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Painting is Like Knitting, Only Not as Much Fun

We have a big house on the outskirts of Seattle, and have lived here since 1996.  Almost 17 years, three kids, and lots of storage space adds up to a nightmare to get ready to sell.  DH is running his business in California, so I am here trying to muddle through the job of getting rid of a bunch of stuff and then sprucing up what's left.

Which brings me to painting.  When this house was born in 1952, it apparently had dark, varnished, woodwork (maybe mahogany).  Sometime between then and when we moved in, some brilliant person painted it all with shiny, grey paint.  Ever since we've been here, we've been trying to cover that paint with white.  If you've ever tried this, you'd know it isn't easy.  Well, maybe if you're a professional painter it would be, but I certainly am not.  And painting trim usually gets to be my job.

At the moment, I'm trying again to cover a bunch of grey cabinets with white paint.  I painted some doors and touched up trim a few months ago and really wasn't happy with the way the flat doors came out.  YOU JUST CAN'T COVER THAT STINKIN' GRAY PAINT!  So this time I decided to be smart and watch U-Tube videos on painting trim.  They said you can paint a door in about 3 minutes.  That sounded good to me, since my average is probably an hour or so and then it usually looks crappy anyway.

The secret:  a little roller.  I went to the hardware store and bought one, some new paint, and a bunch of other stuff.  The doors I painted before look much better after getting the roller treatment.  The surfaces that haven't been painted white yet are being more stubborn.  They require multiple coats.  That's where we get to the painting is like knitting part.

I've painted for two days now, and I finally think I'm learning what works and what doesn't.  I have to do a lot of it over, but I finally seem to be on the right track.  This is what I do with knitting, too.  I usually have to rip out something in every project; I learn from that mistake and make a pretty nice finished object.  I guess this is just the way I do things.  It would be easier and much faster if I could do it right the first time.  Maybe someday!

Oh, and the painting makes my wrists hurt, too.


Comments

NadaLottaRanch said…
I laughed so hard when I read this! I actually stumbled across your blog today and love it! This one post especially speaks to me right now, nearing the end of repainting our own little kitchen...you're right...it's not as much fun as ANYTHING else but just as frustrating! UGH! I guess I better quit playing and get back to my own painting :(

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