Adventures in Spray Painting

When last we left the kitchen cabinet painting project, the boxes were painted and the doors were sitting in the garage waiting for warmer weather. After experiencing the pain of painting the cabinet boxes, we decided to try spray painting the doors. Luckily, some friends had an airless paint gun they weren't using and this weekend with highs in the 60s and 70s we had perfect painting weather.

After sanding, filling, then sanding the doors again last weekend, they were prepped and ready to go. I washed the doors so they were clean and dust free, and hung plastic around the garage.

I was already nervous that morning about whether we could make the tight timeline needed in order to prime and paint 18 doors and five drawers. Because who knows how many more 55+ degree days we'll see in central Ohio between now and next spring? And I know me; I will not make it through winter with door-less kitchen cabinets.

The boyfriend is the dedicated spray painter around these parts. He even painted his car himself and it turned out really well. Even with his skill, my anxiety only increased after seeing the first sprayed door. I expected glass-like smoothness, but what I saw was an orange peel-like texture.

The boyfriend kept spraying, but another problem was soon apparent. The airless put out so much overspray, that there wasn't enough room in the one+ car garage to both shoot and have drying space for the doors. And the overspray was getting everywhere. Any little strip of floor that I hadn't covered was now white instead of grey. The paint buildup was enough that we left a trail of white footprints from the garage to the driveway. Suddenly I understood why, despite better results, more people don't DIY with spray paint.

Ghost footprints? Nope, overspray casualty.

Anyone who knows me knows I hate a mess, and this was turning into a mess of epidemic proportions. I was ready to terminate the project and just go back to painting the old-fashioned way (ok I was freaking out), but the boyfriend wanted to press on. Soon the driveway was littered with empty kitty litter buckets with freshly painted doors drying in the sun. This proved to be less than ideal as, you know, it's fall, so there are leaves and debris falling everywhere. Eventually the boyfriend agreed that the current setup wasn't going to work and we packed it up for the day.

At that point I was already planning this post in my head. The title was going to be, "Spraying Painting Cabinets: Epic Fail," but then I saw the next-day results of the spray painting. Even though only the primer had been sprayed, and not our fancy self-leveling cabinet paint, the finish was amazingly smooth. It was 100 times better than even our best results with brushing previous doors. Some of the doors weren't perfect of course, but that was easily remedied with a little light sanding. Suddenly the mess of spray painting didn't seem quite so bad, and the idea of going back to brush marks galore was a lot less appealing.

Our new plan is to try the HVLP spray gun the boyfriend can borrow from his job since he assures me it will produce much less overspray. And they're calling for warm enough weather next weekend that we can paint outside again.

So what have I learned kids?

1. Don't wait until October to start painting if you live in a northern climate. You're probably thinking, duh, and I don't blame you. Part of the wait was my own laziness and procrastination, and part of it is due to a really hectic work schedule this summer. Either way getting a late start has complicated everything.
   
2. Cover EVERYTHING if spray painting. And I mean everything, every speck of floor, wall and anything else you don't want to get paint on. It's way easier to tape off and cover everything then clean and repair the mess later. Use a tarp or heavy duty plastic on the floor that you don't mind throwing away, thinner plastic is okay for walls.
   
3. Take it outside. Before we started spray painting I was thinking I could possibly set up a spray area in the garage, but after experiencing it firsthand I would never ever attempt it. This is an outside-only project in my mind.
   
4. As usual everything will take three times longer than expected, so give yourself plenty of time.

Holiday Decorating: Do You Bother?

Do you decorate for different holidays? I don't, with one exception, Christmas.

It seems as if every few months the stores are stocking their shelves with aisles of decorations for the next holiday. There is something for for everyone: Valentine's Day, Saint Patrick's Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving and, of course, Christmas. The amount of stuff that is manufactured, and which presumably some people buy, is astounding. Flags, doormats, pillows, blankets, tablecloths, mantle decor, towels, dishes, cookie jars, candles, candle holders, wreaths, outdoor lights, indoor lights, soap...the list goes on and on. Billions of dollars are spent on this stuff each year.

