I don't have a torch, but I will give you my paintbrush

So I have finished painting. The shelves are finished, one of the white walls is re-done b/c we had to get the hole my brother punched in it patched. I slept down there last night to see if I could handle it, it was great ! There's still a few touch-ups to do when it comes to paint... but guess who's doing them ? My mom.
I primered the entire room, 2 coats of white, 2 coats of blue, and did the shelves. I did pretty much everything... except the ceiling. We're partners so she's doing the ceiling the white faces of the shelves and the few touch-ups that need to be done (mostly in the corners). I'm still SUPER excited that the painting is pretty much finished !!

The difference in the color is due to the wet paint vs the dry paint

close up !

There's still a few things that need to be done though ...

install a new base board heater

covers for the switches

Trim for the doors & window sill

aaaand of course the floor !

I hate shelves.

So my last object to tackle before the paint can go away is the shelves.
I spent 4 hours on them today, and 4.5 a couple of days ago. They're extremely hard to paint, and the fact that I chose to paint them 2 different colors wasn't a great idea.
They're not done yet, so I'll put some pictures on when I'm finished but I just gotta say...
I hate shelves.

And now we wait.

So today I went downstairs and painted a second coat on the blue wall, I'm really really really pleased w/ the color. The 2nd coat really darkens it considering how much primer showed through w/ only 1 coat.
I then started painting the white, doing 2 of the 3 walls that need to be done. The 3rd aah well it's got shelves that still have stuff on them so they'll just have to wait for another day ! I'm pretty sure the white will need 2 coats as well, which kinda sucks.
I'm not feeling well today, and therefore didn't do the hand work w/ the small brush that's needed for the ceiling lines... but I have an excuse (other than feeling ill)
Today I ran out of painter's tape.

Peace.

Do you realize how hard it is to painter's tape a circle ?

Well I'll tell you it's pretty damn challenging !

In the 2 hours I was home today I beatled downstairs w/ my painting stuff and a mug of tea and began to work. I taped out my peace sign which took about half an hour, 45 minutes. Then I painted ! Painted around the peace sign, leaving the outline white. I'm happy w/ how it turned out.. although it's not finished yet. 2nd coat tomorrow !

Before I could begin to tape out my design I had to cover all the windows w/ black paper (that's just what we had lying around... large quantities of black paper)

Another member of our team, Tracy the tracer !

Aaah here's Frederico, our lovely fan !

The final product !!!

Day 2 1/2

Today I felt like Debbie Travis, minus the TV camera's and the national renouncement.
As soon as I could I headed downstairs to my canvas and began to work ! Today I painted the main wall a medium blue, w/ a "white space" destined to become a peace sign. I felt great, I put my iPod into my ears and jammed to some Rise Against while painting my favorite colour. I felt like the woman who is on her own in a shitty little apartment but who is determined to make it her own, make it beautiful. I felt wreckless and empowered but I still covered everything w/ painter's tape to make sure nothing got damaged.
Yesterday when I wasn't here my darling mother painted... the ceiling ! It's now a nice white, although it still doesn't look too great considering the many holes and patches. Oh well, we can't all have a sturdy mark-proof house !


The wall before being painted, notice the box !



Starting to paint around the edges, don't worry it dries darker !



What is life if you don't have fun ?
It's a competition.




I painted the square white once I finished the rest of the blue. I definetly love the white, it's much better than primer ! I just went downstairs to try and tape out my peace sign w/ the help of my mom's projecter but did you know painter's tape will not stick to the wall if the wall is extremely cold ? yeah me either, 'till I got half-way through my peace sign and it fell off.
Oh well, you win some you lose some and hopefully you learn about 'em all !

Day 1, a new day, a new face.

Today my mom and I started renovating my brother's room, a long over-due project. Now this room has a history, the people that owned it before us used it as an aviary. When we moved into this house I couldn't help but to yell ''SHOTEE !" for the room but to no avail, and my sister claimed it.

When my sister moved out, "SHOTEE !" but to no avail, my brother claimed it.

Now under my brother's care this almost-there-working room fell into disrepair, mould prospered and marijuana fumes embedded. Garbage piled up and the sunshine died. My brother's room became disgusting, he was way too lazy to do anything in the way of keeping it clean. Now my brother's turned 18 and has dropped out of school and is no longer living w/ us... semi-forcfully.

So today my mother and I began renovating in anticipation of the exchange students arriving next month. We piled all of his stuff that he's left in the middle of the room so we could begin to paint, although we had to sort through all his crap... trying to figure out what was garbage and what was not.

We also went to Home Hardware and picked out paint colors, and bought primer. Blue, purple and white. It's going to be great. And maybe one day it will be my room =]

Paintin' away, gotta love paint fasion. I primered that entire room by myself, pree proud.

oh.. btw ; paint thinner does a real number on your pores.

Aaah, our lovely shop vac Deborah. Now don't diss Deborah, she's pretty great. W/out her this project of renovation would be almost impossible. She's my right-hand gal.

She sucks, she blows,

She gets laid in closets

She only gets used in dirty places

and most importantly....

she doesn't care that I'm dirty, it give her something to do ;)

All of my brother's crap piled in the center, that's what happens when you move out and leave your stuff.

So now we all know how my brother really broke his hand.

Why couldn't you have punched something that didn't matter ... jerk ?

No, he's not really an artist but we do have a projector that makes tracing pretty easy. It's a shame this dragon's gotta go... you can still see it a bit through the primer but after tomorrow's second coat... it'll be gone.

So my back hurts, and my arms are pretty tired but day 1 has gone well. Another coat of primer then it's on to the real paint ! More pictures to come !!

I'm surprised sore I am... I can't imagine how I'll be after we install the hardwood floor...