Painted!

OK, so I just wanted to share that I got my cupboard painted and assembled and stocked! (well, I just moved stuff from a different shelf, but...) Wahoo!

OK, so when we moved into the house, (I've told you this before) we had an in-the-wall oven, and counter-top range.
They were deemed unsafe, by us and the gas man, so Hal ripped them out. Sorry I don't have pictures of that experience!

Anyways, after he removed the counter section where the range was, we put our stove there (gas hookups), and as for the oven-hole: I proceeded to sand it, Hal made shelves (out of the cupboard he removed), and I painted it all.
Isn't my shelf thing cute? And I can reach it! I can't reach very much in my kitchen without my stool. (A foldable step-stool.)
If you look behind the stove, you can see where the counter used to be glued to the wall. I should probably paint that, too. But it's so cute!


"Funny" story about painting... I've apparently only ever painted with cheap paint (if you can call any paint cheap) that washes off with water and soap (totally the way to go!!!)...

We bought a quart of paint from Lowes (sturdy stuff!) and a paint brush. No primer (we never remember primer) or paint thinner (what do we need that for?)...
One afternoon, I started painting. I had the shelves and "hole" to paint. As I started painting, I was thinking "this paint is a little different! It seems really thick and gooey. And it's not covering the wood well. Weird! Oh, well!" So, I painted one side of the shelves (they were propped up on a chair) and went in to paint the hole in the wall.
I worked on painting all afternoon. Having a blast! I was singing and dancing and having so much fun! In my enthusiasm, I managed to get paint all over both hands. I have no idea how that happened! And on my arms, and a little in my hair, and on my clothes (I was wearing painting clothes, one of few good habits I have learned from my days spent painting)...

When I was about halfway though painting, 4:15 rolled around. (Time to go pick Hal up from work.) So, I went to wash my hands. The paint was going NO WHERE. The water didn't even have a little white color to it. The paint just smeared more, so now my hands are completely covered in paint... "How irritating!" I didn't have time to mess with it, I needed to go get Hal. Luckily, I have plastic Wal-mart bags, so I stuck my hands in some (to keep from painting the entire car) and off I went.

I informed Hal with a big grin that I'd been painting and he said "I see that..." (how could he miss it, really?)
When we got home, Hal opened the door sniffed the air and asked "Dani? Did you have the windows or doors open while you were painting?" *Scoff!* Who ventilates while painting?! No wonder I was having so much fun! So we opened the doors and windows to let some of the toxic air escape, and I continued painting. Once I got all done, I tried again to wash off the paint. It really wasn't going anywhere. I had never encountered paint that was quite so determined to stay!

Hal to the rescue. AGAIN. He always has to fix my messes!
We (I was not going to stay home) went to Wal-mart to get paint thinner. While we were there, we also got more paint (somehow I had used almost an entire quart of paint on the little area I painted), some primer, and some gloves (I used them next time).
When we got home, my wonderful husband helped clean me up. Nice guy! And dealt with me coming down off my intense paint high.

What a nightmare!

When I went to put on the second coat (which was desperately needed!) I used the other paint. Cheaper stuff. It went on so smooth and quickly and was so wonderful! It even washed off me easily. And I ventilated.

I guess to summarize, I'll share what I learned:
1. You should probably prime bare wood before painting it. Otherwise, you use a whole lot of paint on a little area. Does wood drink paint?
2. Paint thinner is very helpful when it comes to removing paint from yourself after painting. And in the future, I'll try to have it on hand before I know I need it.
3. When painting, you really should ventilate! While being high is fun, the coming down is awful! (Headaches and tears...)
4. Driving with plastic bags stuck to your hands adds another element to the whole experience.
5. I LIKE CHEAPER PAINT!!!
6. Touching things with painted hands is a blast! I should take up finger painting for real! I do feel bad that someone at Wal-mart had to go around the store cleaning up white handprints everywhere, but... :)