This right here? Gives me hives.

Then you have the magazines, blogs, Pinterest, and more, filled with photos of each hostess, and some hosts, trying to outdo the next with their own creativity and quantity of decor. Right now there is a flood of pretty, but elaborately decorated tablescapes. Seeing these give me hives because I think, who has the time, and actually enjoys, shopping for, buying and arranging all that stuff?!?

I'm not trying to spoil anyone's fun here; by all means if you enjoy decorating for the various holidays, then don't let me stop you. I enjoy decorating for Christmas and having all the pretty lights to look at for a month, but that's where the urge ends for me.

I remember decorating my first apartment. I had fun making it pretty and adding my own touches to create a comfortable home that I enjoyed spending time in. But then came the holidays, and suddenly it appeared that my job wasn't done. I began to wonder, with all the neighbors decorating not just for Christmas, but for Halloween, Easter and Thanksgiving, shouldn't I join in to? So I began to collect a black bat here, and some pumpkins there, but I really didn't enjoy it. Finding these things, putting them out, then storing them just felt like yet another chore to me. It wasn't until I started decluttering a few years ago that I finally gave myself permission to get rid of my paltry collection of Halloween decor and to admit that I didn't like it, nor need to keep or display it.

Even after giving up on the manufactured stuff, I still clung to the idea of natural decorations. I bought pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn and the like, but I didn't really enjoy that either. So this year I bought nothing and didn't miss it at all.

That's what minimalism is to me, in a nutshell. Re-examining the way we live, the things we do and the stuff we buy and keep, to make sure it's still working for us. Not for society, not to impress your neighbors, just for us and our families. Letting go of the stuff that isn't working? Totally worth it, I promise.

Review: You Can Buy Happiness

There are many things I like about Tammy Strobel's book, You Can Buy Happiness (and it's cheap): How One Woman Radically Simplified Her Life and How You Can Too. Strobel is the creator and author behind the popular blog Rowdy Kittens, and in my mind she's one of the few simplicity bloggers with a big audience who hasn't totally sold out.

First, the book has a light happy tone, which contributes to making it an easy and pleasant read. You won't find any doom and gloom here and it lacks judgement of those of us who live a more typical American lifestyle, which is a major plus in my mind. But the best thing about this book is that Strobel included lots of stories about people who have simplified their lives, in addition to her own, some radically and some much less so.

You Can Buy Happiness did not make me want to run out and move to a tiny home, but that's never been one of my goals. I think this book will be more powerful for those who are new to the idea of simplicity and minimalism, but the personal stories make it interesting even to those who are voracious readers of the genre.

How's a Fragrance Junkie Supposed to Get a Fix?

flickr user: Dennis Wong

Eucalyptus spearmint, pearberry, brown sugar & fig

These are words that fill my heart with glee. Why? Because to me they mean one thing: yummy smells. I love things that smell good.

Plus, when you live with three cats and a boy, well, sometimes there are bad smells that need to be dealt with. And I'm sorry, but opening a window rarely cuts it. Plus, in my neck of the woods that's only a plausible solution about 20% of the time; it's usually too hot or too cold.

But if you've taken, or read about taking, even the smallest steps to free your life from toxic products, then you know that the vague term fragrance is a big, bad no no. It's code for toxic, carcinogenic chemicals.

I made what I consider to be major progress. I weaned myself off my favorite dealer, Bath & Body Works. No more plug-in air fresheners, spray or candles. My lotion is Burt's Bees and my shower gel has natural fragrances. I even stopped buying candles and switched to natural form of fragrance: essential oils. And everything was working pretty well actually.

Then I begin to see the cracks in my plan.

The Burt's Bees and Say Yes products I like (not love) may be 97-98% natural, but they still list the ever vague fragrance. Whhhyyyy?

And then the real kick to the gut. My beloved essential oils, that I've been using in everything from my homemade all-purpose cleaning spray to diffusing, are (may be?) toxic to cats. At least according to some sources. Toxic as in kill them if a drop gets on them. And even having them breathe in the diffused oils can be dangerous.

