Ms Scarlet In The Dining Room With The Hammer

La Fonda Geranium Red also makes for a lovely inadvertent Halloween decoration this year!

Molly as Little Red Riding Hood

(the costume was mine when I was little)

Elsa the pumpkin

Happy Halloween!

Review: EZ Clean Paint Brush

Web site for you to check out: EZ Paint Tools, Inc.

Also check out what others thought.

First off what I used to paint with. i.e. the comparison brush, or for my fellow scientific types the control. My paint brush of choice for most of the rooms in the house is made by Rubbermaid. It's just one you pick up at the local Wal-mart. It had a nice grip and didn't seem to fall apart after a couple of uses. My biggest problem would be washing it up too later or not thoroughly enough so it would gum up and have to be thrown away.

Secondly, painting with the EZ brush. The EZ brush was a dream to edge with. Much better than the control brush. Yes, it didn't hold as much paint, but that was well worth the nice clean lines and the lack of colored goobers on my nice white ceiling. Also the handle of the EZ paint brush is kind of funky. I expected it to be very uncomfortable to paint with, especially since the Rubbermaid has a nice rubber grip. And yes that was true. However, it was not as bad as I thought it would be and in the hour that I used it did not get fatigued. Painting wise I'd choose the EZ brush over the Rubbermaid.

Thirdly, cleaning the EZ brush. As you know I don't really have the set up to clean the brush here at home currently. It would be nice if they could set up some sort of laundry room sink attachment. Plus how do you clean the thing once it gets to be winter and you can't use the hose? A couple more weeks here in Iowa and I won't be able to clean the thing outside even if I had a hose.

Our solution for no hose was to take it to my parent-in-laws. Here's a shot of when you first turn on the water. The water pretty much runs though the center of the bristles so...

I started squishing it around in my hands. Which pretty quickly took the paint from the outside.

Tim wanted a shot, still being upset he didn't think of this idea himself. His way of hitting it on the propane tank also worked, so it just depends on how sensitive your hands are to the cold water.

We should have timed the clean up time, but we didn't. I would defiantly say it wasn't over two minutes for both of our tries. An easy win over the Rubbermaid.

Conclusion: I have one unknown variable that makes this hard to write, the price. If the Rubbermaid brush and the EZ paint brush cost the same I would easily choose the EZ paint brush. However, if the EZ paint brush is 1.5x more expensive than the Rubbermaid I would probably choose the Rubbermaid because I am cheap.

Also, even though Tim may disagree the EZ paint brush should not be used as a water throwing weapon.

Dining Room Wall Color Revealed

Here's the dining room with the final coat of paint. Two coats did the job, I was very impressed with the tinted primer.

I like the red, what I don't really know if I like is the white ceiling with it. Well then paint it you say. Easier said then done. It has a finish on it so you don't have to paint it. It's paint-able anyway, but I hate to go to all that work when we don't have to, plus it will make it something to maintain. I'll have to get opinions.

Murphy's Law of 18 Month Olds

If you have shut to door to the dining room to paint (don't worry her kitchen set blocks the other doorway so she was not left unattended) it's bound to happen that your 18 month old decides that is the day to figure out how to work the door knob -sigh-

Oh was she proud of herself, and of course wanted to repeat the trick over and over. Luckily I was just about done. UN-luckily she just about knocked me off the ladder opening the door.

Dining Room Primed

So here's the dining room all primed.

I really like the gray. It looks super with the woodwork. I'm worried I like the gray better than the red. I'm still undecided. It doesn't help that when you paint the red it's more of a deep hot pink. Luckily it drys into a more reasonable shade.

I primed Monday, painted the first coat of red Tuesday, and the second coat today (Wednesday). I think two coats is going to cover it, but I'll have to make a final appraisal tonight after it's had a little time to dry.

Tomorrow's plan is to take a little artists brush around for touch up where the ceiling meets the wall.

Next on the dining room agenda is refinishing the floor. I spoke to Tim last night about taking care of this and he said after he has the fall tillage done. Also, I need him to extend the frame of one of the windows and I might try and persuade him to install the light fixture. It's a little chandelier and I'm so excited to finally see it installed.

Oh, and check out this cute picture of Molly courtesy of Aunt Jen's blog.

The Paint Brush Goes To A Party

Wall Street Journal alert- I took a home improvement tool to a venue where alcohol was being served! :)

Yesterday was homecoming at my college, Wartburg so we had festivities to attend. The plan was to go to the parade and do a quick walk-thru of the campus, head home and prime the walls while the girls napped. Then if was off to my roommates husbands thirtieth birthday bash. Well plans got foiled. As we were heading out we ran into a couple of friends and ended up having a long lunch with them. That didn't leave enough time to buy painting supplies and give the girls a nice nap so sorry but the nap won out.

