Summer 2003 Project -
Every room in our new house needed painting, since it was all in the original contractor whitewash. In case you aren't familiar with this low grade flat paint, it's about as effective as flour mixed with water and tends to show a lot of scuff marks and wear fairly quickly. Even though the interior was nice and bright from the windows and white paint, it was showing the wear of seven years' use.
We decided to start with the rooms we use most, which happened to be the more difficult areas to paint. I had already painted the master bedroom during Autumn 2002, and now it was time to do something with the entry way.
This massive area consists of the entry space, which goes up eighteen feet or so to a lofted ceiling. It also includes a stairwell with a ninety degree turn and the upper hallway, which overlooks the entry way. This was definitely a two person job, and because of the high ceiling, we either needed to hire someone or rent scaffolding. We opted for the latter.
The scaffolding was a bargain, at $60/week. It came in pieces, which you assemble to create six foot, stackable platforms. On flat surfaces you can attach locking wheels so that it's easier to maneuver around; on stairs you can leave the wheels off for more stability. We were a little confused at first, but once we got the hang of it, it was surprisingly easy to use. With the scaffolding set up, we could easily reach the highest parts of the wall and the ceiling, and for the one area where we couldn't quite reach over the stairs (because we didn't want to relocate the scaffolding), we used a special pad that could be attached to the end of a paint pole. We were able to do all of the high work (and more) in one week, faster than we expected, in fact.
Scaffolding - Ground Level |
Ceiling work |
Wondering what it was like? It feels a little wobbly, but the structure is safe enough. It reminded me of climbing up a jungle-gym. Wayne doesn't like heights too much so I did all of the ceiling and upper-wall work. It's much easier than working on a ladder.
Michaelangelo-Christy? |
Wayne and I painted non-stop the first weekend and work continued for about a week as we put a fresh coat of pale yellow paint over the old stuff, with white on the ceiling. The result was a much brighter, cleaner-looking entry way. The trim work actually took as much time or more than the walls because we had to paint all of the doors and edges (done in white semi-gloss). This kept us busy on and off through the summer, although I didn't finish the upstairs trim until just before Thanksgiving.
To finish off, we furnished the space with an area rug, a round mirror, and a bench.
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