Conversations I overheard while painting...

Yesterday I took on the task of painting Christopher and Sarah's room for the first time since we moved into this house. It was high time we added some color to that room bathed in bone white builder paint, so why not do it the week before we leave for vacation? Oh, the other big motivator was that we had just been given a bunk bed from some friends of ours, but we didn't want to put the bunk bed together until we painted the room.

So as soon as we were finished with breakfast, I started hauling everything out of the room, bit by bit. What I found behind the dressers and under the beds was rather appalling, so then began the cleaning process. I clogged the vacuum cleaner with all of the clumps of dust and had to take the whole thing apart to unclog it. I then had the kids wipe down the base boards before I put down the blue tape. This whole process took the entire morning up until lunch. The tape was on all base boards, doors, window seats, electrical sockets, etc., the drop cloth was down and we were ready to paint...but not until the younger two (Hannah and Mary Grace) were down for their naps. I realized that the last time we painted a room in the house, it was before we had any kids...

Mary Grace looks on as Sarah and Christopher wipe down baseboards.

This photo captures the bone white builder paint, but does not show all of the scuff marks that accumulated over the years.

It was quite a task keeping all the kids out of the room while I was setting it up. Christopher grew tired of being kicked out and was impatient to start painting, so he posted a sign on the door that read, "Work place is opened"...as if that would speed things up.

Painting took ALL afternoon. Christopher and Sarah eagerly helped with the painting when we first got started and kept at it for quite a while. They kept saying things like, "I love painting", "this is so fun", "this is REAL work", "Yeah, this is what adults do - I like to do adult work", and "look at this, Sarah - look how much I painted here" and "Oh Christopher, you need to get some paint over there" or "I need you to come over here and paint this part that I can't reach." Surprisingly enough, they were very thorough, took their jobs very seriously and did a great job.

Eventually, my neighbor sent her daughter over to see if they wanted to come out and play. By that time, they were ready and I could go over all the spots they missed and finish it off. When it was all said and done, the painting, detail work or touch ups were completed around 5pm.

While I was working on the edging up by the ceiling, John was out in the garage figuring out how to put the bunk bed together and listening to his sermon from this past Sunday. The kids came back over and I heard the neighbor girl ask, "Is that your dad talking?" Christopher replied, "Yeah, that's his sermon." After that I didn't hear anything until Sarah walked up and said, "Hey Rylie, what are you doing?" She said, "I'm listening to your dad talk." Sarah said, "Oh, but it's really boring...come with me." Too funny. At that part of the afternoon, I think we had accumulated up to 8 kids, including our own, running through the house.

Here's the finished product along with the bunk bed, which took John and his dad the remainder of the evening to put together.

Sarah conceded to painting the room blue ("Ocean View", to be precise) because she knows she'll eventually move into the pink room with Hannah and Mary Grace. We have yet to paint the girls' room, but we've already bought the paint ("Hawaiian breeze"). I just need some time to recover before I start that project.

Sarah is enjoying the extra space in the room. She also assured me that while she doesn't like the color blue (it's a 'boy' color to her), she does like blue paint.

This is what I captured right after Christopher said, "Hey Hannah, look at me up in my new bunk bed!"

Another view. Even though blue is a 'cool' color, I think it adds a lot of warmth to the room.

Christopher, enjoying his new room.