Ethan's Room

Ethan has been after me since we moved into our house (2 1/2 years ago) to paint his room. I have wanted to but couldn't find the right comforter. When I finally found one that both of us liked, I procastinated getting paint. I don't know why. On Wednesday I got a "bee in my bonnet" and went to Home Depot armed with a pillowsham to get paint. They matched the two colors in the pillowsham Ethan had chosen, mixed the paint and then I was on my way.

Courtney and I pulled everything out of Ethan's room that we could, taped the walls and started to paint. I gave her a small brush and she started to help me. She painted a whale and a fox that was going to eat her. It really was just a bunch of circles, but it kept her busy. I'm not the best painter because I'm usually not patient, but I finally figured out how to paint doing his room. For me, I need a small (5 inch) sponge roller and then I load it up with as much paint as I can. Wednesday I finished "Phase 1" of his paint job which was the base color of the walls...bright blue. The only complaint I have is that I painted on Wednesday. I firmly believe that Satan knows when Bryan has mutual and intentionally reeks havoc on my house that day because he knows Bryan has to leave and I just have to deal with it. Things always go wrong on Wednesdays and last Wednesday was no exception.

With his room full of paint fumes, we decided to have Ethan sleep with Courtney in her room. Bryan put Ethan's mattress on Courtney's floor and, of course, we had to put Courtney's mattress on the floor next to Ethan's. They actually did really well sleeping in the same room.

Thursday morning Courtney and I went to the store to buy more painters tape. Friends and family have tried and tried to explain to me how to paint without taping but it never works for me. I must just be paint challenged. But Ethan wanted a top border (he even specified the size) and I wanted it to look crisp and nice. One friend told me about a technic her friend taught her (the friend is a professional painter) where you use calking. I decided to try it. I spent the morning before the preschool field trip taping and calking the walls (you put up the tape and then run a small bead of clear calking at the top of the tape where the paint will touch and then wipe it into the tape with a wet washcloth, sealing the edge of the tape so paint won't seep under it). When we returned, I started on Phase 2: the dark green border. It actually went really fast, I was surprised. I saved a 1 foot section for Ethan to paint after school and he loved it!

Ethan decided he wants white stars stenciled in the dark green but I'm going to do that later. Tomorrow I'll put his room back together, buy curtains and then take a finished (kind of) picture. I think it turned out well. Ethan has the exact colors he wanted and is really happy with his new room. He said he feels "really special" that we painted it. ;)