When we were finishing off our front patio I magnanimously suggested I take on the task of painting the ceiling.
Hubs had been crouching, screening, nailing, gluing and filling for weeks, all back breaking work, it was the least I could do.
“That would be wonderful,” he said through a mouthful of screws.
I had selected the color, powder blue, and the first stages were easy because the ceiling boards had not yet been put in place by the professionals we’d hired to do the roof.
I set my work station up in the pavilion and flat rolled a dozen boards, giving them two coats and feeling quite pleased with myself.
“That wasn’t such a bad job,” I said to the squirrels hanging around.
The roofer and his men pencil marked, cut and nailed the prepared boards in place,
Hubs put up beading to cover the seams and I prepared to paint over the off white, well weathered, from seventeen years of exposure to the elements, portion of the original ceiling.
Never having attempted an upside down job before I was taken aback by the spray of paint that covered my face with the first roll. It splattered all over my head and into my eyes and temporarily blinded me. I carefully felt my way down the ladder to take my contacts out and put on a pair of glasses.
Two hours later I was only half way along the stretch of ceiling, my neck was cramping. Forty-three feet goes on and on…
I finally made it to the end moving my step ladder, the paint tray and the drop cloths methodically as I progressed slowly down the porch.
“I have gone my whole life without ever painting upside down and I could quite happily go the rest of my life never having to do it again,” I said to Hubs and anyone else who asked.
My heart sank when I Looked up at my handiwork and could see that a second coat was called for. It further contracted when I saw pencil marks drawn on the sheets I’d pre-painted. They would need to be touched up too.
By the time I was putting on a third coat all round I had it down to a fine art and was whizzing across that ceiling in less than an hour!
I still maintain that I will not volunteer for ceilings again.
“Next time we hire a professional!”
“I think you did an excellent job,” Hubs said.
Looking back on it I think so too, but never again!
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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2018-02-07 00:29:10
Yeah! But I had the most beautiful ceiling painter for those several days and even if you never paint a ceiling again, I appreciate it! Mpfmfpkmmfypk (mouth full of screws)
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