painting together: a short history.

about two years ago, back when the hubs and i were still dating in the summer of 2009, we got our first taste of what it is like to do DIY-style home improvements together. his parents were finishing up a patio room addition on the back of the house, and since i was unemployed and spending a good chunk of my time as a vagabond there, i offered to help out. the task: painting the one wall in the room that isn't floor-to-ceiling windows. and the closet.

i had painted a lot of things in the 22 years of my life up to that point: bedrooms, youth rooms, furniture, VBS backdrops, canvases, buildings at service projects and on missions trips, and i was excited to show Mark just how handy i was with a paint brush and a roller. you know, show myself off a little. well, in a nutshell, let's just say that he was not too impressed with my painting style and suggested that my skills were probably better suited to painting the closet while he took care of the wall in the room.

there you have it folks, the man i love and married, at his finest.

fast forward a year to the late summer of 2010, and we've just bought our house together and are painting the two bedrooms before we move in: the giant guest room and the smaller master bedroom. this time, rather than attempt painting in the same room at the same time, we split up the job. he took care of the master bedroom on his own, while i took on the guest room with the help of a friend from work and Mark's dad. both rooms (and their closets!) turned out spectacularly.

(at this point i would just like to interject the fact that even though Mark doesn't really trust my ability to cut-in the edges or roll the walls of a room, he is more than happy to let me take care of ALL the trim painting. this is progress people. for serious.)

 
fast forward one more time to last weekend, late summer 2011. we have come to a point in the fireplace room at which we are both beginning to be weary with the project. the trim has been painted (by me of course) and the edges have been cut in (by the hubs). we have one day to get two coats of color onto the walls. i suggest that this will only be possible if we work together. after a moment of slight hesitation, the hubs agrees. (did you catch that? he agreed to let me paint with him! in the same room!!!)

he only questioned my method once at the very beginning of the day, and was pleased to hear that i had (mostly) conformed to his preference for a slightly thicker first coat followed by a thinner second coat. after the first coat dried, we had a good time pointing out to each other all the little spots we had missed, and i may or may not have said to him, "HA! you're just as bad as i am!"

we tackled the second coat after a Home Depot/Lowes/Chick-Fil-A run, and he only went back ONCE to touch up an area i had already painted (which was, admittedly, just a tad bit streaky).

this is huge. the walls in this room are now all the same color for the first time since we've owned the house. and i love it, dont you? (sorry these pics arent the greatest of the overall room, my camera was in the process of dying) the bonus is that the hubs and i painted the room together without any arguments or issues. what a good day!

still on the to-do list for this room:
- molding around the fireplace.
- fix the doorways.
- put all the baseboard and doorway casings back up.
- paint the fireplace doors.
- do something about the warped mantle. (replace? paint? replace and paint?)
- re-hang the light fixture in the nook.
- move the furniture back in.

is it just me or is this list not getting any shorter?