My dearest friends, we have finally done it! We have completed the bedroom (with the exception of a couple of minor touches) and couldn’t be happier with it. But of course, knowing me, this project did not go without its own adventure. Garrett and I selected a weekend, specifically today (a Saturday), in which we planned to paint the remaining three walls. My anxiousness, however, had very different plans for me.
Last night, Garrett poked his head in for a minute to see what I was up to before he was headed off to raid in FFXIV, allowing him to catch me red-handed with a paintbrush in one hand and the gallon of paint in the other. I had gotten antsy, as I so commonly do, so I figured I’d just paint the small wall that is between the purple wall and the hallway to the bathroom, just to see how the gray looked next to the purple in the lighting of the bedroom. Brilliant plan, right? If we didn’t like the color, then we could just go pick out a new one first thing in the morning and still be on schedule. While impatience may be a downside to my personality, I certainly make up for it with my ability to justify things!
“Just this wall? Cause I have raid, so I can’t help you until after.” Uh huh, yeah, sure, just this wall! I had quickly gotten about halfway through painting the slim wall at this point and was already devising a plan to finish the other part of it while Garrett was in raid to surprise him, and avoid returning to my boredom. I could tell he didn’t fully believe my reassurances but he proceeded to get ready for raid regardless and I went back to my task at hand. Once the slim wall was done, I excitedly called Garrett back into the room to show off my handiwork and how the colors looked side by side in the different lighting we have in the room. It looked great! After confirming that he really liked how it looked, he slowly turned to me and stated knowingly, “You’re going to keep going, aren’t you…” It’s like he’s learned how I work or something!
I grabbed the paintbrush again and set to work on the other part of the wall. Yes, you read that right, with a paintbrush. I know, I know. You think I’m crazy for not using the roller. That’s okay, even Carolina though I was insane. Once I finished off that wall, I stepped back and admired the color. It was coming along so nicely! It would certainly be a shame to just stop there when there were still so many hours left in the night…So I moved right on to the next wall and had just finished making my way around the door before Garrett caught me red-handed (or would it be gray handed since the paint was gray?) yet again. I felt my sly smile spread across my face while he took in what I was doing, shook his head, sighed, and chuckled “Why am I not surprised…” One thing that I really appreciate and adore about Garrett is just how thoroughly he understands me and doesn’t hold my crazy quirks against me. He just accepts that sometimes I get anxious and can’t sit still. Combine that with my impatience when it comes to projects and it leads to me doing stuff on my own rather than asking or waiting for help. I’m sure it was hard to get used to initially and probably a bit on the annoying side…But he’s so gracious about it and just laughs it off with me.
Back to raid he went and I continued on down the wall. As the brush strokes coated the drywall in the gorgeous gray, my mind wandered back to when my mom was painting my room as the ocean many years ago. I was right beside her, helping with painting the water and did not find painting appealing in the least (plus she was so much better at it than me!), so needless to say I did not last very long. I never understood why my mom enjoyed painting the house so much (every room in her house is a different color!) but now, years later, it finally hit me. There is something calming about painting the walls, as if you brush off a different worry or stress with each stroke. I approached the end of the wall and took another step back to see how it was going. Many spots would need a second coat, of course, but it was coming along quite swimmingly! Glancing to my right I noticed that the last remaining wall was the one with our two windows, so there reeeeeeeally wasn’t much to paint there…So why would I stop now, when I was so close to finishing the room? By now, Garrett wandered into the room again on a break and just laughed again.
“You’re just going to finish the room now, aren’t you?”
“Darn right I am! But don’t worry sweetie, you can do the second coat tomorrow!”
This morning we observed the room. I had certainly not taken care to avoid getting paint on the trim as we had already discussed repainting it, so we hatched our game plan; we would finish off the second coat (me with the paintbrush again on the edges, him with the roller) and then head off to Home Depot to pick a color for the trim while the walls dried. It didn’t take long before the walls were done and we were on our way to get more paint (we located a beautiful subtle, light purple/almost gray that looked lovely next to the wall colors) to use on the trim the next morning. Or…so he thought. Listen, I can’t help myself sometimes okay? The trim was completed, both coats, while he was raiding again with the exception of behind the bed, which he offered to do tomorrow morning while I paint the door. We make such a great team!
Once we returned and the pain had dried, Garrett installed our beautiful new outlet covers we found while shopping and we had officially earned a well deserved break. After 3 months of slowly working on this room little by little, the feeling that filled me as we stepped back after moving all the furniture back into place was amazing. I can honestly say that I absolutely love how our room turned out and it is such a soothing location to hang out (and meditate) in! Just a few finishing touches to add over time, such as new lamps and touching up the ceiling, etc…But loving where it’s at so far!
What do you think?
