Painting 101 (or 101 hours of painting) whatever you want to call it...

Phew!

We are finally done!

Painting was ... a lot more work than I thought it would be.

After one Saturday of painting for 10 hours straight, I hurt that night in places I forgot I had.

Seriously.

I have a whole new appreciation for professional painters. After personally coming home covered in paint from head to toe (and that included inside my ears and I won't even go into detail about the things coming out of my nose for week!) I really understand now why their bid was so high - it's because if you can afford it - have them do it!

That first day my back hurt, my neck hurt, my shins hurt, my eyes hurt. I had mysterious bruises (my paint patches I have lovingly named them). But after enough time, my muscles quit being so wimpy (or at least not quite as wimpy) and I got my rear into gear. To motivate myself I would try several things. Blasting music with my now paint-covered radio, rearranging all the furniture in my head chanting to myself - this is saving me money, this is saving me money, this is saving me money.

Really the only thing that kept me motivated was the thought of being done.

Every day we painted we came home looking like this:

I even scared myself!

Anyone who came over and helped us ended up looking...umm...as good as us!

Our garage doors were put on this week after we painted the garage last weekend.

I will sound really spoiled by saying this, but I CAN'T WAIT TO PARK IN A GARAGE AGAIN!

That is the height of luxury to me.

That and having a dishwasher again. 

The colors that I chose for the house are pretty neutral. Cream on most of the walls, red in the kitchen and the boys have an accent wall each. Also, the family room has one wall that is a darker brown. 

Here are some of the rooms: Owen's room

The doors and wood trim were all delivered this week also. All our wood is Knotty Alder. (it's really pretty!)

A paint crew getting the primer in the kitchen going while Mark was spraying the wall in the family room:

Kitchen with the first coat of red on it:

Family room with the first coat of darker brown on one wall and the second coat of cream on the ceiling and other walls:

Caleb's room with a green accent wall to go with his camo. theme:

Owen's room, where he still wants to decorate it with dinosaurs, fishing, and his "famiwee".

Now that the painting is done, our builder has told us things are going to go really fast now. 

What!? I thought things were going really fast already! I can't imagine any faster!