Painting work

I finished my planned work on my mother's house. In the dining room, living room, downstairs hallway, and upstairs hallway and landing I painted the ceiling. For the same rooms I mudded most of the walls, primed then painted them.

The ceiling took more paint than anticipated. While most paints cover about 400 sq feet, this ceiling paint covered from 125 to 250 sq ft. As a consequence I had to buy a third gallon of paint. It didn't help matters that the paint can once fell over as I moved the ladder. I lost a little paint and a lot of time as I had to clean the carpet. No, there was no tarp at that spot as I was doing touch up painting then.

The brand was Dutch Boy and was an acrylic paint that goes on lavender and dries to a bright white. Since I thought I was one gallon short I bought two gallons. Huh? I bought two gallons as I had been delayed in getting my extra paint. There is so much building and remodeling activity in town the Menards store had run out of ceiling paint a few days earlier when my brother first tried to buy the extra gallon of ceiling paint.

The ceiling looks better now. This afternoon, since I had some paint left, I painted the small ceiling above the stairs that go to the lower level.

I had lots of work to do on the walls. As I was doing other stuff for my mother's estate while working on the walls there was a delay in moving between each step - mud, prime, painting. Therefore I had to take off and put back the electrical and light switch covers, curtain rods, curtains, pictures, etc. between each step.

I used more primer on the walls than I expected (a little over two gallons) for my estimated square footage. Therefore I expected I would have to buy another gallon of interior wall paint. To my surprise I used less (only a little over one gallon) than expected.

When my brother and I finally got the extra ceiling paint and primer I decided to buy the interior wall paint at the same time even though I hadn't decided on a color yet. What color to get? I wanted a light bright color, but not plain white. Who knew there were so many variations of white? My head spun as I tried to decide.

Over and over I debated. I looked at the color samples in bright light and normal light. How would these colors look on the walls? Finally I decided on Turtle Dove as a color. Then I discovered that my paint choice - Dutch Boy Dimensions Satin finish - was not available in Turtle Dove. *argh*

It was crazy that day at Menards and especially in the paint department. People, people, people - shopping and buying. It was hard to get a salesperson for advice and help. I needed help in choosing the paint finish: flat, eggshell, semi-gloss, gloss, satin? Help in deciding what brand of paint and which version of that brand.

Then I found that I could get Lambswool White as a color in the Dimensions line. I went with it. By this time I had spent a few hours shopping and I was more than ready to leave.

Wet, the Lambswool color was more pink/orange/tan than I expected - but I liked it. Then it dried to a more white color. Still in certain light it can have a tingle of color to it.

I don't know. My work looks nice and neutral even if it is a little more bland/neutral than what I think I could have as a wall color and still look nice with the carpet and curtains.

But I am done and that is an accomplishment as I had doubts I could get my planned work done before I returned to Montana. My brother was not happy as he was irritated by the sound of me applying mud then scrapping it along with the dust from my sanding. Nor was he happy with the paint smell. I tried to paint on warmer days but even then we couldn't leave the windows open long or overnight as this is October in North Dakota.

Here is the dining room ceiling in various stages. The white smooth part I painted the night before. Now I was painting the rough ceiling.

Here is the dining room wall. Photo 1 shows the original wall and the white is the mud. Photo 2 shows the top part of paint with the lower white part the primer. The paint is not dry so that is why it doesn't look as white as it eventually became.