Beginning To Paint Upstairs

 I decided to get ready to paint the house. My hip is in good shape. I know I will only be able to do a certain amount each day and take a rest day every second or third day. 

I did sit and think about where to start painting. As I cleaned out the hall closet, I decided to do that area around to the dining room's small wall. 

I knew I could handle this area easily. I took down everything I could off the walls and washed them and the trim and baseboards. The next job was to spackle the marks on the wall. 

When dry, I sanded them and wiped the dust off the walls. Next up was to tape the top of the baseboards. That was the hardest job of all as my hip was telling me it was tired. I stopped when done and let my hip rest. 

The colour I chose for the walls is the same one used in the basement. It is Snowfield White, a colour I know that will brighten up the house. 

Though grey is not as popular in 2024, I am still going with it as I really don't care. I like light neutral walls so other colours I use are noticeable and true. 

I have decided that the main accent colour for soft furnishings will be greyed blue (think denim). This colour can range from lights to navy. I may add a hint of another colour in some of the rooms and just white in other rooms. It will depend on what I want. 

In the area I am going to paint, I have a welcome sign that daughter gave me one Christmas a few years ago. 

It had a jute ribbon on it that I removed. I am thinking of adding a dark blue ribbon with three small white flowers. It has to be small as this is not a large sign. I want to add a picture below it. It may be something I make using a painter's canvas and fabric. I will keep my eyes open for something I like. 

The wall above the server will still have the barn picture on it. It is a picture that the Spousal Unit and I picked many years ago. The server will be cleaned and polished. I do like the items on it but it needs a runner on it in blues and whites and something with flowers in it. I can do that later this fall as I need to find the fabrics I want. 

At the moment I am focusing on this area only though soft furnishing colours will need to be chosen carefully so they can be used in the open concept of this house. I want to live in a house that I love. It just needs to be updated to colours that I love. 

Plans In Place

 I have been busy this summer and have not posted. My hip has improved enough that I am not having the intense pain I had in the past. I can do things without a lot of discomfort. I need to remember to do chunks of work that I can finish without getting too tired or sore.

The Yard

The garden was growing rapidly and I was excited. One morning I woke and the deer had pruned the peppers, beans, peas, and cucumbers. I was upset but knew it would happen one day. The deer have lost a lot of their environment to housing developments and are eating plants in everyone's gardens/yards. 

The plants recovered and grew like crazy. As the vegetables developed, the deer came in and feasted two more times. I now have to pick on a regular basis to get anything. Next year I will have to put up some sort of fencing around the boxes. 

I did pull the garlic and had a decent crop. They are drying in the garage. I have picked peppers and am happy with what I got. 

I have got cucumbers, beans, and peas also. The carrots are growing well as are the leeks. 

I am now getting ready to clean up the yard and get things put away for winter. It will take me a month to do it all as I have to clean out the shed and rearrange it. 

The House

I was away for 2 weeks (went to Sweden) and am struggling at getting back into the swing of cleaning the house. The time change and then the humidity knocked the energy out of me. I also had to have my hip worked on as it rotated inwards some from so much walking in Sweden. 

I am moving towards doing fall cleaning which includes washing walls, scrubbing windows and cleaning out everything that I don't need. I did a declutter of the dining room and it felt good getting rid of old paperwork and items that had not been dealt with. I need to do that in every room of the house. 

I have decided to buy a gallon of paint and start painting upstairs on my own. I have a plan of cleaning the coat closet, wash the walls and trim in that area and where the sever is in the dining room. I will paint that first. It isn't a big area but one I can do easily on my own. It will be in the light grey I love to keep it light and airy. I want to keep going doing a given area at a time. If it takes me months to do it, I am okay with that. 

I have made some decisions on how I want the house to look. I am sticking with the grey walls throughout the upstairs. I know I can paint them. I will hire someone to change out the trim and add crown moulding. The kitchen will be the biggest change and I will have to hire that out. It is more than I can do on my own. 

I am ready to do this. I have worked through my grief and, though I miss the Spousal Unit a lot, I am ready to make the changes in this house. 

The craziness begins as soon as I have done some cleaning and prepping.