House Excavations, green border
family home projects work in progress

My Husband Is a Painting God

The dining room we tore apart to renovate finally looks like a room again.

After finishing the mudding and taping of sheetrock, which I discussed in last week’s post, we moved right on to priming and painting the room.

We used a Wagner paint sprayer to apply the primer to the ceiling and walls. And by “we,” I mean mostly my husband Erik. I read the detailed instructions to him while he monkeyed with the settings and did the spraying.

Wagner Control Pro paint sprayer that we used to prime the dining room. July 17, 2022.
Wagner Control Pro paint sprayer that we used to prime the dining room. July 17, 2022.
The dining room after being primed. The primer is still drying on the walls, which is why there is uneven coloration along the edges. July 17, 2022.
The dining room after being primed. The primer is still drying on the walls, which is why there is uneven coloration along the edges. July 17, 2022.

Once priming was done, Erik went to Hirschfield’s to buy paint. (We love Hirschfield’s after working with them extensively when we ran our furniture refinishing business.)

We chose a soft white that we have used in other areas of the house. No Zillow gray for us, no sirree!

Because the paint sprayer took so much work in terms of set-up and clean-up, we decided it would be easier to paint the room with a brush and roller.

After cutting in the edges with a brush, which did not take Erik long, he rolled the paint on the walls. He was done rolling paint in less than an hour.

My husband is a Painting God. He is neat, methodical, and efficient. And his results are great.

He cringes when I grab a paintbrush or roller because I am not neat, methodical, or efficient. I’ll get the job done, but it will take forever.

Here is the dining room after he sheetrocked, mudded, taped, primed, and painted it.

Southeast corner of the dining room after painting. July 21, 2022.
Southeast corner of the dining room after painting. July 21, 2022.
Northwest corner of the dining room after painting. July 21, 2022.
Northwest corner of the dining room after painting. July 21, 2022.

Look how smooth those walls are!

Next up is the trim. We also have to call the electrician back to finish the electrical work. Then it’s time for inspections.

In the meantime, we put together a board of tasks still left to do in the house before moving.

Corkboard with index cards listing home improvement tasks. July 24, 2022.
Corkboard with index cards listing home improvement tasks. July 24, 2022.

As you can see from the corkboard full of index cards, we have a lot of work left to do. We had to get organized because we were both having trouble remembering what all we had to do. The board also helps us put the tasks in order, so we know where to start.

We created the board this morning. Once it was done, Erik immediately got to work on cleaning and priming our red kitchen ceiling.

Erik standing on a stepstool, washing the red kitchen ceiling with degreaser using a sponge mop. July 24, 2022.
Erik standing on a stepstool, washing the red kitchen ceiling with degreaser using a sponge mop. July 24, 2022.
The kitchen ceiling with one coat of primer. The red is bleeding through the primer. July 24, 2022.
The kitchen ceiling with one coat of primer. The red is bleeding through the primer. July 24, 2022.

After only one coat of primer, the red is still visible. This is a three-coat job, for sure.

It’s a good thing we have a Painting God in this house.