Marriage Retreat (aka painting the family room)

[Towncrier]

After 20 years of marriage, my wife and I decided to embark on the dangerous task of repainting our family room. The carpet (original with the house) was worn beyond belief. The walls were showing signs of many dents and dings. Many (VERY MANY) years ago, we had painted the room with flat (VERY FLAT) hunter green paint. The problem was that the walls could not be washed or even brushed up against without showing some telltale signs. The solution was to use a flat enamel paint that was washable and yet still somewhat flat in appearance. We chose "Happy Camper" green from Behr. I wore out four dishrags washing the walls. That old paint was like sandpaper.

We also decided to cover the rough hewn cedar plank mantle with a more appropriate pine version to go with the furniture. It only took us 20 years to realize that they did not match. And it only took 24 hours to correct that particular situation.

I present the before, during, and after photos of our family room:

And we managed to survive our little mini marriage retreat.

 

[JESW]

Very nice!

And you are SO brave to take on that project together! John & I have been married almost 19 years and now we always pay to have someone else do the work. In our first house we were younger and without children so we did A LOT of the work, including painting and ripping down an entire kitchen. Not sure if we would survive that now!

Jill

 

[alabamaalan]

Congratulations on both the great job and on surviving the project together.

The last time I painted a room, Mrs. AA and the girls left to go visit other relatives for the weekend.

I was pleased with how quickly I finished and everything was fine until a few weeks later when a friend came by and pointed out all the errors.

It's easier when it's just us...a blind wife, and a husband who has no sense of style or neatness.

Oh well, the girls are getting old enough that they would have ratted me out anyway..they already do it in my driving.

So are y'all brave enough to try hanging wallpaper together next? I've never done it but have always heard it is the true test of a marriage.

 

[Towncrier]

So are y'all brave enough to try hanging wallpaper together next? I've never done it but have always heard it is the true test of a marriage.

We put a border in the baby's room before Sarah was born. We were young and in love, and didn't realize the perils of wallpaper borders. The border is still there 16 years later (although I think that Sue wants to paint that room as well).

Next big project - Paint the garage before James' graduation party in June. Anyone want to help???

 

[NMAmy]

So are y'all brave enough to try hanging wallpaper together next? I've never done it but have always heard it is the true test of a marriage.

My parents were very happily married for over 40 years. My mom says that the only time she ever thought seriously about divorce was when they wallpapered a bathroom together.

DH and I have a system. I usually do all the painting--he does any building projects that involve power tools! Hey, it works for us.

 

[Pooh67_68]

We are remodeling too.

We got rid of the wood stove and John tore down the mantle, fixed the problems the person who put the mantle up left and than put up paneling on just that wall.

Than he painted the living room, dinning room, kitchen and hallway. Should be getting the laminate flooring today and will lay it this weekend.

After all that is done we still have to paint the 3 bedrooms and the 1 and 1/2 baths.

What is my job in all of this you ask? I clean the house before she starts a project and clean the house after he finishes a project. He can do it all, he is just messy at it.

 

[grlpwrd]

That new green is very vibrant... great choice!

Once Girl Scout season is over next month I will be painting, too. ...

 

[Tuffcookie]

Very nice, John & Sue!

TC