Painting The Apartment PART 2 and 3..

Cold Day in Iowa

Perfect for paint cans!

  Today it is cold here in Iowa.... Really Cold!  So what better way to spend your days cooped up in a small apartment, than to continue with the painting.   Besides,  Menhards has a 15% off bag that fits two to three gallons of paint very easily.   We would be fools NOT to paint the apartment.

Cheryl paints the trim

And makes sure it is good

 Except that it is time consuming and energy draining.   We planned out that we would tackle each additional room similar to the kitchen.... meaning:   Split it into three parts.  That way we do not have to completely rearrange the furniture out of the room and instead can simply slide things over to one side or the other.   Sounded good at the time...

Time to add the light Fixture!

A slight overlap into the living room

We chose the hallway between the bedrooms and bathroom.   A simple task really, since it did not contain any furniture to displace.   I taped up the molding and Cheryl did the edges.   I removed the ancient light fixture and replaced it with a simple modern variation.

Cheryl fills in the holes

There are a LOT of holes

 We accidentally/ intentionally spilled over into the living room,   figuring that was our next room anyway.  We had a bit of spill over from the kitchen as it was.    It is the largest room in the apartment, so I thought we would take a full three days, but it only took two full days to complete it. Lucky us!

What the HECK?

(note the '70's ceiling fan)

  The hardest part was possibly removing the old 1970's vintage ceiling fan from the center of the room.  We are still waiting for it's replacement to arrive possibly next week sometime.

Time for a nap!

Time for the ceiling

  In the mean time,   Cheryl filled in any holes that were hidden behind the picture and the sofa.   The entire wall looked like the back shield of a dart convention.   I tired to paint as much of the ceiling as I could so the next day we could be in a position to complete the entire room.

Now on to the other side of the room

Everything safely behind the plastic

The entire process went pretty smoothly.  The only thing that remains unfinished is the ceiling light.   It's not really that big of a deal since we rarely use the thing anyway.

More ceiling paint...without the fan

For today,   the sub-zero temps kept us in the bedroom.   Looks like the bedroom may be a bit more of a challenge that first thought.   We still have to change out the light and finish the other side.

Hiro and I survey the results

Waiting for replacement light....

 So that is all.   Boring right?   I know because I'm writing this and am bored.   But at least it is something to do on a bone chilling day in Iowa.  And in the end,  the rooms will look, smell and feel brighter and cleaner than before..( hopefully)  and no one will ever know that we repainted the entire thing.
  I would like to think of it as my stealth ninja training.

Painting The Apartment PART 1

Cheryl decides to paint the Kitchen

She is in charge of the trim

I could have titled it "part 2" because this whole chain of events began with the painting of the bathroom.   But then it might get confusing.... and since the bathroom was meant to be a one time thing,   It was hardly the intended first step.... but I digress.

$50 of materials later

With the bathroom turning out so swimmingly,   Cheryl decided that the Kitchen ( which also had countless water marks from floods and upstairs leaks)  was the next room that should be considered for a face lift.   We changed the light, but somehow it still failed to brighten the room.   Then we decided that it was not the furnishings, nor the lighting,  but rather the dingy paint that has been on our walls since we moved in...and perhaps since the beginning of TIME!...

My way of paining...because I'm messy

So,  50 bucks later,  we started the task.   First, I want to be upfront about this:  Cheryl and I have different ways of doing things.   She likes to keep everything where it is and only paint the areas that need it, with minimal disturbances.   I like to take EVERYTHING out of the room,   ( total chaos!)  and tape up the windows, woodwork, backsplash,  and everything that you do not want paint on.   Then cover the rest with a drop cloth.  Pull out the appliances to paint behind them, even if you will never see behind them again.  In a word,   TOTAL ANNIHILATION.

The reason is clear: No matter how careful I am, I will still spill and splatter, touch and track paint everywhere. In short:  I'm a slob.
 Oh, I try not to be ....sometimes.  But one of the few life lessons I have learned  over the year is to recognize your faults, and count on them.  I could try to change them... But that is refusing to accept who you are.    And I like me.... slob and all.

Compare the new vs old 

Day one painting complete

Day One painting, just don't move the stove.

Cheryl, on the other hand, is much more neat and precise then I am.   She tries really, really hard to do a good job; Once! Without a mess,  and without tearing up the house.   The results:   No tape on the trim causes a bit of white paint to creep up.   Without moving the oven means there will be visible signs of where we failed to paint.   ( if anyone ever moves the oven ever again....)  The first day was more like a wrestling match than an experience of "painting togetherness."

Day two painting begins

To be fair, that oven was never coming out of there.    I would have had to have a second burly guy and a fulcrum to lift and tilt it out of there.   ( Not sure how they got it past the baseboards to begin with..)  But Cheryl conceded that the entire area needed at least two coats of paint to look decent. AND that I could tape up certain areas and see if it was easier than scrubbing the paint off the trim later.    Day two went much more smoothly.