While at the parade I asked my old roomie if she had a working garden hose (she being more normal than I, did). So I asked if it would be possible to bring the paint brush and wash it out. She, having lived with me, is not surprised by weird questions like this and agreed.

So after nap time I loaded the paint brush up in a cooler with ice packs to keep it as frozen as possible and took off for the party. Only problem is we all got to having such a good time the bush was kind of forgotten about.

Well today we have to head up to Tim's folks for a family-get-together. I know Ronnie has a garden hose so the plan is to wash it off up there. So stay tuned.

Oh, and Molly learned to parallel park...

Seriously, I Did Something On The House Today

I know, late night readers are rubbing their eyes and you early morning guys are spilling coffee on the keyboard :)

Primer edging complete- check.

You'll also notice that Tim got the doors out of the way. The bathroom door is on (the one next to the window), but it doesn't actually shut because it hits the bottom of the frame. The bathroom closet door is now sitting in the closet, and the door to the kitchen is in the foyer leaning against the wall (I know, not safe for the toddler. I'm going to talk to him about it tonight) so every time I walk down the stairs I think someone left the exterior foyer door open.

So I know you are all dying to know how the brush worked. I'm going to save that for a later post. Mostly because the major selling point is how easy it is to clean and I haven't cleaned it yet. Remember the hose problem? So it's currently wrapped in foil and a zip-lock in the freezer. Hey, that's better than I'd treat my other paint brush so it can't complain (plus you can't hear it 'cause it's in the fridge -get it hehe).

So it took me 40 minutes total. Not too bad, only time for one kid to wake up. Guess which one- hint look at the photo. But what's strange is I wanted more. Yes, if I had a roller pad I would have probable had the whole place painted today. It felt so GOOD to be accomplishing something. I forgot what a high it was. Unless it was just from the paint fumes.

T - 4 Days And Counting

Room cleaned- check,
Walls wiped- check,
Paint and primed located- check,
Tools located- brush (of course) and ladder ready...
rollers, roller pads, and tray still needed

Only one thing impeding progress,
Tim.

He needs to get these doors on in the bathroom and the spots he patched sanded down.

But as of right now I can at least do the edge work. The only problem is I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to find a hose to clean this brush.

La Fonda Geranium Red

That's the future color of the dining room in case you were wondering.

I did end up being able to go on that tour of homes a couple of weeks ago and one of the homes had a deep red dining room like this. Their taste was perhaps a bit more eclectic and modern that my own furnishing-wise, but I think it will look fine with what I plan to do also. I liked how the dark color drew the walls in and made the room cozy.

Molly is at the grandparent's today so I hope I can get the rest of the room cleared out tonight.

Slightly Cleaner Dining Room

Looking a little cleaner, right? Last night Tim took down the baby gate (the tile backer board screwed into the above doorway), not to worry the play kitchen set is on the other side blocking access. Still it's weird to have a view into the mess from the kitchen. Maybe this will motivate me further. He did this to fix a piece of tape that was coming up so it will be a few days of sanding and patching before painting takes place.

The good news is Tim did know where the paint was. I was just over looking it in the mess of the library. The primer was with it.

And for those of you wondering what that piece of furniture you can only see a corner of is...

It's and old cupboard out of one of the local schools. My mom's neighbor had it sitting outside the house with a free for the taking sign. I was going to use it in the downstairs bathroom as storage, but it's just the height where it hit exactly where the chair rail tile sticks out. So it would look a little funny. So instead I'm thinking of using it on one of the dining room walls. I can store some of my dishes in there. I have a few sets ;) and as you can see I'm quickly filling up the built-in cupboard.

So where did all of the stuff go...

The already packed library of course. Things will get better when the dining room is finished. The trim piled in the middle there is for the dining room, and under that trim is a table and four chairs.

Mystery A Brewing

Where's the paint?

Tim's folks were going to be busy today so we ended up staying home. Elsa, even though she is only 2 months old, has decided this ticks her off and is protesting by being VERY fussy today.

I did find the door knobs for the bathroom doors so they can be removed from the dining room. Then I started looking for the paint and primer which we bought sometime before Molly was born. Can you believe it's MI-nonA?

Maybe Tim will know where it is.

Hard to test a paint brush without paint or primer.

The Paint Tool Arriveith

Need the back story? Check out yesterdays post.

The paint tool is here. And I am already developing issues with the paint job and the brush isn't even out of the box. You need a garden hose to clean it. This seems to be the major selling point of it. Tim is impressed. I opened the box and he said, "Cool, why don't I ever think of things like that."

So back to the garden hose. We don't actually have a "real" outside water hook up. That was on the list of things to do this summer. And since we didn't do much house-wise this summer it's not done.

