Painting

I've been thinking of painting my room for about a year now. I finally started! Here is how it went:

Day 1: Removed nearly everything from my room that wasn't furniture and stacked it all in the living room, deliberately blocking access to the computer. Washed walls with Mr Clean Magic Eraser. Filled in wood panelling with mud. Slept in my own room.

Day 2: Covered bed and dryer (yes, the dryer is in my bedroom) with heavy plastic. Primed three walls and ceiling, moving bed as needed to get at all three walls. Did some minor repairs -- hammered my finger. Black bruise marks under the nail. Primed second coat. Slept on living room couch. Heard what I thought was a rat in the pantry.

Day 3: Painted walls red (about this colour). More primer on ceiling. Second coat of red. Slept on couch. Still hearing noises in the pantry.

Day 4: Searched pantry. Good news! It's a mouse! Buy mouse traps, bait one with dry dog food, one with peanut butter. Rag paint golden yellow (about this colour) over red. Slept on couch. Heard mousetrap go off. Smile, go back to sleep.

Day 5: Inspect mouse trap. No mouse present. Remove contents of closet and pile on my bed. Cover bed and dresser with heavy plastic. Decide not to mud the remaining wall -- go straight to priming. Prime second coat. Sleep on couch. Hear no rodents. Trap scared him off.

Day 6: Locate hole under hot water heater where mice are getting into the house. They are living under the bathtub. Order Ratzapper online. Paint two coats of red. Sleep on couch. Dog barking periodically through the night... he has better hearing than I do.

Day 7: Rag paint final wall. Sleep on couch. More dog barking through the night. Kids are so freaked out that JMJ sleeps with his light on, and IJ uses his pillows and blankets to build walls around himself. I have to get those mice under control!

Day 8: Adopt a cat from the SPCA. Start putting stuff away in my room. Screw new bookshelf to wall and fill with books. Try to cover windows so I don't wake up with the sun. Need to make curtains now. Sleep in my own bed.

I still have quite a few projects to do to complete the room:

• Sew curtains for two windows and closet.
• Sew runners for top of headboard and bedside table.
• Paint outside of bedroom door golden yellow.
• Cover inside of bedroom door with gold brocade fabric.
• Scrub floor to remove paint drips.
• Mount brass butterfly wall sconce.
• Install storage shelf.
• Set up drafting table.
• Sew curtains to hide storage / art studio area.

I love the way the walls turned out. I picked up the bookshelf and bedside table for $2. I washed, primed and painted them red. The headboard I already had. I painted it red, too. It looks great with the gold brocade roses on it.

As I was removing things from my room, I found alot of JJs stuff. I have a separate pile in the living room for his stuff. I also found quite a few clothes that I don't wear anymore, and made a separate pile for them, too. I'll be making a trip to the thrift shop soon. I didn't throw away much stuff, but that's ok. I now have more ways to organise my stuff, and less stuff that needs organising. I should paint every year!