If you have cats in your home and are an essential oil lover, did you know about this? And if so, what did you do next? Now my choice is between killing the cats quickly with natural oils, killing us all slowly with synthetic fragrances, or dealing with a stinky house? Ugh.

I'm already jonesing to smell something good and it's only been a few days.

Update: The World's Longest Kitchen Reno

Well, I did manage to finish painting the kitchen cabinets (cabinets only, not the doors) during my week off. If you missed my earlier whining, it was six fun-filled days of sanding, scrubbing, scraping and, oh yeah, a little painting. And afterwards I didn't touch a paint brush or piece of sandpaper for nearly three weeks.

I guess I was suffering from DIY overload. Still am really.

I love seeing the bright white cabinets, however. So much better than that hideous midnight blue.

the before

But there's still the issue of all those drawers and doors. Living without them has just proved that I really couldn't live with all open shelving. Seeing all that stuff all the time drives me NUTS.

But apparently not nuts enough to rush the door paint job.

I finally got back on the horse this past weekend and we tackled the trim issue. When I say we, I mean the boyfriend. After a post-work sanding session last night, the doors are almost ready for paint. Just in time for a cold snap. Did I mention the unheated garage is our makeshift paint studio? Maybe I shouldn't have procrastinated quite this long. Sigh.

Getting Real About DIY: Painting the Kitchen Part I

The before: the navy blue light-sucking interiors must go.
Zoom in if you love chips and peeling paint!

Today is my last day of a week of vacation, but it felt more like time served for bad behavior. My crime? I decided to repaint my kitchen cabinets, a critically-needed step in the world’s longest kitchen reno.

This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. I’ve hated the navy blue insides of these cabinets since I first saw them when touring the house. They just suck all the light out of the room and are hideous. But worse than that, is that the white paint covering the outside of the cabinets was chipping and wearing off -- not a good look.

So the big paint job started on Monday. In retrospect, I should have started earlier and done more over the weekend. I did some packing and removed some of the shelf liners, but there was much, much more prep to be done.

Here’s the thing about DIY. Most TV shows and blogs gloss over the gory details. I mean sure, we all know projects take longer than the 30-60 minute show, and way longer than you plan for them to take, but who talks about just how horrid they can be at times? For the amount of work involved, I think there is far too little whining going on. Cause kids, this stuff can really suck. Taking painting kitchen cabinets for instance. I’ve been working on my kitchen about as much as I do at my regular job each day, only the kitchen work is much more physically demanding. It’s also messy, disruptive and causes you to need to bend in weird ways for long periods of time, which for me equals a lot of soreness. Which calls for a lot of booze, purely for medicinal purposes of course.

Here’s the breakdown of the work so far:

What chu doin to my kitchen, Willis?

Monday - Finished packing and emptied pantry. Have various kitchen crap stashed throughout house. Removed all hardware (by hand cause I can't find the darn drill!), doors, latches, drawers, and shelf liners (the adhesive kinds of shelf liners are the devil!). Used half a bottle of Goo Gone trying to remove the adhesive from those devilish shelf liners. Can we all just agree to never use those again? Finally, hung plastic and started sanding in the afternoon. After work the boyfriend removed some molding, filled holes and gaps and made a couple trips to the home improvement store while I continued sanding.

Tuesday - Spent five more hours sanding and scraping cabinets! That’s a helluva lotta sanding people - I ended up looking rather smurf like and was covered in blue dust. This included an inordinate amount of time spent trying to sand off remaining adhesive from those blasted shelf liners. Stop the insanity with the shelf liners! Started cleaning around four in the afternoon and finished wiping every cabinet, surface, appliance and mopping floor around 7:30 p.m. before hobbling to the shower.

