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| Caramel Latte |
Out there in the blogosphere, it may have appeared that the author of this blog has been keeping a low profile over the past few days. Such a suspicion is accurate because I have been engaged in a grim, time-consuming human activity called decorating which is only slightly less onerous than grave digging.
The target for my endeavours has been our front room or lounge or sitting room - whatever you want to call it. Before the decorating begins there's the moving of furniture. I took most of the furniture out of the room but I was still left with two leather sofas which I placed on top of each other in the centre of the room. Of course there's also the carpet which needed to be protected from possible paint spills as we do not plan to replace it - just give it a damned good clean when the decorating is done.
Above the picture rail, I have painted the frieze areas and the ceiling almond white using brushes and rollers. Plenty of this almond white emulsion paint finished up on my hands. One substantial blob of it plopped into my right eye and a smaller blob landed on the end of my nose. When decorating I wear paint-splattered old clothes and trainers (American: sneakers) and I leave my nice wristwatch by our bed for obvious reasons. Yesterday, when I took an empty paint can out to our wheelie bin, our next door neighbour Tony grinned at my stylish apparel and asked,"What are you painting today Picasso?" Cheeky monkey!
The almond white went on top of barley white but the difference between these two colours is so slight that you can only really tell where you have painted in daylight. In electric light, the two colours appear to merge into one.
The walls have been easier in that I didn't have to balance on aluminium step ladders and also the new colour - caramel latte - is somewhat different from the previous wall colour. To get behind the central heating radiator, I used a long-armed roller which worked a treat and meant I didn't have to remove the radiator sending mucky water squirting everywhere.
The job isn't over yet. I still have to do the skirting boards, radiator, window ledge and the picture rail in white satin paint. Then time must be left for the paint to dry properly before I get the furniture back in place. As it happens, the two leather sofas which we have had for about twenty years will soon be replaced. We ordered two new "La-Z- Boy" sofas from a local department store before Christmas and they have now arrived in the warehouse earlier than expected. That is what sent me spiralling into a decorating frenzy.
When undertaking decorating projects, it used to be that I could bounce up and down like a tree frog but these days I have dicky knees and have to be careful when kneeling down or getting up again. I must always remember to use my foam rubber kneeling pads or face the consequences. Even so, I was hobbling uncomfortably when I strolled out at lunchtime today en route to the Oxfam shop where I put a shift in with no paint pots, rollers, rags , brushes or dust sheets in sight. But they were all waiting for me when I got home.
Nevertheless, as Scarlett O'Hara correctly stated - Tomorrow is another day.
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| Almond White |
I hope your new sofas will appreciate your hard work. Did you manage to finish the job without stepping in the paint tray (always a favourite trick of mine)?
ReplyDeleteNo this time Sue. How come stepping in paint trays and blobs of paint in your eyes never feature in these TV makeover programmes where transformation is almost magical and untroubled?
DeleteHas Shirley been helping or has she left all the fun to you?! :)
ReplyDeleteShe has been helping by keeping out of my way. Decorating brings out the demon in me. GrrrrrRRRRRRR!
DeleteA smarter man would have arranged to take the soon-to-be-replaced furniture to the Oxfam shop since the new sofas are ready to be moved in once the painter is finished. Is that not so, brother? (Just joking, of course.)
ReplyDeleteJUST JOKING???? JUST WINDING ME UP SIS!!! Errr...but you are probably right. I am a bit like Homer Simpson. Doh!
DeleteGlad it's you doing the painting and not me, Yorkie! In the heat we've been experiencing here over the past couple of weeks, I would've melted like an ice cream left out in the noon day sun!
ReplyDeleteMy days of renovating and painting house interiors are long gone...finished. I'd not be able to walk for a month. Take it steady and don't overdo things.
I know you will be pleased with the end result of your labour. :)
End result? You mean two dodgy knees and a walking style like Hopalong Cassidy?
DeleteYou have a complicated project. I did some painting this winter. My advice that I give to everybody is "Don't paint when you're 77"
ReplyDeleteBetter to paint the number 77 on a sheet of paper instead.
DeleteMy husband and I wallpapered one room together when we were first married and decided that it probably would be better if he did everything else by himself. I'm not saying who the problem child was. Not even if you beg. I provide the critical areas of moral support, old rags, and hearty meals, by the way, so don't be thinking I'm shirking!
ReplyDeleteGood for you for doing the hard work and letting your wife off the hook. Or did you have a choice?
I'm quite meticulous when it comes to decorating but Shirley's slap happy. Besides, she still works as a nurse so it made sense for me to tackle this project on my own.
DeleteWell, you know all about "The Big Switch" in my rooms last spring! It was a lot of work, even though I had a friend do all the painting for me, and an expert doing the wallpapering. But it was well worth it, and I am very happy with the outcome.
ReplyDeleteThe colours you have chosen look nice, very elegant. I am sure you and Shirley will be happy with your new Wohnzimmer (German for living room / front room / lounge / sitting room...).
Wohnzimmer? Sounds like a scary ride at a theme park. Getting your apartment decorated was clever - bringing other people in and you swanning about like a princess doling out commands.
DeleteUgh -- I hate wall painting. Bon courage. It's a good color combination, at least! (And painting behind the radiator -- you are certainly thorough. Many people just paint around them!)
ReplyDeleteSome radiators can be too tight against the wall but I have a useful gap and those long rollers are marvellous for this job Steve.
DeleteI feel your pain. We spent the best part of a week decorating our living room and hallway last year ahead of new carpet arriving. It feels like you spend the whole time camping out.
ReplyDeleteOne's entire home seems to become chaotic just by painting one room. Hopefully, I will be dead before Mrs Pudding starts nagging me to redecorate that room again.
DeleteOr as Bob Dylan said "Tomorrow is a long time" - which it might feel like at the end of it.
ReplyDeleteToday I feel less like a cripple. More glossing of woodwork tomorrow. I'd rather be on The Isle of Sheppey!
DeleteI love decorating, although these days I am a bit cautious dangling over the stairwell on one foot to reach those awkward parts. Living alone, I am always worried they'll find me with rigor mortis clutching a paintbrush!
ReplyDeleteWho the hell is Rigor Mortis? A penniless artist from eastern Europe? Did you pick him up in Tescos?
DeleteI fucking hate painting!
ReplyDeleteIt's the disruption I hate - the whole house in chaos.
DeleteIf it's not watercolours, its house interiors. What next? Sydney Harbour bridge?
ReplyDeleteIf it's not watercolours, its house interiors. What next? Sydney Harbour bridge?
ReplyDeleteI understand YP. Last year I completely overhauled three rooms in my house including rewiring one of them and then painted the conservatory wall for good measure. And then there were dozens of coats of paint on walls and ceilings in the (big) house my son is building. This year another two rooms will be attacked. Then I shall take a rest for another 10 years (or more if I can get away with it).
ReplyDelete