We, and several relatives, have worked many hours this week, and we have completed painting the inside of the house. First, we painted it with Kilz to get rid of any smoke smell that might be lingering. Then, we added the color.
The living room, dining area, hall and Rob and my bedroom were all painted this creamy tan color. It is light, airy, warm and inviting. I love how it turned out. This picture actually shows it being a little darker than it appears. There are no lights in the living room. Yet.
Patsy’s room is mostly white, with the one wall that is light green. A) It also appears darker in this picture and B) Yes, I missed several spots, which I went back and painted with a brush after viewing this picture. In fact, I went over several such spots in every room after I thought I was done! The white is a nice, bright white and the green is much softer. She has a huge closet in her room, and I will store quite a few of my things in 1/2 of it. I also may put a community bookcase in her room, but I need to see how things fit in.
The big girls will share a room. Their ceiling and closet are white. Their walls are a blue-gray. It is really this dark, maybe even a little bit darker.
The big girls painted almost all of their own room. It was good experience for them and took them most of 2 days, since they were new at painting. The previous painters had not been careful in any room and there is old paint on most of the woodwork, often blobbed or striped as if they did not tape at all. We did it properly, and it has been suggested that we paint over the woodwork in the places that are blobbed with a paint that matches the brown trim or color over with a brown Sharpie. I’m not sure if we are going to do any of that. By the time we get furniture in there, we won’t see much of the baseboard:)
We’ve been moving loads from our storage unit over to store in the shop until after the floors are re-done. We did another load today, even though the temperatures have been over 100 degrees this week. (Very rare for our part of Oregon, so we are uncomfortable) The only reason we could actually paint in this heat is that our new house has air conditioning. Otherwise, I think the paint would have dried up too fast. It’s supposed to cool down a bit, so hopefully I can get lots of loads moved next week, and some yard work done. Things have grown up while the house was for sale, but I can tell the previous owner kept things in good shape. I want to do the same.
We’ve also been working with the stove insert company, getting the details settled for the chimney preparation and installation of a new insert stove. After filling out forms in 2 places, mail has finally arrived, today, at our new address. Not long now until I get to go get a library card to the Salem Public Library! That excites me tremendously. I was last inside about 25 years ago, and thought it was really large then. I will really feel like I live there (which I don’t actually, yet) once I check out books!
Oh. This is such wonderful news. It looks perfect. You are such a hard working family and I’m so happy for all of you. Hope the weather breaks soon and you get some weather that is more comfortable to work in.
Today is actually about 15 degrees cooler, and I almost feel cold. Gloriously, deliciously cold:)
What a great experience for your girls to learn how to do basic home improvement! ❤️
So true! I’m glad they are getting some skills I’ve never learned before, like removing carpet tack strips–Ja’Ana and I are both pretty good at it now, and Lovana is a great staple puller!
The house is really looking spiffy, Becky! Did the girls get to choose the colours for their rooms? I think it is great that the older two girls were able to paint their room almost entirely by themselves. It will really make it feel like their room, once they move in.
Hope you get all your things moved out of the storage before the end of the month. It will certainly help with the budget, that’s for sure! It will also make it easier to slowly unpack if it is all right there in the workshop. I’m enjoying seeing the progress, Becky. Thanks for sharing!!!
Yes, the girls chose the colors. Boy was there discussion. The 2 older girls are not used to sharing a room, so it took a while to come to an agreement! But, at last they did. I also think they will have more ownership, with all that sweat equity!
Congratulations on the house and getting the painting done already!! And how is the smell factor?
Chiming in on saying way to go in teaching your girls how to paint. I learned in high school and it was a great skill to take into adulthood. Although my Dad told me about ‘cutting’ in after I had tons of roller marks on the ceiling – he was one to let me try and figure things out first. And on that, I just couldn’t figure it out on my own. Never ever made that mistake again after he explained the technique,LOL.
The house smells great. There is still a smoky odor coming from where they removed a wood stove insert–the chimney needs cleaning badly. We are getting an up-to-code insert put in and they will line the chimney so it is safe. That should block the last of the odor. Right now, the chimney is very open.
Becky, I suggest leaving the trim unpainted. When you have time and want to work on it use Goo gone, flannel rags and a razor blade scraper. Everything looks good. Life is certainly moving fast right now for you.
So, just clarifying….If we use Goo Gone, will it take the old paint off? Then, those boards are stained, so would I need to re-stain them? I don’t have much experience with that kind of thing.
Well it looks like your wood is varnished, right? You just want to get rid of paint drips and such from sloppy painters, right? Those paints drips might come right off with the goo gone and flannel rag or might need bit of scraping with the razor blade. You should not have to revarnish since you will carefully be using the blade. Sometimes it will come off with just the blade too…pick at one to see how friable the paint drip is.
Thanks. I have no experience with this at all. There are tons and tons of places with paint on the woodwork from the people who painted it last time, before us. It sounds like a good project for a rainy day once we get settled. Appreciate the information!