And of course, we hated to leave…
that I love and use more).
