Painting Progress

As Leslie had said a little while ago, we're trying to get the three bedrooms (besides our bedroom, which is already done) upstairs painted before Thanksgiving. We've been working hard at it and the fantastic news is that we're done! This is why we didn't post on Friday... so hopefully you'll forgive us.

We started in last Saturday morning and managed to get two coats of ceiling paint on both of the smaller bedrooms. We also got some samples up and figured out what colours we would be using for sure. That was about all we got done that day since we also had to run a few errands and had game night with some friends that evening too.

Sunday was pretty productive. We got both coats on the ceiling finished in the big bedroom and got a coat of paint on the walls of both of the two smaller bedrooms, plus a coat of primer on the smallest room. Then on Monday we put the second coat on the smallest bedroom (one of three done!). Leslie even got a coat of white paint in that closet, which actually makes it look a ton better. I don't think I realized how much different some white paint could make a closet look.

Starting the trim in one of the closets

Then on Tuesday Leslie finished that closet off with a second coat and got a first coat on in another closet. We also got a coat on the walls in the largest bedroom. On Wednesday we were able to get a second coat on both bedrooms, which finished off the large bedroom, but the second bedroom needed just a bit more. The old colour was showing through a little on the edges, so we wanted to get another coat over those parts. I did that on Friday while Leslie did a second coat of closet paint. This meant that we had all three bedrooms done and two of the three closets done as of Friday night!

Small Bedroom

Medium Bedroom

Big Bedroom

One interesting thing that we did (unintentionally) was use a different brand of paint in each of the three bedrooms. We've been using a lot of Clark + Kensington from Ace, and they had a nice blue colour that we picked out for the largest bedroom. For the smallest bedroom we reused the blue/grey we had originally picked for downstairs but ended up not using (as written about here). This was Benjamin Moore Regal Select - basically Benjamin Moore's flagship product, and was their best until the newer Aura line. And, for the middle bedroom, Leslie found a Benjamin Moore colour she liked, but Ace didn't have the base to be able to make it. So, since she couldn't find a colour that would use the bases they had available, we decided to look elsewhere for yellow paint. Since there's a Lowe's very near to our house we stopped in there and got a sample. Leslie liked it so we ended up with Valspar paint thrown in the mix too.

How did they all do? Well, the C+K has always served us well. It provides good coverage, is nice to work with, and doesn't cost a fortune. We will use more of this for other painting jobs as they come up. The Benjamin Moore is... well... it costs a lot, but you get what you pay for. Simply, it's a joy to paint with. If it weren't so expensive we probably would have used it on everything. It's seriously good stuff. And finally, the Valspar. It was ok - coverage was adequate, the colour richness is good, and it went on pretty easily. Now, like I said, we had to go over parts of the room an extra time because the old colour was showing. I'm not sure that we can blame that on the paint since we picked a pretty light colour, but it is something to consider. I just don't think we'll be buying any more of this if we don't have to.

But anyway, we put some other finishing touches up in the bedrooms. We got new blinds up on the windows, put up smoke detectors, and replaced outlet / light switch covers. These rooms definitely look a lot more complete. Some of them don't really have any furniture in them... but they still look a lot more complete.

The cats wanted to help too

Since finishing up most of the painting, we spend the weekend running errands and putting up Christmas decorations. The house is really starting to look festive, but you'll have to wait for another post to see all that.

Also, we passed another significant milestone recently: over 5,000 views on the blog as of last week! So thanks for reading and keeping up with our lives. Hopefully we've been at least mildly entertaining. But unfortunately I think you'll probably be seeing less posts for the next few months. The holidays are nearly upon us, which means we'll be busy with celebrating, seeing family, going to parties, and all that other holiday stuff. It's also one of the busiest times for me at work, which means long hours, which means less time to work on the house or write about it. Don't worry, we'll still try to post. It just won't be the twice a week it's been. But I'm sure you understand.

So, until next time, thanks for reading and have a happy Thanksgiving!