First Steps of Real Progress

Well I have some great news... we finished painting our bedroom!  I am pretty sure that this took us way longer than it should have, but that's how the Keisers roll.  Ha.... get the pun?

Anyway... I chose the colors of the room, brown earthy colors.  To some, this may be boring, but for me our bedroom needs to be a place of sweet serenity with the type of jobs we have.  We love teaching, but sometimes at the end of the day, we are just fried!  The colors of the room were actually determined by our bedroom comforter set that we got as a wedding gift.  It's a dark brown comforter with touches of beige and sage green in it.  Getting that earthy feel?  I wanted to do something other than just painting the four walls all the same boring neutral color, so I got my heart set on an accent wall.  Not quite as hard, but it requires a little more time and patience for the taping, and some more money for additional color of paint.  We decided on Gobi Desert walls, Belgian Sweet accent wall, and toasted marshmallow trim.  In man terms: beige, brown, and cream. 

Painting the accent wall

This is what we had to work with:

The Before (Like that unshowered deer in the headlights look?)

 Before we could begin the painting we had to take care of a couple things:

1. Take the old sconces off, AFTER spending 20minutes finding the right switch in the circuit breaker that turned off the electric to the master bedroom. (This communication ordeal between Brendan and I was cause for a glass of wine. Note: this is an important detail, stay tuned.)

B unscrewing the sconce from the wall.

So cool! You can see the history of the room underneath: blue paint, striped vine wallpaper, plaster walls.

2. Spackling holes and imperfections.

How To's from Black and Decker Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair

Awesome spackle that goes on pink and dries white, so you know it's ready to be sanded down.

Using the techniques Brendan read about.

Wet and Pink

Dry and white

3. Priming over the dark blue paint with Kilz oil-based primer to seal the painted wallpaper from the previous owner.

Motion shot

This was after 3 glasses of wine. (foreshadowing)

Looks like we need another coat!

4. Second thoughts.  After the delicious wine's effects had worn off, I began to have second thoughts about my impulsive decision to just paint everything (and anything). The painting was fun and went by fast, but here are the bloopers:

Why didn't we completely take these off the wall!?!

I found the page explaining how to disconnect the wires from the sconce, but Brendan read it because we know I don't have the patience to. 

As if these weren't hard enough to remove from the previous coats of paint before us, I added a thick primer!  Again, what was I thinking!?!  Brendan spent an hour trying to take these off the wall, one set probably installed when the house was built 80 years ago.  B then sanded them all down, spackled, sanded again, and re-primed.

Lesson learned: drink after the work is done, or just drink and don't do the work. ; )  

5. Time to officially start painting!

Starting the trim

Walls and trim finished

Catching the action on video...

I had no idea..

I think the paint fumes are getting to me.

Why does my shadow look sexy and I look like an idiot?

Overall, I had a great time painting the bedroom.  This was Brendan's first room he ever painted, so he learned a lot.  It was great to teach him some of the ropes, while learning a lot from each other.  These words may have crossed my lips at one point though, "Dear God, My patience will get me into Heaven, right?  This is my golden ticket, right?"  

Things we learned:

• I hate doing trim, but love painting overall.  Brendan hates taping, painting, cleaning up, but loves... uh, loves... the finished product!
• Bren is awesome at researching tips and quick fixes.  He can walk me through everything and seems to know what all the experts say.
• I hate reading and researching, but I have the confidence to attack each little project with B's guidance and some common sense (usually).

We joked a lot, had some heated, frustrated moments, but every inch of that room is filled with detailed attention and love.  The room isn't perfect, but it's ours. (Best Corny Comment Award Nominee) 

Drum roll please....

Accent wall and regular wall prior to tape removal.

Finished walls after all of the tape was removed the next day.

Interior walls, door to the hallway

Closet door and hallway door

Sorry that some of the photos are dark, due to the lack of lighting in the room currently.  Furniture was delivered Friday, and Brendan will update with that post and pictures of the bedroom furniture in the newly painted room.  It looks sharp and I can't wait to start decorating it!

Total project time: 2 weeks (so far)

*Please note, any possible innuendos are unintended. (At least this time.)