Our current hose hook up situation right now is you have to attach it to the bottom of the water heater in the basement and then run the hose up through the basement doors. This is Tim's area of expertise. i.e. something Becky doesn't want to do because learning to do it will limit her ability to whine about there being no outside water hook up. Yes, I use ignorance as a weapon. Better that then -ahem- other things.

So again back to the garden hose. This is what I know if it. These pictures suck because I wasn't in the mood to trek around to the back of the house so I took them out windows. Sorry.

Here is a photo of the hose tangle on the scaffolding we built over the basement staircase to side the house.


This photo shows parts of a garden hose. I worry that the ones it the tangle have this same issue. I'm guessing here, but I thing Tim ran it over with the lawn mower. I was watching mow a couple weeks ago and saw him take out an extension cord. I don't know if it was plugged in or not. I didn't want to know. I really need to up the life insurance on him -sigh-

And in case you can't tell I'm not cleaning out the dining room. And it's definitely going to rain tonight/tomorrow so off to Grandma and Grandpa's (Molly's not ours) house we will go. I will clean Monday. I promise, just don't hold your breath.

Oh My, What Have I Done!

Deep breaths. I need to take very deep breaths.

I have a problem. I have a weakness for free things. If you want to get me to purchase something. Put a "buy one, get one free" sign on it. It works every time. In fact, I will usually buy 5 or 10 or 27, even if it's something I never use. Ask Tim. He'll have multiple examples of specific products. It's one of those problems in our marriage.

So I signed myself up for a free paint tool over at Houseblogs. Figuring I need a little motivation to paint the dining room. We are still planning on having Christmas this year. This is a running joke with my family because we volunteered our hospitality back in 2003 and every year since have been canceling on them. However, we really need to get a move on because back in 2003 there were only 20 of us. This year there should be 25. Already two of my cousins are pregnant so that's a 27 count already for Christmas 2009. Soon our enormous house won't hold everyone and we'll have to rent out a pavilion.

The catch. And there always is one, is that it needs to be done by October 22.

So why freak out. It's just a little prime and paint. It will take a day at the most right? Well maybe pre-kids.

Here's the current dining room situation.

I figure Tim will be in the field this weekend so that gives me Saturday and Sunday to get it cleaned out in anticipation for the wonder tool. Stay tuned for what's likely to be a mess.

Everyone Pile Back into the Time Machine

it's off to August.

Tim spent what seemed like every free second he had priming or painting those porch brackets.

Luckily he had help from my dad who also stopped over to help paint.

Dear Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band,

KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD BAND

BLUE ON BLACK
Blue on black
Tears on a river
Push on and shove
Dont mean much
Joker on Jack
Match on a fire
Cold on ice
As a deadmans touch
Whisper on a scream
Doesnt mean a thing
Wont bring you back
Blue on black
Blue... on... black...

I think Primer on plaster would have been an effective line also. Just a suggestion.

It's Not Pink

My lovely mom read the post about the lack of progress in the downstairs bathroom and volunteered to come over and paint it for us.

I had been gushing about the lovely pink color I picked out to everyone for weeks.
But it turns out it's not pink.

We don't really know what color it is. It's not really an orange or tan. Or a purple or blue. And it's definitely not pink.

Tim loves it. He thinks it's a very Victorian color. I'm just disappointed. I had really gotten my hopes up for this pink.

Work continues in the kitchen and pantry this week. There is SO MUCH wood work to be primed, painted, and hung.

The pantry's doors and drawers are finished. They just need to be hung and handles put on.

We're basically sitting around waiting for paint to dry. Here's a view of the pantry looking through the dining room pass through. The interior yellow is so much brighter in person. I'm disappointed it doesn't come through better in the photo. It's going to take another coat of the cream to get good enough coverage.

Dale has all of the bead board up and painted in the kitchen. There's pieces of cap missing here and there, but then we've pretty much finished up with woodwork in there. Well, at least until we get a little warmer weather to do the exterior doors and windows.

In The Soft Glow of a Work Light

I guess Tim was pretty proud of the painting he did around the front door this afternoon. It was in the "spot light" when I got home from work tonight.

We Have Lights, Kind Of

Tim got this set of posts completely painted.

5 more to go.

He also got the light fixtures in. However, since we don't have the switches wired yet we can't turn them on.

However, that should be done by Christmas along with the electrical boxes, and we can string tons of lights.

Who Needs Lighting When You Have Bright Yellow Paint?

Friday the pantry looks like this...

By Monday it's almost looking good enough for the fine china. One more coat of the yellow to go and a couple of coats of cream on the outside is all it needs.

Thanks for all your help mom, you're the best!