Game Day

Last night I made the call to take down the blinds my parents used to cover the double sliding glass door. The blinds have been there for about 20 years and boy do they have the scars to prove it. I know my parents like them because they can control the amount of sun/privacy they let into the house, but I figured the were old and wouldn't match the new look at all, so David and I took them down. He patched the holes, and I picked out a few curtain options for my parents to choose from. I know they're not blinds, but my budget was wayyyy over spent to begin with. Personally, I prefer the option on the left because the blue in the border matches with all their existing blue decorations.

(sorry about the terrible photo quality)

You can see better detail of the curtains here and here.

But that was last night, and today was game day. My parents were driving home and the room still needed like three coats of paint. I started early by myself taping and cutting in, but by the early afternoon I had a troop of helpers (Dave, Twig and David). Together we managed to get all the paint down, fix some touch-ups where it got sloppy, put down fancy liners and reorganize the pantry (I forgot to take "after" pictures), and even take a lunch/the office break. Not bad.

the helpers at work

And, drum-roll please....... the final product!

Unfortunately we didn't have time to hang the curtain rod because the paint was still damp when my parents got back, but I think they were pretty pleased with the results anyway.

Just to remind you, here is a before and after comparison:

before

after

 Boom. Doesn't it look so clean, fresh, crisp, etc? I think so.



And finally, a few lessons from this project:

• If you think you might need to prime, you do. Twice.
• Buying paint samples might feel like a waste, but unless you're really confident in your color choice it's worth it. What originally felt like a waste of $6 ended up saving me a lot in wasted paint, time, energy, and ugly.
• Similarly, bring your inspiration pictures to the store with you.
• Buy the gallon. Because this room is basically only two walls and I only painted half of each with each color I went cheap and bought a quart. In the end I had to go back and get a gallon anyway, so I could have saved the price of the quart and the extra trip to the store if I had just gone with the gallon originally. 
• Projects are always more work that you think they will be. They will also take about twice as long as you expect. And cost three times as much.
• Parents like it when you do nice things.