Afters

And, now, the long-awaited after pictures. I'm really pleased with how it all turned out. It's warmer, cozier, more welcoming. I'm tired, sore, and earned a few mysterious bruises, but hey!--I didn't have to write a check for $5000 to the painter-guy.

The Scary Part

I decided to start with the easy parts--the places I could reach with my husband's 9-ft ladder. That got me pretty far, but didn't do the whole job. So, once that much was done, my husband rented me a scaffold and a beam to use with one of his ladders so that I could work on the wall above the stair case. Here's what I was working on:

The bad part about the scaffold is that it wasn't tall enough, so you see that step stool up there? I had to stand up on it to reach the very top. It wasn't toooo bad when I was in the center of the scaffold, but getting close to the edges made my stomach feel really funny.

Yes, I had to walk out on that thing. And, yes, it shook. A little. But a little feels like a lot when you're about twelve feet above the floor. I just kept telling myself, "$5000, $5000, . . . "

The afters are coming next week.

Befores

OK, here are the befores. I didn't give you every angle, and it's not like it looks awful or anything, but you have to admit that it's kinda blah. The walls are so light that they blend right into the ceiling. Plus there's very little contrast between the walls and the white trim. It's just not very warm and inviting.

Summer 2010 DIY Project #2

I told you we were do-it-yourself-ers. I also told you that we follow a pattern:

1. Decide to have something done.

2. Get a professional estimate.

3. Be shocked at the exorbitantly high quoted price.

4. Decide to do it ourselves.

Well, we did it again.

When we built our house about seven years ago, by the time we got to the painting stage I was too stressed out to choose paint colors. So, I took the safe way out. I chose a nice beige, which we used throughout the whole house.

Now, the beige did its job. It covered the walls, let us move in, and matched all our stuff. However, it didn't take long for us to become bored with the lack of color. So for a couple of years, I'd choose one room each summer to paint. Then came classes at Ole Miss, comprehensive exams, and dissertation writing. The painting was put on hold.

But this year, we said, "It's time!" We really wanted to paint the main living area of our house. Our kitchen and living room are connected in such a way that you can't paint one without painting the other, and you can see the upstairs sitting room from downstairs, so it probably should be painted too, we decided. The problem? Vaulted ceilings. About 18 feet tall in places.

We'd painted the whole house ourselves when we first built, but it's a lot different painting with no flooring down. Then, you can nail blocks of wood right into the floor to brace ladders. Plus, there's no furniture to spill paint on and no stuff on the wall to take down.

So, although I'd done the other repainting, I suggested that we get an estimate for this job. My husband agreed. And so we did.

We called the paint store and got the name of a painter to call. We called him. He came. The verdict? $5000. Yes, that's right. $5000. Plus, he said it would take him and his assistant two weeks to do the job. Two weeks? Really? I didn't want two strange guys hanging around my house for two weeks!

Soooooo . . . . guess who decided that she could do this job? Right again. Me.

[To be continued . . .]