No UFOs, but a house update

 So, yea...I've been a bad blogger. I've also been neglecting my quilting, so not much progress on my UFO list.  There's been some, but I'll catch you up another time. The big news is we bought a house.  We're now into our third weekend of painting.  Everything needs to be painted.  Everything.  


Here's our first room: This is Mr.Belfry's office.  It's kind of long and rectangular.  Originally the room had stripes running around it. The "white" color is actually a beige. You can see the difference up near the ceiling.

We sampled paint colors which was a lot of fun.  Lots like finger painting. There are three shades of blue, one turquoise, one white and two browns.  We picked the medium blue. 

Here's the in process shot.  This corner is opposite the door.  

While mama didn't raise people afraid of a little hard work, she did raise people with short arms.  The three upstairs rooms all have vaulted ceilings, so we're waiting on a taller ladder to finish up this room.  There's one or two small spots that need a second coat as well, and we need to replace the outlet covers.  

The second weekend we worked on our bedroom which will get a second coat tomorrow.  Pics forthcoming. 


Today we're working on the guest room which does not have vaulted ceilings (Thank God!).  It does however have to be washed.  Have you ever washed walls?  Not fun.  The previous owner sold scented candles.  We also now think this room hasn't been painted since the house was built in the early 50s.  


So the picture below is one wall....You're seeing about an 8 foot square. There's just the top of an outlet visible.  All those gray streaks are dirt and grime.  It's been washed three times already. It's been washed three times with the stuff from the hardware store that requires you wear gloves and long sleeves. 


We painted one wall as a test to see how well the paint will cover the grime.  We'll find out in about an hour when we head over.  Fortunately, we think there's only one other room with walls like this.  We've been using the paint + primer and it's covering really nicely, but we might have to break down and use a straight primer.  I hate them because they smell so noxious.  

My advice to you, if you're selling a house: Paint everything a nice neutral color.  Heck, just prime everything.  It will increase your sales price. We have stripes to paint over, one room that's royal blue, one room closet and hallway that are a dark golden tan, plus two rooms and a half bath that are just dirty.  There's a reason we got our house for almost $100K less than the original asking price.  

Well, off to the salt mines!  More updates later

Ann