Whistle While You Work

Even if we hadn't accomplished anything this weekend, it would still be better than last weekend's fiasco. The fact that we slept in and still accomplished a lot made this weekend that much better. I started painting the other 3 walls in the master bedroom while John and the other menfolk on the circle had a grass-trimming party fueled by beer, BBQ, and the smell of corned beef and cabbage.


I spent half the day with my head tipped upside down repainting the ceiling. Painting white on white is just not very gratifying. But it does look crisp and I would have hated to have had to go back and do it after the walls were finished. The carpeting in the bedroom is trashed. Good thing it is being replaced. Here is what the two wall colors look like next to each other.


While I was having fun sniffing fumes, John and the boys went to work. They cut back every one's grasses, cleaned out brush piles, and helped us trim back the jungle in our back yard. They also helped us relocated several of the large grasses that were encroaching on the front door and back patio. The whole yard got a haircut.


The trailer is a testament to how much work was done. With the nice weather and plenty of beer, I think it was time well-spent. Saturday night, we all went over to one of the neighbors' for corned beef, cabbage, and Irish beer. Everyone was pretty exhausted, and after the most wonderful chocolate Guiness cake, we all called it a night pretty early.

This morning John left for Texas, so I started painting the graphic going on the blue feature wall in the master bedroom. Blame it on David Bromstead. I'm a huge fan of Color Splash and I thought this was a great idea. I started to sketch it in with a pencil, but I gave that up quick. I decided to free hand it instead. John wasn't around, so I figured if I screwed it up I had a few days to paint over it.

I had a ton of fun doing this. I've never painted anything like this where I needed a step ladder. I put the main branches on first with a thin brush. Then I went back and filled in more branches and the leaves.

Then I took a medium sized brush and filled in all the leaves. So far, I was pretty impressed with myself. No major screw ups and I didn't spill any paint. Portland really wanted to help, but decided a nap in the sunshine was more appealing after getting spanked for trying to rub on the open paint can. I took a few breaks to water the grasses, paint one of my drawers to go in the closet, take a 30 min nap, and squeeze in a run. All in all, it was a very productive weekend.

Now I'm still in the process of taking the small brush and filling in all the details and refining all of the lines. The main branch will be thicker, so I'll probably have to get out one more brush for that as well. Once the brown is done, there is a smaller plant that will go on top in silver. It's evolving as I go. Here is part of the detail that is completely finished.

I'm hoping to get the mural finished this week before vacation. After we're back we'll be able to install the closest and paint the trim in master. Then we're pulling out all the trim in the house and painting the whole thing! We're getting so close, I can almost feel the clean carpet under my toes!

Of course, no weekend would be complete without a monkey pile.