Just about bordering on odd, I see things through different eyes.The heading says it all - I live, I love, I craft, I am me...

19/10/2021

Blogtober day 19 - Splish Splash I'm (not) taking a bathπŸ˜πŸ›☔🎡

Rain☔ stopped play - well, outdoor play. Watching the weather report last night, I decided that it looked like I would be stuck at home so I might as well use the opportunity to paint πŸŽ¨the bathroomπŸ›

By 9am (when I should be already in the throes of working) the weather was throwing a temper tantrum with rain lashing against the windows and leaves being ripped off and hurled around. Curling my fingers around my second brew, I knew I'd made the correct decision and with an air of determination I started to carry all the painting paraphernalia upstairs. 

As I did so, I wondered why I'd left it so long since the room was last decorated..... hmmm.
Any hoo, I started to remove all the plants and pictures, revealing grubby places where spiders had lived and left and dust had moved in. Then all the bottles of shampoo, conditioner and bath salts were placed in boxes - we have more than necessary as Youngest and GF leave a stash here for when they stay.
Shells and bottles filled with pebbles - holiday memories, a china 'beach hut', pictures and a vintage glass owl lamp were taken down and boxed. Then the towel rail and towels were stored in the spare room.

With the bathroom virtually empty bar the curtain, a chair, the bath mat and dustbin, I started removing the shelves. Ah - no screwdriver .... I looked outside at the monsoon weather and decided against dashing out to the garage. So I rummaged around in my work rucksack and found a multitool. Despite it's apparent ability to magically transform to anything I wanted it to be - it was not a very good assistant and I found myself going downstairs to stick the kettle on for a bit of encouragement. Armed with a mug of steaming tea I tried again and by the powerful magic of swearing - the screws relinquished their tight hold and I finally removed three lots of shelving.

Urgh - two of the shelves are above head height and their upper layers were rather grimy - shame on meπŸ˜•.  A quick slug of tea for courage for the next stage, I started draping sheets over the basin, radiator and and floor, I felt like I was back in control and actually looked like I knew what I was doing (erhmm..... the jury is out on that decision) My inner self suggested I mask off the wooden panelling with tape but I soon brushed (ha) that silly idea away - it would mean having to go back downstairs again. pah.

A quick wrestle with the roller - it was a bit loose and the handle was rattling a little (my slightly more sensible inner me had suggested I use the new roller but the confident nay brash outer me said no). Paint was poured into the pan and I ceremonially dunked the roller into the paint, rolled it around a bit, still looking like I knew what I was doing when .... uh oh - I need to 'cut in' (that is when you paint around the edges with a slender paintbrush). So I carefully lowered the laden roller, scrabbled around for the new paintbrush and tore off it's cover. Dipped that in the paint and with a flourish promptly flicked paint down my shirt and jeans, across the floor (where there was no dust sheet - why??) and on the wooden skirting board. 

After clearing that up, I tried again. The paintbrush both new and rather enthusiastic (or was that me) meant that I kept having to wipe off surplus splodges from the wooden panelling. My enthusiasm waning, after I wiped for the forth or fifth time despite my now careful strokes, made me stop and think. So I went off to look for a piece of cardboard I could rest on the panelling and would stop me accidently splodging paint on it. This only succeeded in making a cardboardy mess and I was getting rather annoyed with it all.

My slightly more grown up inside self said in a rather smug way - go and get the masking tape and tape off the bits that dont need painting .... like you were told to do earlier..... 

Several minutes later, a drained tea mug, a grumble or two - I'd masked off the side I was about to paint. I picked up the paintbrush, reloaded it and started to work around the edges again. When (that dratted inner nuisance said ... you bought a mini roller to do the edges last night, had you forgotten?)

Gritting my teeth and mentally ignoring the smug voice replaced the paintbrush back in the tray and went to find my new mini roller I had specially bought for this very thing...... ripping it's cover off was more like trying to tear a telephone directory in half but I succeeded eventually. A quick rolling in the paint and then applying said paint in the corners and along the edges suddenly made me feel very happy. It made such a lovely slooshing-slapping-sticky-paint-going-on-to-the-wall noise that I didn't mind all the pfaff leading up to this point.

Then for a little while, things were going well although I did have to resort to changing the old roller for the new one - my inner voice never said a word but I knew it was feeling rather pleased with itself ... again..     I began to congratulate myself, omitting the gaffs and rookie errors I had made.  THEN I stepped into the bowl of water for the cat. It is a large bowl... For the cat... On the floor... It was full... of water.

Argh!

I stepped out of my soggy slipper, pulled off a dripping sock, hopped out of the bathroom, dried my foot and stomped downstairs.  The kettle went back on. This time I.was.going.to.have.a.chocolate.digestive.to.go.with.it.and.NO.ONE.WAS.GOING.TO.STOP.ME ... there, I said it!

I stomped back upstairs, digestive crumbs tumbling down my chin and tea being swilled as if I was as parched as a pharaoh's flipflop... grrr. I used the bath mat to mop up the water, picked up the bowl and put it in the bath and dried the floor. Deep breath. I reached for the masking tape and taped off the rest of the room, using this as a distraction from the paint pot which was staring at me disapprovingly - you can just image it thinking - what sort of painting and decorating debacle have I come home to??