Wednesday - Scrubbed cabinets with TSP for FIVE HOURS. Spent a ton MORE time scrubbing off remaining #%$(^U*(!!! adhesive. Dreamed of ways to kill whomever put down the damn shelf liner in the first place. Used de-glosser liquid to de-gloss a few more spots that I couldn’t reach with sander. Finally started painting around 4:30. Boyfriend came home and helped me paint for a few hours, and thanks to that we got a primer coat on everything but two cabinets. The carpal tunnel is really kicking in tonight, hoo boy.

This is also when the cats really started to rebel at being trapped in the basement. I don't understand it, there is an entire other living room down there, it's hardly Alcatraz, but they scream bloody murder half the day. At one point I thought someone had broken in and was dismantling the basement, but no it's just a pissed-off cat apparently attempting to shake the door of its hinges. Door wins, for now.

We's exhausted!

Thursday - Took the morning to recoop, but still managed to get a second coat of primer on all the cabinet boxes. Was starting to feel better about things, but then I remembered I haven't even touched the 14 doors and 4 drawers that need to be painted before kitchen is really back to normal. Beg boyfriend to go get more booze so I have beer to cry into.

Friday - Sanded and scraped a few drips from priming (oops). Time for the real paint which is exciting, but my motivation is at an all time low. Tried out a new roller cover and the results almost made me cry they were so horrid. The thought of two more days of painting is almost more than I can take. Finish getting coat of paint on cabinets thanks to help from boyfriend but am dismayed that vacation is officially over and I have at least another solid day of painting left. Dear god let it end soon.

----to be continued....if I make it.....

Stop the Insanity: Stuff Pushing Parties

1960s Tupperware Party, Wikipedia

It starts out innocently enough. A friend invites you over for a party. There will be snacks, lots of friends and family and, oh yeah, the opportunity to try some really great products!

There's always a catch.

Maybe I've just been sheltered, but it feels like the stuff pushing party circuit is picking up steam again. First it was Tupperware starting in the '50s, today it's Pampered Chef, Longaberger, Thirty-One, IT Works body wraps (I shit you not, that's a real thing)...the list goes on. Different brands that all rely on the same model: guilt your friends and family to come over and buy crap, so the hostess can get some free crap or a little extra cash. It all smacks of socially-acceptable peer-pressure drug-dealing parties, only the drug of choice is overpriced crap you don't need.

The whole scheme is dripping with guilt. Some of my friends feel they must absolutely accept any invitation they get, unless they have a conflict. And if you go, well, then everyone knows you must buy something, and it's not likely to be cheap. Out of guilt, I've browsed the stuff catalogs and have yet to see one things I would want to buy. In the Pampered Chef catalog and was unable to find a single kitchen gadget for less than $15, which is kind of pricey in my book for a vegetable peeler. Or take Thirty One, where you can get a monogrammed plastic lunch bag for double to triple the price you would pay at your local Target. Or maybe you need a not-so-stylish purse for $140. I'm gonna repeat that: ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY DOLLARS. I felt guilty last week when I paid $20 for a purse I really liked after weeks of fruitless purse hunting trips at the thrift store. But hey, if you wanna be organized and trendy, you're going to have to shell out the cash.

We're supposedly in an economic downturn, with budgets slashed to the core, and we feel it's perfect okay to ask our friends and family to buy extremely overpriced (mostly useless) crap so we can make a few bucks? Sometimes I just want to ask if I can give the host $20, keep my Saturday afternoon and we call it even.

I'd love to know how much money people really make in these ventures. I've never hosted any of these parties, so maybe it's a lot more than I think. But even so, aren't there better ways to make extra money than  direct-selling stuff to your friends and family? Do freelance, work overtime, slash some luxury items from your budget, sell some clutter, cut cable, anything, anything seems preferably to joining the home-party circuit.

Maybe it's just me, because I hear a lot of people waxing ecstatic about how awesome these products are. Some people gladly line up to fork over their hard-earned cash for a $20 flat iron cover. Don't get me wrong, if you absolutely love any of these brands and are dying for the latest and greatest, then by all means, shop til you drop. But I personally wish people would re-think the "guilt-the-people-you-love" business model.

Does the entire concept of stuff-pushing parties bother anyone else?