Day 42 thru 45 - The (now) Infamous Painting Marathon

First, let me say... every time I think of how my friends bailed me out, I get a little emotional. I couldn't have done it without them, and I am deeply humbled that they bailed me out when I needed them the most. I will never be able to repay them. But I hope I can return the favor for each and every one of them, one day. 13 friends, in total, but not all at the same time! It's still a little house!

On Thursday night (day 42), I started to paint in the "sun room". For some reason, the house has seemed really dark. There was faux painting on the walls in both the dining room and the sun room. Not only are all the shades always drawn, it just seemed... small and dark. My co-worker and friend, Darin, came over to help me paint ceilings. Not something that I had really considered, but after discussion, I decided to get on the same page. Boy am I glad I did.

Ceiling mid-roll

The lovely faux wallpaper/paint

Here's the ceiling as we painted it...it's green. GREEN. As were the walls. And I understand that back in the day, you painted the ceilings a shade lighter than the wall color, but GREEN? In a matter of hours, the room lightened up appreciably. 

Finished

Look at the different this ceiling made!

 Painting probably increased the value and look of this house within hours. It went from dark and gloomy to light and "modern", I guess. I stayed neutral in all the rooms. In the sun room, I choose a color called "khaki shade". It made the room look bigger!

I tried to stay in the period, but honestly, the period colors were like.. Salmon and muted oranges.  I just couldn't do it! Just like I could NEVER paint this beautiful wood work.  So here are the colors we painted...2 coats, walls and ceilings, all within 3 full days.  As I said, the rotating crew of friend did an awesome job and allowed me to stay on schedule. Even Mike was shocked. I guess I like a challenge!!

Buh bye annoying leaves

Dining room:
Same faux painting, no stripes. I decided to paint this a muted gray/blue. It's a little more blue than gray, but in the full light, it does look very nice!





Front bedroom: I have no idea what color this room was, to be honest. It's now a nice cream called "steamed milk". (FYI... I warned my friends that they were subject to picture taking!)

Back bedroom: This was gray,and the ceiling was gray. Gray. Drab. Now it's a gray/violet color. Way more purple than I thought it would be, but again, there's no lighting and the blinds are old and down...

And finally, the hallway. I wish I had pictures of the unpainted, rough area on the wall. We all think it was, at one time, where the phone went and then someone plastered it in. OR... there was something really large hanging there and no one bothered to take it down to paint. But Javier and Nathan spent a really long time sanding and patching and making it beautiful. The hall is a light lavender gray. The lighting is bad, of course. But I'm just adding that to the list of things that will be changed, eventually.

Can sort of see the big patch area

Melissa who did a great job cleaning the massive amounts of dust!

Here are some random pictures. We painted close to 900 square feet (if not more) of living space in 3 days. Exhausting days! As everyone left on Sunday afternoon, the house really started to feel like mine. I can't even begin to explain it. I kept thinking "It's just paint on the walls" but even then... it's the beginning. I'm learning the sounds of the house and I like it. It's really comfortable.

Heidi edging and doing a great job!