I sat on the steps into the room with the rest of my tea and texted Himself ... remind me why I wanted to paint the bathroom? I could mentally hear him chuckling - he knows and I'd forgotten how much I dislike painting walls.

Strangely enough the next stage of painting (apart from the difficulty in removing the curtain and the rail) went smoothly until I turned around to admire my work and saw that where the paint was now drying - it was patchy and the previous (cream-ish) colour was showing through. So..... I left the new wall drying, returned to the first half and gave another coat.

Are you still with me? If you think this is quite a slog to get to this point - imagine what it was like in real time!πŸ˜‚

Any hoo - I stopped for lunch - thought that Moss and I needed a breath of fresh air and seeing there was a break in the weather we nipped into the garden. Both feeling refreshed, I made a quick sandwich and then we (Moss goes up to bed and 'listens' to the radio in the bedroom!) returned upstairs. At this point I threw the curtain into the washing machine - might as well get the whole room looking clean and fresh.

This break had given the walls a bit of time to dry and I could see where I need to give second and in some cases a third coat - the paint is lovely and thick but I wonder if I'd rolled it a little to lightly initially. I applied the next layer a whole lot thicker to make up for that mwhahahaha

Suddenly I'd got all the way round and where it was drying was looking a whole lot brighter and cleaner. I decided that I'd had enough and I would clear up and let it dry fully. Plants were wiped and their pots washed (they are still waiting in the bedrooms until the paint has completely dried), shelves were washed and dried and are waiting in the spare room. The tiled part of the wall around the shower/bath area was washed and the floor wiped. The paintbrushes and rollers were cleaned and all the dust sheets rolled up and removed. 

When I left the bathroom - it was like a mike drop - boom! 🎀


I am knackered! And as part of my 'recovery' I had yet another brew and sat with the cat and dog downstairs and caught up with some blogs.
It is raining again/still outside and I think it is time to light the fire - I can feel the temperature has dropped.  Himself will be home soon and I want to see if the bathroom has dried enough to put back a few things but I suspect not - that might be a job for future me!😁☔







20 comments:

  1. I absolutely hate decorating and I'm useless at it. DB used to do it all and I did all the preparation and clearing up. Now I pay somebody else to do it. I'm impressed you got it done in one day.

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    1. I am tempted to get someone else to come in after yesterday's debacles! That or leave it for a while and forget how rubbish it was and attempt another roomπŸ˜‚

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  2. Oh Kate … well done you for not giving up. It’s always the same with spur of the moment jobs when you’re all enthusiastic and just want to get cracking and try and skip the boring prep bits. We had lots of decorating plans for this year but have done nothing at all. I’m sure it will all feel more than worth it when you get all your bits back in and it looks lovely and fresh πŸ˜ƒ

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    1. Thank you Carol - it does look better but it certainly looked worse first! haha

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  3. My problem with decorating is getting started. Once I'm underway it's ok but usually I can find lots of other far more interesting things to distract me first. Arilx

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    1. Sounds like you have procrastination to a fine art! πŸ˜‚

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  4. I hate painting, but hubby hates it more so it usually falls on me. Thank you for sharing your story it is similar to many of my painting stories and I had to laugh (sorry!) as I imagined myself in your situation. Hope the rest of your week goes well!

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    1. Ugh - yes, my husband is not keen and although I am not either - it had to be done and for some inexplicable reason I decided it would be done by me???!!

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  5. 1. Splashed paint ALWAYS lands on you or the one place not covered by dust sheets. It is LAW.
    2. Preparation takes 10 times longer than the actual painting. Also LAW.

    Sending hugs, I too hate painting. xx

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    1. Yes and yes most definitely!
      Hugs most welcomeπŸ’š

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  6. PS: Most fabularious picture of Moss and her sleeping tongue. πŸΎπŸ’šπŸΎ

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    1. She has taken to 'blepping' in her sleep and her tongue tip is like boot leather - you'd think it would be so uncomfortable!

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  7. Your story made me laugh this morning, especially the bit about the wet foot - it would have made a good scene in a sitcom :) Well done for not giving up though, I'ms sure the room looks much brighter now it's done. I find painting walls is quite boring but I do like painting woodwork.

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    1. Thank you Eunice - yes it is definitely an improvement (despite all the goings on!) funnily enough (except it is not funny at all!) I hate painting woodwork even more than walls!! πŸ˜‚

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  8. Oh my goodness! Well done you for completing this.
    I am sorry to admit that this made me laugh - particularly when you stepped in the water bowl! It is the memory of similar escapades which remind me why I should not ever attempt DIY - it always carries that element of disaster for me.
    However, you should feel proud and I am sure it will all look lovely.
    Best wishes (and thank you for making me laugh on a miserable day!)
    Ellie

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    1. If I have made you laugh then you have made my dayπŸ˜ŠπŸ’• thank you!

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  9. I really enjoyed your post - and felt for you at every step. But great that it's is all looking good now and you won't have to do it again for a long time :)

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    1. Thank you :) yes - don't think I will painting that room in a hurry for some time! πŸ˜„

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  10. Thanks for making me smile and almost fall of my chair with laughter. If anything needs decorating, I have to do it but I'm not planning on doing any soon. At least it's done now. Well done. x

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  11. Well done for persevering, though once you had started you had to keep going. Definitely sounded like a scene from a comedy. πŸ˜‚πŸ§‘ xx

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