Painting

I am finally getting around to painting my basement. I think. I am trying to get the kids- Jake and Ethan specifically- to help me move things and junk out and tape and all that stuff. It is not going well. So far today it has mostly been one argument after another between them with Jacob thinking that he shouldn't have to do anything and Ethan doing most of what has gotten done, which isn't much.

I use a paint stick to paint. I love it. You suck the paint up into the stick and paint away. The painting goes really fast and there isn't as much mess. However, I am missing one of the endcaps for the roller. End caps are important, they hold the paint inside the roller instead of all over the floor. They also hold the roller onto the stick. I went to the store to buy new endcaps. No one here in Utah Valley carries endcaps. So I either need to paint the old fashioned way or buy a new paint stick.

Home Depot has a Power roller that works kind of like the paint stick except you attach it straight to the paint can. You are supposed to be able to do 40 sq. ft/minute. They had both a battery operated unit and the electrical unit. I figured as much as I paint I would go through the price difference in batteries, so I bought the electric one. Now as soon as the taping is done, I will see how well this works.

My problems with the dungeon basement are many:

1. It is downstairs. Down a lot of stairs

2. It is dark down there. We have 2 windows, but they are basically below ground level. One of them is even underneath the deck. Ugly, Ugly view

3. It is long and narrow and I have no idea how to arrange the furniture so it is functional.

4. I hardly ever go down there so the boys pretty much take over. And we all know how boys are. Ya, boys= messy yuckiness.

5. The laundry room is part of the family room. I know. Stupid planning on the part of the architect.

6. I have way too much stuff and it all ends up down there in a disorganized ugly stupid mess.

So, here are some before pictures. The day they were taken Ethan and I were taking things out of the bookshelves and moving them to form a sort of wall to seperate the laundry room from the rest of the room, so it looks even worse than normal.

The view from the laundry room

There used to be a wall about where the tv is. The previous owners used it as a bedroom. That little wall with the tree painted on it is the side wall of the closet. We put shelves in there and all the games are on them. I used the room as a deep dark ugly office for awhile. About 9 years ago I got tired of it and ripped the wall out to open up the family room and moved my office upstairs to a bedroom and reshuffled bedrooms.

The view from the couch.

Eventually I want to put cupboards in over the washer and dryer. That is as big as my laundry room is, so hampers and baskets have to sit in front of the fireplace.

Speaking of which, eventually I would like to take out that ugly brick aroun the fireplace and replace it with black marable 12x12 tile. This is the way it was when we moved in 16 years ago and nothing has changed.

This is the main reason I keep putting off painting. I was in Lisa Bearnson's house and she had the cutest murals in her house. The one I loved the best was a tree with birdhouses hanging from it. So when I redid the basement, I put one in my house. At the time, I had a papasan chair under it for a reading nook. It was a favorite hangout for me, my kids and the neighborhood kids as well.

This guy is my favorite part of the tree mural. I'm going to miss him.

Rabbits are about the only animal I can draw free hand and they look like what they are supposed to look like.

I painted all kinds of butterflys. I got some small toy lady bugs and stuck them to the tree. They have since flown away.

There are about 10 hummingbirds flying around the tree. They give a great sense of movement.

One of the bird houses. See the dragonfly in the lower right? More movement

It's always spring in this corner of the family room. I am really going to miss this section, but it is time for the family room to grow up.

I will post some in progress and after photos. Then I am going to ask for suggestions for arranging furniture and stuff. I used to have a sectional down there, but it was way too big for the space. I'll show you what furniture I have to go down there. If someone has suggestions for different furniture, I will entertain them. The wall where the tree is now is going to need something. I already know that. I am seriously thinking about commisioning something from Jacob Brazell. So, be ready with all of your suggestions.

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Indeed.