I finally got the chance to paint a wall and I am so excited I can’t stand it! The holidays afforded me not only the funds to redo my office/craft room, but also the time to actually do it. I honestly don’t know which is more valuable or rare. As I’ve mentioned before, I love a good project and right now this is the mother of all projects. I descended on the paint department in Lowes like a hawk at a prairie dog convention.

We had been staring at paint samples on our playroom wall for months, dreaming of the time when the brown paneling will either make it’s way elsewhere or be shrouded in a far more tolerable shade than glossy brown. Everyone tells us it’s good wood and I’m sure it is, but I don’t really want it there and Hubs dreams about ripping it off the wall, starting a bonfire in the front yard and laughing maniacally as the ashes rise toward the heavens. Yes, he hates it that much.

Anyway, we had a small can of blue that we thought we wanted, so we finally painted a test patch in the office. Thank goodness we did before I busted down the door to Lowes, because it was close, but not really what I wanted. There was a particular blue on our wall of paint chips that I’ve been crazy over for some time now and I managed to convince Hubs it had just enough extra whatever the other blue was lacking that our office needed. Well I must have been looking pretty darn good that day, because he said yes and I all but threw him and Miss O in the car right then and there. She loves a trip to Lowes to “see the colors.” Note for future spouse: My girl LOVES colors. She particularly likes the one I chose because every time she sees it, she points, squeals “BLUE!” and erupts in giggles.

Now I know almost nothing about paint beyond the fact that I have successfully painted a wall twice. Once to put a color on it and once to paint it back to white before I moved. That was about 10 years ago. There were two things I was sure of:

1) I really wasn’t sure I’d be able to put more than one or two coats into the job before my fatigue hit and my arms gave out, but I wanted to make sure that wall was good and COVERED.

2) I wanted to be able to clean the walls without damage if my tiny crafting buddy decided to color way outside the lines one day.

I am usually intimidated by needing to ask about these sorts of things, but I had zero problems talking to anyone who would help me rid the world of that depressing, peachy-brown wall. Lucky for me the gentleman working that day was not only not intimidating, he was personable, patient and extremely helpful. He convinced us to go with Valspar Reserve because it was supposed to give the best coverage and highest quality color in one coat with primer. He also suggested a semi-gloss for its ability to be scrubbed and because the room is in a low light basement, the semi-gloss would help with reflecting the light into the room. He mixed up a gallon, helped us find the right tools and I could have flown home I was so excited.

He did not steer us wrong.

Our office is 26 feet long by 10 feet wide, so we decide to do one half at a time. That allowed us to move the furniture into the center of the room and the boxes of books, project materials, décor, whatever onto the remaining surfaces. I decided to be slightly more responsible than usual and threw a tarp over the furniture and some of the carpet. I even taped the moldings and trim. It took less than an hour to move, tape and tarp.

As if the gift of simple agreement to this endeavor was not enough, Hubs scheduled a Daddy date for him and Miss O with one of our friends and his son, giving me two hours to myself to indulge in some of the best mommy time I’ve had in a long time. I pulled some CAKE and Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Vol 1. up on Spotify and got my paint on. I continued being a good girl and edged the walls before I got crazy with the rollers. I have no idea what compelled me to attempt to do this the right way.  We have a crazy little alcove shelf that I had to pay special attention to, so I wasn’t able to go the full warp speed I hoped for, but I knocked it out faster than I thought I would.

The walls are made from paneling with a thin indent in varying increments, so I was a little worried that the rollers wouldn’t be enough and I shuddered over the thought of brush painting each stripe. My savior at Lowes assured me this paint could handle it if I let the roller have enough paint to work with. He was so right! He warned me that I would need to load the roller up thicker than I would have thought and he’s right. That paint goes on with one pass and clings right to those stupid indents with no dripping. It was magical. The best part? You could barely tell I was painting down there. It smelled just as much as if Miss O were painting with her tempera paints. Just enough to know something’s there, but not enough to run for a gas mask.

I let it dry for two hours before I ventured back down to make sure I hadn’t made a horrible mistake. Nope. I AM IN LOVE. I can’t get to the rest of the room fast enough.

So here I sit, waiting for the rest of the room to dry, fiddling with my layout and finalizing my furniture and storage needs. I can’t stop thinking about how much I love this room now. Even Hubs likes it and says it’s nicer than it was (thank goodness!). I reset his space the way he likes it, with a couple of minor tweaks he’d been talking about doing for a while.

I just can’t wait to see how I’ll set up my new space. I want it to be lovely and all mostly my own so I will be happy and inspired when I work in it. I can tell you I have already been so much happier since I picked up that paint can and I do not plan on looking back.  More to come!

Just for the record  I have not in any way been compensated by Lowes or Valspar for singing their praises. They earned it the good old-fashioned way with me.