Out with 8. In with 2

We have lived in our “new” house for five years now.  I’m finally getting curtains up in the master bedroom.  The living room has curtains, but they need to change because I don’t like them very much.  That’s another post for later.

When we moved in, the basement had eight different colors of paint on the walls.  No, I’m not exaggerating. Each wall is divided by a chair rail.  Each wall had a different color above and below the rail.  One wall is Pepto Bismal pink (actual pepto may have been more muted) and bright green- think of the mascara bottle colors. Wall number two was yellow and sky blue.  Number 3, aqua green and Barney purple. The final wall to round out the fun is Hokie orange and dark blue.

We have know from day one we were going to repaint, but the task was daunting.  We moved a LOT of stuff into the base and that would have to be moved.  Some of the piles hadn’t been touched in five years (sad, I know).  It is a good time to clean things out and refresh the space.  So last night, we dove in.

We knew primer would be necessary due to the bright, dark, and deep colors.  We started with the pink and green wall.  Furniture was moved. Old toys sorted out. Trim was taped with the blue tape. Drop clothes were dropped.  Primer cans were opened.  The work began.  Mike and I began with the trimming part of the paint and after we had completed a wall and a half, the boys began to roll.  The initial coat went well and we were making really good progress.  Then we hit the stairwell. Progress slowed to a crawl!

Do you realize how many nooks and corners are in a stairwell?  The sides of the steps - those little triangles- needed to be painted. The walls on both sides and part of the ceiling needed to be redone.  While I worked on trimming the stairs, the guys re-rolled the pink and green wall and touched up the yellow and blue wall (with the stairs).  At one point, there were three of us standing on the stairs painting with rollers and brushes.  I have the paint in my hair to prove it!

After four+ hours of painting, trimming and rolling, two walls are primed.  Now we need to  decide on a paint color and whether or not we want to paint one color above the chair rail and a different color below the rail on all four walls, so two colors - not eight. We knew this was going to be a big job and it has turned out to be bigger than expected.  The pink wall took three coats of primer to cover well, and we figure the Barney purple wall may require the same.  We will take it a step at a time and eventually it will be completed.