Decorating

We finally decided to enter the world of grown-ups and decorate the living room.  We've been avoiding it because the walls were covered with glossy, peeling lead paint.  But we finally bit the bullet and started the painting process.  My mantra is "Will this look worse than it used to?"  (Answer: probably not.)

It took a day to scrape and sand the walls.  We hung up drop cloths over the doors and wore respirators while this was going on.  Jeff had the shop vac attached to the sander so dust was kept to a minimum.  I spackled some cracks and patched a hole too.

The mantle wall after scraping and sanding.

Then I washed the walls and ceiling with TSP to clean up the lead dust. No photos of that since I'm the one taking the pictures!

The third day, we spot-primed all those bare spots and spackled places.  Then Jeff started priming the walls and ceiling and I started taping off woodwork.

Jeff applies the ceremonial first bit of ceiling paint.

The mantel wall after priming.  It Doesn't Look Worse.

Then the TRAGEDY struck...  while leaning back to tape near the top of the stairs, my lower back seized up.  It's a new thing for me, and I would vote to skip that next time.  So Jeff got to do the rest of the priming by himself while I sat in the recliner with ice on my back.  He also painted the ceiling ALL BY HIMSELF on the fourth day.  It looks great.

The walls are primed and the ceiling is painted!

By the fifth day I could help a little and we got some walls painted.  We'll have to do a second coat but I'm really happy with the color so far.  It definitely doesn't look worse than it used to.

Some painted walls in the stairway.

Also painted by the front door.