Home Ownership

Is such a blessing.  I am not being the least bit sarcastic when I say this.

Home improvements, however, suck.  Or I suck at doing them.  Maybe I just suck at painting.  But it feels like this process is taking forrrreeevvvverrrrr.

We took possession of the house last Friday.  Quickly we picked up paint and supplies and made the plan to spruce up the place.  I’m not a fan of white walls; I like a little color in my home.  And hey- the walls needed painting anyway.  We went to work.

Six days later: we are still at it.  Lawdy.  Painting 10 foot ceilings are, excuse me, a Bitch.

The stairwell?  Fugetabout it.  I have no idea how that one is happening.  #OutSourceIt   Or maybe Mr. Shenanigans will harness his old Ranger powers and rappel down the wall and make it work. I’d actually really like to see that happen.

I usually paint my interior beige or light brown or taupe- whatever color you want to call it. Then a pop of color in the living room and kitchen.  As you may remember, I’ve been lamenting about the brown of the Arizona desert.  So I couldn’t bring myself to do brown (again) on the inside.

We went with a soft grey.  I like it.

I think.

I guess I better since we’ve painted 80% of the house this color, right?  Fingers crossed it looks good with the furniture.  If it doesn’t, I’m more inclined to buy new furniture before I change the paint.  Yes, I’m that over painting at this point that spending $10K on furniture is a better idea than $300 on new paint.

The kids helped.  Er.  Sorta.  They were only interested in their rooms and only for about 5 minutes.  It wasn’t a lot, and frankly, they just got in the way, so I didn’t mind when they suddenly remembered homework they needed to do!  Seth likes to roll and actually did a pretty good job.   Isn’t he the cutest little helper?

The GREAT news:  I am almost done.  Five bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a family room, a loft, and a kitchen are all painted.  Holy wow that was a lot of work.  My Dad has been a rock star working with me every day to get this done.  If you don’t have a retiree at your disposal, I suggest you adopt one!  They are the best.  Seriously.

The BAD news:  3 bathrooms and miles of baseboards await my brush.  And I may never be the same color again.  My hair, teeth (yep), and skin are covered in shades of grey, red, blue, burnt orange (Hook Em!) and green.  I feel like a bag of Skittles.  I turned my bath water grey yesterday.  It was weirdly gross and fascinating at the same time.

I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve been to Lowe’s and Home Depot and Ace Hardware.  Because this town is clearly big enough for three home improvement stores.

Shenanigans is not amused. Do not wear orange to home improvement store.

Once the painting is finished (tomorrow I hope) we start the process of actually moving the furniture, boxes, and go-zillion articles of clothing into the house.  Who’s idea was it to have four kids and let them have all this stuff?  Oh yeah…. I guess that would be me.  I fear this move my swallow me whole. 

Pray for me.  I am not being the least bit sarcastic when I say this.

What is your favorite part about moving into a new home?  Do you like to paint or do home improvement projects?  Do you give Martha Stewart a run for her money?