Slowly but surely...

I. AM. BEAT.

But there has been some progress!

After the priming marathon on Wednesday, my sweet sister-in-law Sara came out and helped me paint on Friday.  We got a huge chunk of the living room done and she even took on my least favorite part of painting - taking down the curtains and curtain rods. (Sadly enough people, we found out that the Southwestern curtains in the master bedroom were custom made.  Wow.)  Anyway, while Sara was doing all of that, I removed the doors from the living room cabinet unit and primed it.  Time came to go get my kids and Hudson had a fever and was not feeling so great.  I gave him some Tylenol and when Brian got home,  I went back out at the house.  I did a quick coat of white on the cabinets and rolled the top half of Reed's room.  My mom and I headed back out Saturday morning while my dad watched the boys.  (Thank goodness for babysitting!)  We painted and painted and painted. FOR 9 HOURS, YA'LL. We finished the living room, finished cutting in the top half of Reed's room, almost finished Hudson's room and did a faux finish treatment in the master bedroom.  Sunday consisted of church, lunch and then my mom and I went back out to paint while Brian stayed with the boys.  We worked about 3 hours finishing Hudson's room and putting another coat on the living room cabinets.  By this point I was so emotionally and physically exhausted that I knew I needed to quit. I think I'm going to take a break for a few days so I can get my energy back.  As of right now, I've been through 2 1/2 gallons of primer, and about 6 gallons of paint. Aaaaaannnnd, we have yet to touch either bathroom or the kitchen.  (We're getting a bid on how much it would cost for someone else to paint the kitchen cabinets.  If I have to sand, prime and paint all of those cabinets & doors... oh, I think I might literally lose my mind.)  So no pictures on this post, but I'll try to have some the next time...stay tuned!

I guess you could call it an update...

I spent 6 hours at the house today. Doing what, you ask? Painting and getting to see all the beautiful paint colors on the wall?

No.

I primed the paneling. All day. I used 2 gallons of primer - first, rolling it on. Then I used a cutting in brush on the baseboards, on the top molding and to get the primer in the paneling "cracks" (for lack of a better word). I used that little brush so much, my right thumb is still numb from holding it. :) I still need to prime the cabinets, the window and door trim and the doors themselves. I painted some swatches on the wall just because I thought it was only fair that I get to see some paint on the wall that I liked instead of white primer. It has certainly lightened up the house, and I think once it's done, it will feel really "homey". Here are a couple of pictures...

The paint color in the living area - I just had to see a little bit of it on the wall!

The next two are of the living room after primed - you can tell it will be a lot lighter and much better looking than the picture from this post.

As I mentioned before, I still need to prime all the cabinetry and trim...I'm tired just thinking about it.  (P.S. All the junk in the middle of the room isn't ours... just stuff that evidently was so trashy that the guy in the house before us saw no point in moving it.  At least I got some great barstools from the deal, so I guess it's worth it.)

Over to the right side in the next picture, you can see the blue and gray on the wall for Reed's space-themed bedroom.  (Brian has someone coming to build the fourth wall and that it should be done over the weekend.) 

I'm glad I got some work done today, but I'm ready for a little more progress.  Oh, and the bad news is that I painted a little swatch in the guest bathroom last time we were there to see how the wallpaper would react underneath.  When I checked it today, it had bubbled up in places, so I need help on the best way to remove it.  I've heard that fabric softener and water in a spray bottle works well on scored wallpaper.  Have any of you had experience with wallpaper and you can shed some light on the fastest/easiest/best way to take it down?

I think I have finally decided on paint colors.  I'm going to get a couple of the small sample things to make sure that I like the shades I picked out, but just wanted you all to know that I haven't died and painting will commence in a few days.  Painting would happen sooner if anyone wants to adopt my children. 

Seriously.  

(They eat a lot, though, so be prepared for that.)

Paint, paint and more paint

The thing that makes me the happiest is when If I get a super good deal on something or, the most Awesome of Awesomes, is when I get something for free!!!  So when I received the item below...

for FREE, it made my day.  With all the paint choices I have to make, I knew it would just be easier to have one of these.  I had seen on another decorating blog that a lady had bought one from the store for $10.  With all that we have going, that is plenty worth it to me to not have to bring home 85 little paint sample cards all the while hoping that they would work.  So I went to Home Depot today and inquired about the paint chip fan deck, the paint man gave me one and when I asked how much it was, he said it was no charge. WHAT?  You're giving it to me for free?  That's speaking my language, paint man!  

It's the little things in life, right?

Speaking of paint...

What paint colors do you have in your house that you love?  I have already decided on a neutral color for the living area, but I still want a pale grayish blue for the guest bath (nevermind about the green/brown color scheme...it was going to be a little much.  Not only will it be the boys' bathroom, but it has to be a bathroom for our guests and I don't it too be too "themey" or I'll tire of the decor way too quickly.) Does anyone have a blue that they love?  My next problem is our master bedroom.  This is our bedding (but not our bedroom):and we have all black furniture.  I painted our bedroom in our house now a gold/tan color.  It's fine, but I don't love it.  What I would really like to do is find an accent color to go with the black and gold. (In the picture, it looks more like black and tan, but the tan leans more towards a yellowy gold color.)  Anyway, I'd like to paint the walls something other than gold...ideas?  I am also trying to decide on my kitchen.  I bought these potholders and towels:They have red, robin's egg blue and a olivey green in them.  I love the color combo and I think it will be great with the black cabinets.  The countertops are pretty much the same beige as in the towels.  I have a red stand mixer and some other red accents along with a few robins egg blue things I plan to throw in.  Should I paint the kitchen backsplash something besides the neutral (a lighter brown color) or just let the red and blue accents pop?  I am also trying to decide on Hudson's room.  The picture below is of his bedding...
The bedding has chocolate brown, baby blue, turquoise, apple green, and tiny bits if black and yellow.  I like the color they have on the wall in this picture, but I think it's too bright.  When he moves from his crib into a big boy bed, I don't want to have to paint the room again.  Ideas?
 

Yay!

Not that Brian's pictures weren't peachy, but here's a little better idea of our house and the surroundings...

The house is empty and we're gearing up for work!  I went out to the house this morning and after doing another walk-through, I've decided that it's going to take roughly 500 gallons of paint and 4000 man hours to get all the walls, trim and cabinets painted.  :)  I took some more pictures so that you could all have a better idea of what we're working with.  After my parents and Cami saw the house this morning, they both told me that they were expecting a dump of a house and that they were pleasantly surprised.  I, in no way, meant to portray that the house was junky - it is not.  It's just a little dated. The house is well-built, well insulated and has great bones - it just needs a little facelift.  :)  On to the pictures...

This is the boys/guest bath.  I think I'm just going to paint right over the wallpaper - if it's been there for 25 years and hasn't peeled, it's stuck.  I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with this bathroom, but I have two SUPER cute green hooded towels with the boys' names on them in chocolate brown that I want to hang on hooks in there. Ideas or suggestions?

This is our bathroom vanity. 

Another view of our bathroom.  It has a great skylight, two separate closets and a toilet with a half wall.  

This is our bedroom.  Not much too look at, but the good news is that we get to keep the curtains. :)

A better view of the kitchen.  As you can see, it has a drop ceiling that I don't know really what to do with.  I had the suggestion to whitewash it, and I'm thinking that'll be a good idea... maybe even a drybrushing technique?  The best news of the day?  The guy that moved out left the barstools, so I'm going to paint those bad boys black and enjoy my FREE chairs, baby!!  
Hopefully the next picture that I post will be an "after" and not a "before"!  Well, off to buy paint and get to work!!