trimmed

Our trim is being painted right now! When we bought our house we (I) had big DIY dreams of turning it into our special place. Painting, sanding, remodeling, decorating and making it our own were always on the docket.
Recently we tried to tackle one of those dreams and were quickly reminded that perhaps we aren't the greatest do-it-yourselfers after all, at least when it comes to painting trim. You see, I don't really have what they call a steady hand. I unfortunately did not inherit the left-handed artist gene that seems to have stopped with my dad...and therefore most things that involve straight lines (cutting, driving, painting, etc.) do not exactly come naturally to me. I have no problem accepting them as they are but when it comes to hundreds of feet of trim in a house that we will someday have to actually make presentable enough to sell to the next guy...well...then it matters.

And since the white trim my mostly only my dream...my hubby (with a somewhat steady hand but more importantly a resume that boasts a stint in the paint section at Home Depot) was none to thrilled to do it all himself. And do we blame him? No, not really. But, ever the sweetheart (or just lacking the guts to tell me no), he pushed our cart through Lowe's as I loaded it with primer, paint, rollers, sawhorses and crowbars (the reason for these will soon become apparent). $101.65 later we were on our way to live out his personal definition of hell on earth. Oh, did I forget to tell you he hates painting? Because he does. And did I forget to tell you we had just been at Lowe's the day before to purchase the third gallon of paint for the guest room because I still can't decide what color I like? Because yeah, we did that.

So, back home, hubby is convinced we can't paint the trim without removing it (the whole steady hand thing). We set up the sawhorses in the garage and after watching You-Tube videos about how to safely remove trim without breaking it, he got to work while I stood by (of course this is not the best arrangement but there wasn't a whole lot I could do at this point). 4 pieces in (which took foreverrrr, involved lots of grunting and frustration and seemed to make happy hubby into grumpy Gus), one large piece began to crack and wouldn't come off. At all. We began to realize that there was no way we could get a whole house-full of trim off without ruining both it and our marriage.

We sat on the floor and he admitted that he really doesn't want to paint all the trim nor does he know how and would be so much happier hiring someone else to do it. Not one to argue with the truth, I agreed. Luckily Nathan has a friend who owns a paint company so one quick call to him and Phinney Ridge Painters were scheduled to come out with an estimate in the coming weeks.

Until then, the guest room remained untouched, 4 pieces of trim laying on the floor, the bed and desk in disarray after being moved in order to fit into the small corners of the room and the walls empty of any hangings due to our paint the night before. We shut the door and without saying it, seemed to agree that it would be best we not revisit that near-disaster for a couple days.

Fast forward to Monday, we were given the estimate at a deep [friend] discount and it was decided that we would begin with the bottom floor of the house and see how far the painters could get in two days. We set a limit for ourselves and agreed that this would be phase one (the living area), phase two (the bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs) could come later after we've traveled a few of the trips set to happen this spring.

The exciting thing is it's HAPPENING! Our house, built only a few years ago, has been looked sadly dated due to its drab wooden trim. This little update is sure to bring much needed cheer to our happy home.

Not to mention we have to buckle down and start project #2: painting the kitchen cabinets white! Maybe we should go in for a few sessions of marital counseling before tackling that one though? Just brush up on loving one another through our least favorite projects maybe...I think I need to pack my vocabulary with the most encouraging of phrases so my sweet hubby will only be a little angry when I ask him to paint a few more straight lines for me:)