Something funny happens when you’ve been painting seemingly nonstop for 10+ days: you start to look at other paint jobs with a critical eye.
Case in point: I was in the men’s room at TobacCo yesterday and found myself mentally critiquing the paint job. They did crappy work on the trim, I observed. The brushstrokes weren’t blended in very well, and they missed a spot down by the baseboard.
I’d better avoid art museums for awhile. I’d hate to criticize Van Gogh.
Last night, I finished painting. We wanted to complete the bedrooms, living room, and basement before moving in. Missions accomplished. There are still two bathrooms, a laundry room, and a hallway, not to mention some edging and touch-up work. But those will be easy in comparison and we can take our time.
Thank god it’s done. I feel physically spent. My arms and wrist are sore, I’ve lost sensation in my thumb, and curling my fingers is painful. Clearly, I’ve been gripping rollers and brushes so long, my hands are morphing into an unnatural shape. Then there are the late nights. I’m used to coming home from work and plopping down in my easy chair for a few hours before heading to bed. These past two weeks, I didn’t get back to the apartment until after I’d normally be asleep. Things went a little bit faster after I stopped using tape (thanks to a certain friend who commented “taping is for rookies”). She’s right, though. Even Tara never bothered taping around the windows, doors, and baseboards. That would have added hours of prep work.
I’m pretty happy with how most of the rooms turned out. Tara had a vision for the living room, so I let her run with it. It’s much more calming and soothing—I daresay, elegant—than our bright orange Rapid City walls.
Without a doubt, the basement was the most challenging room. For starters, just navigating down there was tricky. It was where we dumped all the stuff we carted over, so those boxes had to be moved away from the walls to create aisles.
Then, of course, there was the issue of color. My idea for a brick red wasn’t cutting it, so Tara suggested sage green. Great! Only then, it took four tries to find a shade we were happy with. I actually painted the whole room in a shade of green that ended up looking too institutional, like a 1970s psychiatric hospital. We didn’t want to constantly look over our shoulders to see if Nurse Ratched was approaching, so I started over from scratch. Finally, we settled on Mountain Greenery. It’s less sage-y than we’d expected, but this is a daylight basement with a slider that opens to the backyard. I like how it ties in with all the green back there.
Tonight, we’ve decided to give ourselves a much-needed break. We have been on the go practically nonstop for two weeks, so a laid-back night in the apartment, one last time for old time’s sake, with take-out BBQ and wine sounds heavenly. Otherwise, we’re on track to move in on Saturday. Tomorrow at noon, I’ll disconnect the internet and run into Janesville for new equipment. Then we grab the U-Haul Saturday morning and wait for two paid laborers to move the heavy stuff.
There’s just one small hitch. It’s Thursday, which means it’s snowing. It just started a little while ago, but they’re predicting 4-7″ overnight. Luckily, it’s not happening 24 hours later. The roads may be a little slick in spots Saturday morning, but I’m sure we’ll be able to navigate the truck just fine.
I might have to fire up the heated driveway tomorrow. And/or shovel. Tara suggested gassing up the snow blower, which might not be a bad idea if we get the higher end of what they’re forecasting.
Last post from the apartment. See you on the other side!
Mark My Words 
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