Our Weekend Fun - Brightening Things Up

When we bought this house, I knew the dark paneling in the basement wouldn't be something I'd keep forever, and really would need to be gone before the short, dark days of fall and winter started. Spending 11+ hours a day in the daycare room, with it being dark like a cave, just wouldn't work for me. But it was a great space and we jumped right in and set it up for daycare and it's been working great for us!








With this past weekend being a 3-day weekend, I knew it would be the perfect time to get the painting in the daycare room done. I'd had colors picked for weeks and was just waiting for the perfect time. I left this weekend wide open so I could just concentrate on working in the basement and have plenty of time to work through all the steps and let everything dry and be cleaned up before kids came back today.

Bronson got everything taped off and ready for me Friday night. Saturday morning, got right up and started the process by donning by orange rubber gloves and applying a de-glosser to all the paneling I'd be painting. Lots of elbow grease was needed for this step. Then the first coat of Kilz. It was during this coat when I thought, "What was I thinking????" It looked horrible. Hours later, my arms and hands aching, I started the 2nd coat of Kilz. After the 2nd coat, it looked much better, but I stinkin' ran out of Kilz late Saturday evening, so I packed it up, took a shower and we spent some family tv time.

Being tight on time, I didn't want to run to town for only a gallon of Kilz, so while we watched tv, I worked on this week's grocery list. Tyler and I headed into town early Sunday morning, for not only my gallon of Kilz, but a week's worth of groceries as well. Late that morning, the groceries were put away and I was back at it, finishing off that 2nd coat of primer.

Finally, after a late lunch, I started adding color! The main color I chose is a creamy light tan. Just a tad darker than off white. It went on beautifully. Two coats of this color later and I was pretty sure my arms were going to fall off at the socket.





But, Bronson was still working on his projects and I just wanted to be done, so I started in on my accent color - a fun bright purple!





At this point, Icy Hot became my friend... Around 10:00, I finished the 2nd coat of this purple, then took a shower and died in bed for the night.

Monday morning, Tyler's birthday, we got up a little later, I added a 3rd coat of the purple, we ate her birthday breakfast of donuts and watched a little Dirty Jobs; we then headed out for a while for some rock and fossil collecting as she wanted to do on her birthday (strange child). We got home, ate another late lunch and around 3:00 I started back in the daycare room - tape removal and clean up. Ugh.

But, I got through it in a couple of hours, finishing up around 5:30. Bronson and I worked together to get the yard mowed. I fixed Tyler's birthday dinner of "Monster Burgers", Curly Fries and Key Lime Pie, finished a few things in the basement then headed back to bed to die for a while.

I am very happy with the results, even though I'm exhausted and could definitely use a 3-day weekend to recover from my 3-day weekend... Here's a look at the finished? product.

Here's where I need your opinions. Bronson and my mother both suggested leaving the walls on either side of the fireplace dark. I went with it, but I'm not sure I like it. Look through the pictures and comment with what you think. Should I leave it or does it just look unfinished and should I go ahead and paint those walls to match the others?










I'm almost ready to think about tackling the paneling in Tyler's room. Almost...