I'm in charge of the walls and ceiling

Cheryl uses the bench to reach

We pushed everything to one wall and taped off the trim this time.   Cheryl painted the tight areas while I did the rolling.    I'm taller so I worked on the ceiling and upper walls.    Cheryl enlisted the help of one of the benches.

Day three ( today!),   we finished up.   I  had to remove the shelves and tape up the window.   Luckily, we did the lions share of painting yesterday, so we only  had a small section to finish up.  

Plastic tarp over the unpainted parts.

Day 2 painting complete

After a couple hours and two coats of paint,  we put it all back together.   Cheryl now wants to tackle the remainder of the apartment.

  I thought we could stick to the hallway and possibly the living room,  but with Cheryl unable to run...It leaves this maelstrom of unbridled energy that has to focus on some sort of project to engage with.   Swirling me along in the process.

Day three.   Today!

Cheryl paints the baseboards.

I'm less like the wind and perhaps more like a calm pond.    I have things to occupy my time....some of them are actually not meaningless.  Like writing my novel....

Day three.  Painting Complete!

Oh, that story....will it ever be complete?    I hope so.   Inspiration and self discipline are not two of my strong suits.  It takes herculean effort for me to write Without distractions....   So when a painting project comes along,   you can bet I will not be writing much on those days.

Hmmm,  yet somehow I end up being able to blog....go figure.

So that is all.   I'm not sure what room we will tackle next, but I'll try to post about things as they progress.   OH!  And before I forget,   Today ( I think) is my brother's birthday....Not really sure.   I'm pretty sure he was born sometime in January.   Or July.   I'm pretty bad with dates, let alone birthdays.   The only reason I remember mine or Cheryls is the 6/6 and 8/8.   ( I guess CJ's is 5/5...so I can remember his.)   So Happy Birthday to him..if he ever reads this blog. AND if he was born on Jan 6th.  ( It is Jan.6th right? )  It's the thought that counts right?

New Years Day IKEA visit.

Old Table

Traveling to IKEA....Sun in the face!

Yesterday,  we decided to bring in the new year with a spontaneous Ikea Visit.    The Idea hit us when we discovered that the Coffee Table we have had for several years now, desperately needed to be replaced, and the only table we found acceptable cost way too much to have delivered.   So,  we fired up the Subie and headed out.

Sun Rise in Iowa

Bribed with Donuts

The mornings in Iowa can be nice,  if you are willing to get up that early,  however,  being bribed with Dunkin Donuts is  always a prime motivating factor.

Cheryl's Tune to drive

We headed over the Mississippi to survey the limited flooding by Davenport.

Davenport Flood?  Not really.

 I guess St, Louis is getting hit a little bit harder by the rising river.  I wanted to capture several eagles flying overhead, but they only turned out like small dots in the sky.   There was a place where there were about 20+ eagles standing on some ice, but I could not capture them with the camera.   High speed and trees and brush obscured the picture.

Arrive at IKEA

Finally arriving at Ikea, we headed straight for the table,  bought  it, and crammed it into the car.   Luckily, it fit just fine...so we headed back in to have some lunch and look around for a few other add on's that might have caught our interest.   Cheryl said we also needed a kitchen light and a new mural for behind the couch in the living room .  They were not pressing, so if we did not find anything we liked, we could just skip out of them.

Heading Home Early

We settled on a lamp and a mural...as well as some smaller things.   The Kitchen lamp was far less expensive than one Cheryl had her eye on from CB2. I love saving money!

Blinded by the sun...Again!

While Blinded...Watch out for DEER!

We tried to make it home before the sun set....which was a challenge... because the sun was pretty much in our face the entire trip!   Blinded by the setting sun meant you had to be extra cautious about Deer... like these guys... right by the highway!   I remember last time we came back from IKEA and a deer ran into the side of the Subster.    We did not want to repeat that event.

Let's Add the Goodies!

Instructions?   Who needs those?

Finally home,  Cheryl was feeling energetic and eager to remove the old and get the new up and running!   We assembled the new coffee table and put up the Mural behind the couch before we ran out of steam.

Cheryl helps with the legs.

By the way,  Cheryl says the camera adds 10 lbs.   In my case, it looks like it added 40!   Time to head to the pool to do more laps!

The New Kitchen Light

Luckily,  the table was easy to assemble,  And I did not have to curse, throw things or break anything in the process.  Unlike today...

Finished Light with background

bathroom Mini Cabinets installed

Today we put up the kitchen light and that kind of hit me in the wrong way.   Cheryl managed to salvage the situation a bit so we could finish it without any permanent damage or loss of limbs.

The Bathroom mini cabinets came and we installed those as well.  They were far easier to deal with.


So that is all!   A couple of minor changes and a day of travel.  Subie took on Chicago like a champ and it all worked out.

Hungry Cat tries to help

Hiro the cat, it trying his best to help my with my weight loss, by eating the snacks I bring into the Living room.    Our New Mural is more blue and cool than green and leafy.   I will possibly miss the old mural, but Cheryl says we can always purchase it again if  we get bored of this one.   I actually like the new items so chances are that could be quite a while. 

The Finished Room.  New Table and Mural.