With the vigor of ten men, Josh, Hil and I painted two coats of primer over our dark green walls and two coats of Ralph Lauren’s ‘oatmeal.’ The result is the reduction of the dark light that used to illuminate our cave-like living room. The wood accents now ‘pop’ and the ceiling beams a bright white versus the drab green that some genius decided to paint it. We can’t figure out who in their right mind decided olive green from the base of the floor to the ceiling was a great idea. “They” also did a poor job of taping off the molding so little bits of green still pop out in random places. It took a lot to tame the wild beast that was green paint but now the living room looks fresh and bright.

The entire operation began Saturday at 8am and ended at 7pm. With only a few breaks for food (bad food I might add, pizza, an obligatory salad, taquitos, and ice cream sandwiches) this project took eleven back breaking hours. Josh borrowed a fancy machine that feeds the paint through the roller which is suppose to be easy and fast. It was fast and a nice alternative to painting the ceiling by hand but it took a 1/2 hour to clean the machine each time you needed to change colors.. We had three colors (primer, ceiling white, and oatmeal) so we only flushed it twice. The gadget was not worth the time it took to clean.

With our non-screened in windows wide open for ventilation we attracted quite a variety of bugs. They flew into the paint and were promptly painted into the decor. Hil tried to paint around one little bug but realized that his little legs were mercilessly trapped in wet latex. He was freed too late.

Painting all day would be considered sweat-equity and as the housing market here ebbs and flows we know it’s worth the effort to do it right. We even washed up and made it to a poker party at Katie’s. I opted to save my $10 buy-in and lounge around on the couch staring aimlessly at episodes of Discovery’s EARTH. I also ate a lot of grapes. It was a fun way to end the day.