Weekend plans

With two weeks left and counting we’re going to attempt to get the living room painted this weekend. This means we have to cover all the woodwork, clean up the chemical depot (i.e. living room), remove the awesome (read: hideous) track lighting, and of course pick out the colors. Before we paint we need to figure out a way to patch areas where the stripper removed layers of paint. This is largely around the door and window frames. When we started stripping we initially were attempting to do it with the trim in place which meant that while the stripper went on the sides of the wood it also went on the walls. In most cases it took the walls back down to plaster, so we figure mud is the way to go to even out the ridge. I’m not sure how well we’ll be able to successfully replicate multiple layers of paint with plaster, but otherwise we’ll have a ring around the window. The only thing we haven’t figured out is how to get the texture back. it’s not an applied texture or anything added to the paint, just the result of multiple layers of paint applied with a roller with a too-thick nap. I suppose like all of it, it will be a system of trail and error, but hopefully it goes quickly because I’d love to have the walls coated by the time we’re back at work on Monday. It won’t be quite the transformation that having the floors done will be, but I can imagine it will clean up the place significantly- if for no other reason that it will cover the line of dirt that indicates where all of their previous artwork hung (I use that term loosely judging from what was in the house when we saw it). My other motive is once the walls are painted we can attempt to rehang the trim, which I’m sure will be a daunting task in and of itself.

Clint will be participating in the weekend's activities as much as he can, around a quick poster he needs to churn out. He’s now officially allowed to help again, I required a hiatus from him in the staining process for one very important reason- his critical artist’s eye. We’ve discussed at length how when you work on something you become intimate with every flaw, but when you see it as an outsider you only see the overall beauty. This was largely in regards to posters when he would want to burn an entire stack for a inconsistency I couldn’t detect, or other projects I worked on where all I could see was the one thing wrong with it. I knew going into the staining process that it wouldn’t be easy and there’s no way it would be perfect (although in retrospect I had no idea). Given that we typically cannot have a piece of his artwork within eyesight or he’ll silently deconstruct it, I didn’t want him to feel that way about the house- especially not the main room! Although I am a perfectionist my case is much more mild than his, and if anyone was going to pick apart every flaw I’d much rather it be me- it certainly couldn’t be both of us. It also helped along the way to have an objective opinion; especially one that I can trust to understand my pickiness and give me an honest opinion when I needed it, although in most cases he's so immensely appreciate and proud that he thinks it looks awesome no matter what. It's the equivalent of asking your mom to critically and honestly evaluate your work. It certainly helped too that at the end of each night he was willing to stand in the room and sufficiently ooh and ahh. Of course this was the result of me yelling up the stairs "COME OOH AND AHH AT THE TRIM!." Subtle, I know, but he was a quick study and understood his duty, and performed the role well. Then my chest would puff up just a little, but we're saving the full-blown proud peacock dance until it's all done.