To say this last weekend was eventful, would be an understatement. Katie and I kicked off what can only be described as “PaintFest 2014”. After painting last week, we decided white was just too white. The rooms we painted were very sterile and cold looking. I’ve been living in basically a log cabin for the last 9 months, and Katie has been in an apartment with Mayo colored walls. We didn’t realize how WHITE white actually is. Especially when you add in light. We decided to re-work our color plan, call the white a primer, and head to Lowe’s.

I’m proud to say, I’m officially a card carrying member of Lowe’s home improvement. Not just a my Lowe’s reward card, but, an actual credit card. Folks, I’ve made it. THIS is what adulthood is all about. Spending weekends at home improvement stores, figuring out how to wash paint out of your hair so you’re presentable at work on Monday, this is the shit dreams are made of! I’m called a lot of things, and Dreamer is definitely one of the better ones.

Now, here is what we started with the living room looking like post- white paint fiasco:

After much deliberation, antique white with a white high gloss trim seemed like the best idea. All of the “living” spaces are going to be in that color scheme. The key to making this all work, is definitely proper preparations. We taped off everything in a schedule. We painted the ceiling first and then taped the edges to not get the wall paint on it. And then the trims, and the floors. Thankfully the weather was pretty good and things dried faster then expected. You can’t tape wet paint! Also, on Katie’s internet travels, she discovered the recommendation that you only let the paint sit on the tape for about 20 minutes. In the event anything is bleeding through, that’s how long you have. Nothing on the floor stayed put more then 20 minutes.

Just as a word of advice, the trim of the rooms is easily the most time consuming part. The moldings in a large part of the house are older, so they’re a bit detailed. Not complaining, but, it definitely adds to the time frame. Much like most things in life, paying attention to detail is key. Taping everything was rough, but, totally worth it to get the results.

Here’s the downstairs living room with the left window trim painted:

You will have to excuse the mess. In the midst of painting, we had to take a break to empty the entire contents of our storage unit. So on the upside, we were able to move a lot of stuff in this past weekend. Downside, we’ve had to move things around to paint and not get it on anything on our stuff.

While it’s taken a lot of hard work, and we’re still not done, we can really see progress! It’s pretty amazing how just some paint can change an entire room. To get the full effect of how things will look, we cut away part of the paper we put on the floor. Here is a peak of what everything should look like:

It’s not exactly professional, we can’t afford that kind of stuff, but, I don’t think it looks half bad. Now I’m even more excited to see what this looks like completed! This has been exhausting, but, I’ll sleep when I’m dead. Isn’t that the saying?

-Little Miss Improvement