Painting: Plan E?

For weeks I had dreaded the "painting the living room" project. It loomed out in front of me, taunting me with its enormity. Prime, paint first coat, paint second coat. Three doors, an entire wall of built-ins, two windows, baseboard. Then up the stairs...risers, molding up the sides. The upstairs hallway with four doors and one window. Then the walls and ceilings in all of those areas (living room, stairs, upstairs hallway). Given the fact that the job was huge and (this is important) that we were short one painter (Kati is doing clinicals for her CNA training), would we even be able to finish it all in one week? 

As late as Sunday evening, painting the living room was the plan for this week of Ron's vacation. But as I sat there in my chair after watching Call the Midwife (for the last time, I might add, but that's another story...), my mind scrambled for another plan. 

What if...I began, thinking that Ron would be reluctant to rethink those plans. But guess what?! He was all ears! So we weighed all the pros and cons and talked over Plans B, C, D, and E and ended up with something we all felt we could live with. Whew!

THE NEW PLAN:

1) Paint Bekah's bedroom.

I know. What?! But last fall, when she was so inspired by our visit to Fresh Vintage by Amy in Lancaster, I had promised her that we'd repaint her room sometime soon ("soon" being a relative term around here). And this was a much smaller project.

For her entire life, the walls of her bedroom have been pink, even after a couple of updates. (The girl does not like change.) This time around, we're painting the walls Swiss Coffee and the woodwork Decorator White, both by Behr. This neutral color scheme will provide a blank canvas for her vintage treasures and the pops of color that she loves. 

2) Paint the living room/stairs/hall...in stages.

Whew! That is such a relief!

I am all for getting a project done and not dragging it out indefinitely whenever possible, but this seems so much more doable. It is a very workable solution. 

For this week, we're painting the built-ins only. This involves removing every.single.book. from the shelves, priming, and two coats of paint. We won't replace the books for at least a week after the new paint is on, allowing plenty of time for the paint to cure, which means that my house will look like a used book store for a while. (Bonus: We are enjoying "shopping" at our used book store, finding some forgotten treasures.)

Then we will tackle a little bit (or a bigger bit, as time allows) of the job every week until it's done. Maybe paint a window in an evening...or the walls on a weekend. Not the ideal way to do a job, but a manageable one. (Which is important.)

Although I don't consider myself "old," I have found that we cannot do things at the same rate that we used to do them. And our work days are shorter too. We want to be sitting in our chairs by the time Jeopardy comes on at 7:30. 

Life is continual change, isn't it?