So we're kind of on track... the 10 day countdown takes us to Saturday but things will only go into the house from Sunday and then we will be half camping until Tuesday. The end is in sight.
Since this moment two weeks ago, sat outside Chris Stevens on the Holloway Road, I have had paint somewhere on my whether it has been my clothes, my hair or my eyelashes. Paint now seems like part of how things should look - white speckled faces are having a moment right now.
So mum came to help us pick up paint in her car. I wore my sisters old jeans from when we were teenagers which conveniently mirror 'boyfriend' jeans and look great with paint on them. I also wore these lovely new kicks so that I could feel like a human before and after the painting. It worked, kind of... mainly they are still paint free unlike the rest of me.
We bought A LOT of paint. In actual fact we bought a fair bit we didn't need but don't underestimate how much you'll use. Things that we learnt:
- When you paint straight on to plaster, you have to use a 'mist coat' - emulsion mixed with water, which you whisk using a paint whisk and a drill.
- Undercoats should be done in white emulsion too for walls because it's cheap.
- Wood work needs undercoats in either a water or oil based undercoat or primer depending on whether they're interior or exterior.
- Coloured paint is expensive.
- Eggshell is expensive.
- Gloss is a nightmare to paint with. Only use it if you really need to.
- Emulsion comes off.
- Oil based stuff doesn't.
- If you need any advice on where to buy, I would really recommend Chris Stevens because they're good guys and it's cheap all year round.
- We have some amazing friends - a big thank you to Georgie, OJ, Anna S, Anna B, Kate, Pete, Drew and of course Mum and Granny for helping us out.
You need suitable covers for the whole floor and more masking tape than you'd think.
The satisfaction of finishing a room is indescribable. Especially when you're lucky enough for it to look exactly the way you had imagined it. Remember, I had to choose everything all at once before bits were in so it took a lot of bad drawings and leaps of faith to get here.
You can make any old bashed up wooden door look 'shabby chic' with an undercoat and a lick of eggshell.
My first new piece of furniture arrived because I needed a stepladder so I got to buy my first vintage piece. It's a 1950s wood and metal step ladder and it has been a good friend over the last few days. The little steps fold over underneath too for when it's just used as a seat. Sooo sweet.
More tomorrow...
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