When we moved into our duplex last year, we painted every room which would have furniture in it. That left painting the kitchen and both bathrooms for this year. Well, I wish I could say we just finished painting the kitchen, but, alas, it seems like in this project there's always just one more thing to do.
It started with more than just painting. First, we had to take off the wallpaper back splash and the ceiling border. Initially, we were saying things like, "piece of cake", "been there, done that", and "at least it's just a LITTLE BIT of wallpaper; it's not like all the walls are covered". Yeah. This professionally done wallpaper job prepped the wallpaper hanging by sanding the texture off all the back splash wallboard portion of the kitchen (one entire wall above the sinks and counter tops). After spraying and scraping up the wallpaper, now we have to re-texture the wallboard on one side of the room and blend it to match the texturing on the adjoining walls. OK, can do - did an entire great room in Hurst. Oh, and once the vinyl wallpaper was gone, one more thing became obvious: We had to dig out the old silicone caulk running along the top of the cabinet back splash the length of the kitchen in preparation for re-caulking.
One more thing...the 'pass thru' from the kitchen into the living/dining room has also been wallpapered, and it's not just the walls - it's the ceiling too. Spray, spray, spray, scrape, scrape, scrape. Oh, and one more thing....paint the pass thru with Kilz since they didn't take the texturing off in this area before lathering on the wallpaper glue.
Meanwhile, as I'm re-texturing, Drake is spraying vinegar and chipping away at the wallpaper border up next to the ceiling which was put on with either magic spells or superglue. And it's not enough to get the vinyl top off, then you have to attack the paper under layer, and then the magic glue under that. One more thing: We had to go buy some Kilz because the professional paperhanger first drew a thick blue line with some material guaranteed to bleed through paint as his guideline prior to hanging the ceiling border. Now, prior to painting, we had to run brush fulls of Kilz over the blue line around the circumference of the kitchen.
Time to paint, you ask? No.....one more thing: Somebody, (like to get my hands around that neck), painted the entire kitchen in glossy paint. For those of you unfamiliar with this type of paint, it has two characteristics: (1) It's shiny, and (2) if you try to paint over it - the new paint won't adhere. Another trip to Home Depot scouting the shelves for deglosser. That's the new name for liquid sandpaper. Of course, it has everything except a skull and crossbones on the label. Time to wipe down the entire kitchen while holding our breath and wearing funny glasses.
Finally, time to paint. Right after we tape. And one wall is going to have to wait. Someone has cut a 3x4" hole in the wallboard. Time to break out the mesh patching. That patch has taken me three days and one entire 'do over' before I am marginally happy with its appearance. Painting for sure....tomorrow. I really, really would like my 30 year old body to return for the next few days. This stuff just seemed easier when most body parts and joints didn't ache or throb at day's end.
One more thing....now we need to wash the windows.
