Paint Trials

I have a few goals to get through before the baby comes. Brian and I had a very productive weekend in terms of these goals. We painted our bathroom and the baby's room. Bathroom- looks great, a much needed improvement to the previously bland yellow walls. Baby's room- umm better, but not great. It is no longer a dark green cave. I would say it is now a neon green cave with one beautifully brown wall.

We have now painted the family room, living room, kitchen, stairwell/hallway, master bedroom, master bathroom, and baby's room. We have used three different brands of paint, painted six rooms, and only used four basic colors: green, brown, blue, and orange. Aside from re-painting the baby's neon room, I think I am content with the rest of the colors in the house. Though the downstairs bathroom is a nice color, it is an old paint job and may need to be fixed soon!

During the last few months of painting experiments I have learned:
1. Always use a drop cloth
2. If you are picky about a precise shade, get the little tester cans and see what a big swatch looks like.
3. Tape everything off you can and press the tape down hard with your nail.
4. Buy a tester of trim colored paint so you can fix ceiling and trim bumps with the roller.
5. Paints with a glossy appearance may look nice, but they are the hardest to roll and you can ALWAYS see where you touched up the paint. The flatest/cheapest paints may look cool and modern but they marks the easiest and the marks will not come off. Go for an in between. All touch ups blend in very nicely on semi flat or eggshell finishes.
6. Finishes vary brand to brand, so look at the samples and get the finish down from what you think you want. The samples are less shiny in the store and way more shiny on your walls.

Behr Paint in Satin (Master Bath blues) - thick, shiny, harder to roll, shows brush strokes veeery well, good thick coverage but paint is so thick you have to be careful to get down in the grooves.
Glidden Paint in Satin (Baby's room brown & green) - thinner, semi shiny, easy to roll, easy to paint with a brush, good coverage goes on smooth, beware of drips.
Valspar Satin, Eggshell, and Flat (Master bedroom blues & grays) - My fave is the "flat" finish which is on all but the stripped wall is not fully "flat" in finish, medium thickness, medium easiness in rolling, easy to paint with a brush, great coverage.

In the end I will get Glidden for any future jobs because I think it is a little cheaper than Valspar.

But as I am hugely cheap, I am using the left over neon green paint and mixing it with other left over brown paints to make a darker color for the baby's room. I'm sure that professional painters would be horrified a the thought. But the Glidden paint covered so quickly without a second coat that I have plenty of paint left over for another round!

If it is successful... pictures will follow.

Goodbye Grandpas

September thus far has been a very very busy month for me. Sadly, Brian and I each have had a Grandpa pass away this month. Both grandparents were in poor heath and so it wasn't un-expected. But that doesn't take away the sadness from missing them.
I'm sure my sister will read this and laugh. I have a way of attending funerals and not crying through the whole thing, whereas I'm sure Heidi could attend a complete stranger's funeral and use a whole box of tissues. But just because I can get through two funerals with the use of one tissue doesn't mean I'm not sad and don't miss them. ;-) I think that having an eternal perspective helps me not be super super sad because I know. I know that families can be together forever. Though it is sad that I cannot see and talk to my grandpas (Brian and I have no more living grandpas!), I have so much more joy with the knowledge that I can see them again and spend the rest of eternity with them as a family. What is sad about that!

On the plus side, I got to see both my families!! For the last few months I've been feeling like Georgia is on the other side of the world from Oregon, and I had such a big desire to see my family again one more time before the baby comes. I don't know why. I just wanted to see them. I am so lucky that I was able to attend both funerals and even get to see all of Brian's extended family. I find such comfort in having family around, and feeling the love that is present when everyone gets together. Both sides of my family have this quality about them. Even though I was only able to stay a day in Colorado, visiting with Brian's whole family, the love and support that is there feels exactly like it does in my own family. I am so lucky.

This is my Grandpa Earl Asmussen last Christmas

This is Brian's Grandpa Pony Saponas a few years ago.
(I stole this from Scott's website, I don't have any pics of him on this computer.)

And this is me, two weeks ago. 8 weeks to go.