19_Painting

After finishing the house renovation stage, we took time before going to the house beautification stage. On Monday, July 17^th we came to the house in the morning because the refrigerator that we ordered online would come (Read also: 15_Plan Adjustment). While waiting, I cleaned some of the mess from the day before.

The new refrigerator.

Luckily, the refrigerator came before lunchtime, so I didn’t have to wait longer in an empty house. I could go back to the apartment before going back to work in the house. After working hours, we went back to the house to clean the rest of the mess from installing the hardwood flooring. We tidied up the new open space in the room and garage. My husband also mowed the lawn. With everything was cleaned up, we were ready to embark on the next stage.

Applying Primer

On the next day, during his lunch break, my husband went to Lowe’s to buy painting tools and primers. After he finished work, he picked me up and we started applying primer on the walls and ceilings. By applying primer, it would show the flawless on the drywall coating, if any. And if there were any, the drywall guy would come again to put more coating to perfect it.

Above left: Painting tools and primers. Above right: Plastic layer for protecting the floor. Below left: Painters tape for protecting the trims. Below right: I was ready to apply the primers.

This was my first time painting. It looked easy when I watched my husband did it. But when I tried it, it wasn’t easy for me to control the roller. It seemed that the roller had its own idea to move to any direction it wanted. I had to put pressure on the roller to keep it in a straight direction. Another issue was I couldn’t apply the primer evenly. It looked like I put smudges here and there. Honestly, I didn’t know why I was there; I felt like a kid making a mess. My husband had to put the final layer to make it look even.

It was a cloudy day so we didn’t get enough daylight to work on. We used a portable light and tried our best on applying the primer evenly. We shouldn’t apply the primer in two days; it would look uneven. So we kept working until we finished at 10PM. We took rest in the next day to let the primer dry.

The walls after we applied the primer.

Taking More Tools In PA

On July 20^th we went to PA again to take more tools, especially painting tools. We went there after my husband finished his work. This was the first time we used the van for road trip after it broke down. It should be in better condition because it had been repaired. And it was better engine wise, however, it was worse regarding the AC. The AC went hot whenever we drove fast; it seemed backward than how the normal AC works. So we had to open the window all the way down and kept drinking ice teas to cope with the hot weather. We drove for around 7 hours and arrived at midnight.

We woke up late in the next day and tried to fit as many tools as we could in the van. I couldn’t really help in moving the stuff because most of them were heavy i.e. a table saw and steel cabinet. The van even became shorter due to the heavy loads; and because of this, we had to drive slower. The trip back, of course, took longer than the trip out. We arrived at almost midnight and we were so exhausted. We decided to just go back to the apartment rather than unload the tools.

Left:Tools from PA, seen from the back door. Right: Tools from PA, seen from the side door.

Painting The Ceilings And Installing Ceiling Fans

On July 22^nd we bought ceiling paints and started to paint from early in the morning. This time, it didn’t feel as difficult as before. I guessed painting on drywall was harder than on coated drywall. But still I couldn’t master the roller; it seemed that I just put smudges everywhere. We put 2 layers of coating with 4 hours difference, as suggested.

Above left: The ceiling paints. Below left: Ceiling painting tools. Right: My husband painted the ceiling.

While waiting for the paints to dry, we shopped for ceiling lights. We bought 2 ceiling fans, 1 for the living room, and 1 for the previous dining room that were now becoming family room. We also bought 1 string light for above the kitchen sink and 1 oval light for the whole kitchen.

First, we installed the oval light, which was easy. Now we had an UFO on our ceiling. Next, we tried to install the ceiling fan in the family room. Previously, there was a ceiling fan in this room, so the ceiling fan mount was still there. This meant the installation would be easy, but of course I was wrong.

Left: An oval ceiling light in the kitchen. Above right: A string light above the kitchen sink. Below right: The ceiling fan in the family room.

I was familiar with IKEA, which has simple instruction. IKEA doesn’t even have written instruction, all the instructions are on pictures. And now, this ceiling fan had a lot of written instruction with a little bit of pictures. It was not easy for me to understand. And when we thought we got it, the fan couldn’t work even though the light could. At this time, it was 10PM already. So we decided to leave it and just went home.

On the next day, my husband went back to the house early, while I was resting because I felt feverish. He managed to figure out the ceiling fan. Apparently, the remote had to be synchronized first in order to make the fan works. He then continued to paint the wall around the edges e.g. around the electrical sockets.

Painting The Walls

During the lunchtime, my husband picked me up to start painting the walls. For the walls, we also put 2 coatings. This time I felt confident and started to enjoy painting. Now I knew why most of my friends always mentioned painting when I told them that I was renovating my house. I wasn’t saying that I have mastered it, but I could understand why people enjoy doing it. One could see the change instantly.

The pensieve sky color on our wall.

After seeing how I did, my husband assigned me to paint some parts of the hallway. And after we finished painting, we install the string light. Again, it didn’t want to light up; there must be something went on with the wiring. It was late already, so we decided to go home instead.

Left: The wall in the hallway needed some paint. Right: After I painted it.

On the next day, my husband came early to reroute the cables. He had to go to the attic for that, and morning time was the perfect timing to do it. If he went after the sun was warm, it would be hot and uncomfortable there.

After working hours, my husband worked on installing the other ceiling fan in the living room, where previously none existed. So first, he had to drill on the center of the ceiling to set up a base. Meanwhile, I painted the accent walls with darker blue color, or soul seeker blue as it called in Sherwin-Williams paint universe. I started to paint at 6PM, so the second coat had to be at 10PM! However, after waiting in hunger and tiredness, we didn’t have more energy, we decided to go home at 9.15PM.

Above left: The accent wall before painting. Below left: The painting tools. Right: The accent wall after painting.

On July 25^th, my husband came early again to figure out the cable route for the ceiling fan; and bought more cables during his lunch break. After working hours, I joined him to put the second coat for the accent walls. My husband continued working on rerouting the cables. After he finished, we went home. It was earlier than usual because my husband had an early day on the next day.

A lot of cables dangling when my husband installed a ceiling fan in the living room.

The ceiling fan installation continued on the next two days. It took faster time than the previous because we had learned to do it. But still, in the beginning, the fan wouldn’t work. My husband re-opened the installation and tightened the cables; and after this, it worked.

The ceiling fan in the living room.

Kitchen Cabinets

On July 27^th we got notification that the kitchen cabinets had arrived, and we had to pick them up at a UPS’s loading facility. We opted for a pick-up service in order to minimize the cost; if we asked for home delivery, the cost would be higher. So after working hours, we went to pick up the cabinets.

The cabinets were consisted of 13 parts. Although they were not heavy individually, they took up space. So we couldn’t take all of them at once in the van. We had to make 3 trips; each took around 30 minutes. Back in the house, we had to cramp them in the garage.

Wrapped kitchen cabinets at a UPS's unloading facility.

Kitchen cabinets in the van during multiple trips.