Painting Checklist

   The word of the day is progress!  I must say, we worked our tails off today but we kicked butt.  The room that was formerly a wanna-be Starry Night knock off with bright blue swirled paint and yellow accent walls (painted over wallpaper, no less) is now a beautiful gray.  Elijah’s bedroom with lilac wallpaper borders that were probably hung before he was born and alternating pastel colored walls is now a lovely neutral tan.  And the list goes on.  We knocked out the living area, two of the three bedrooms, the hallway, kitchen, and the bathroom and gee golly are we tired.  We got most of the wallpaper down last night so we started today feeling great with a good amount already under our belts.  Even so, every room needed to be taped out, spackled, sanded, cut (edges and corners painted), and rolled and all the trim needed to be painted, as well as the majority of the doors and several ceilings.  The to-do list, as you can imagine, was pretty extensive but things are coming along and the ball is rolling!  What I really want to convey today is a clear picture of what you need and what to expect when you start a painting project.  I looked through our receipts from the past few days and was somewhat surprised at how much it takes to get a job done correctly.  Here’s a few of the products we bought:

To remove wallpaper:

Garden Sprayer and Spray Bottles (to distribute wallpaper remover)

-“Paper Tiger” wallpaper removal tool

-Dif wallpaper remover

-Steamer

-Sponges (to remove ALL wallpaper glue- this is a VERY important step!)

-Buckets

To Spackle, Sand and Prep

-Trowels

-Spackle/Joint Compound

-Painting Tape

-Caulk

-Sanding Blocks

To Paint

-Drop Cloths

-Trim Brush/Cutting Brush

-Roller Frames

-Rollers

-Long Roller Poles (so you’re not going up and down your ladder constantly)

-Trays

-Tray Liners

-Paint (I’m even more of a fan of the good stuff today than I was yesterday- we only had to use one coat in a lot of areas because we went with Ben Moore Aura paint!)

    That’s not to mention other expenses like cleaning supplies and trash bags or equipment like ladders.  I’ll tell you what- it all starts to add up!  There were seven of us working all day today (14+hours), the majority of which paint for a living.  As professionals, we were able to knock out a huge chunk of work, but the pace we were moving at is only achieved by years of experience.  I’m not looking to discourage you from a do-it-yourself project, only making sure you understand what it will require of you.  If you have the time to learn painting techniques and complete the project and the money to buy the right supplies, more power to you!  We want to be a resource you can count on to help you accomplish whatever you can dream up.  The worst thing you can do, however, is go into a project ill equipped and that’s what we want to help you avoid.  If you’re not interested in investing in the tools required for your paint job or you don’t have the energy to tackle it, hire a professional. 

    All that being said, we’re finishing up our painting and starting to decorate tomorrow.  I’m beyond excited about it.  I’ve got some good stuff coming for you on room layouts, controlling the flow of traffic in your house and other design tips so stay tuned.