Paint paint everywhere

I started painting the guest room earlier this week. Tuesday I prepped the room and began cutting in around the corners. All was going fine until I impaled myself. I was standing on one foot stretching to reach a high spot, and when I put my left foot down, I felt searing pain. Lifting my foot up, I discovered a long thin piece of metal firmly implanted in the ball of my foot, just below the big toe. I pulled it out and hobbled and hopped down the stairs, hoping not to leave a bloody mess trailing me. Finally in the kitchen, I called out to DH while I doused my foot with hydrogen peroxide. DH determined that I stepped on a piece of broken paperclip. It hurt like a motherf***er. One bandaid with triple antibiotic ointment later I felt better.

Wednesday I finished the first coat of paint. While at Home Depot the other week, I decided to splurge and get the Wagner PaintMate Plus. This paint roller suctions paint from the can into a reservoir in the handle which distributes paint to the roller via a ratchet, much like a caulk gun. Painting goes a lot faster because you make so few stops to the paint can (or paint tray, as with a traditional roller). I ran out of paint just before I finished the room, so I decided to do a second coat on all the walls. I was afraid that the taupe color might bleed through the Water Garden color.

I finished the second coat on Thursday and started prepping B's room for paint. Since her room is a deep blood red and will be a very light blue, I need to prime. What fun! I started fighting a cold this week, no doubt brought on by the colds the little ones have and DH's 3 week long viral infection. I've tried to make myself useful this week while still taking it somewhat easy. That is why it has taken me three entire days to paint one room (not to mention the trim, which I still haven't painted).

Today I did manage to tape off the floors in the guest room so I can paint the trim. Perhaps I'll do that over the weekend. I also decided that I'd try to steam off some of the godawful wallpaper in A's bathroom. However, our wonderful steamer didn't work, so I need to use the powerful caustic cleaner to remove the hard water deposits in it.

And spending so much time in that bathroom helped me come to a few household realizations. First, there is no way I'm going to be able (nor do I now want) to remove all the damn wallpaper in the upstairs bathrooms. Second, the shower enclosure in A's bathroom is in such bad shape that I feel we have no choice but to remove it and go with a traditional shower curtain (and crescent rod, of course!). Third and finally, the people at Ace Hardware are wonderful and full of great information.

I'm accepting that I'm going to have to prime over the remainder of the wallpaper in A's bathroom with an oil-based primer with shellac; I'll likely just paint over the wallpaper in the girls' bathroom with this as well. I don't like it, but it'll be far easier to paint over the wallpaper than remove it. The shower enclosure is getting rusty in the corners, and the doors don't slide easily (and we've attempted to fix this), and the frame is all chewed up. The wonderful lady at Ace told me all about which primer to use in the bathroom. I'll be going back to her.

DH just arrived home from a few days away, so I must go.