Paint Party

We had a little paint party at the new house today. OK, so it was just the four of us, but it was a party nonetheless. We went over some time between 10 and 11, and finally came home (yeah, the rental is still 'home' since we're still technically living here) around 8 this evening. We did take a break to go get some lunch and run over to Wal-Mart to get a few things (we needed an extra gallon of each of the kids' paints, and we got A's borders for her walls). But other than that, we painted all day.

Although I got an "are you crazy" look from the hubby when I first mentioned it, I told the kids they could help paint their own rooms. Everybody we mentioned it to afterward said we were brave. We planned on putting plastic down anyway - after all, it's a brand new house and we definitely didn't want to get paint on the brand new carpet. So how much harm could they really do?

They did such a great job! For this being their very first time ever painting, they did wonderfully! And they had a BLAST! We taped the plastic to the baseboards to keep it from moving around, and of course we taped along the edges of where we were painting to keep from getting the paint on the baseboards and window and door frames that we wanted to remain white. We had a few little mishaps where one of the kids would get a little carried away with a roller or a brush and get paint beyond the tape, but I told them to be sure to let me know right away so we could wipe it off with the rags we had brought with us. Heck, I did that myself a couple of times, so I didn't really fuss. Well, I did when the boy painted completely over an outlet plug and I had to clean it off. Why did I fuss that time? Because he simply wasn't paying attention. If he had been he wouldn't have painted the entire plug. J's room is now Canary Yellow. I was surprised he chose such a bright yellow, and I was a bit concerned, but I just LOVE it. And he is so proud! We got his room completely painted, so all we have left to do is put all the switch and outlet plates back and put his borders up once they get here. I ordered them last night and I had an email waiting in my inbox when we got home tonight letting me know they had shipped. Cool! But I walk in his room and I just smile. It's such a HAPPY color, and it suits him perfectly! I forgot to take my good camera to the house with me today - I had my sister's baby and I did well to remember to grab everything I did remember. But I did have my cell phone so I managed to get some pretty good pictures of them painting. They're a bit blurry, but not too bad.

Like I said, we managed to get all the paint on the walls in the boy's room. And we got a good start on the girl's. But when we realized how late it was, we wrapped things up and cleaned all the pans, rollers, and brushes, and came on home. We still had to have dinner and the hubby has to get up and go in to work in the morning. She was a bit disappointed that we couldn't finish her room tonight (even started to get a little teary-eyed), but I promised her that we'd get it finished tomorrow. That made her feel better.


The border that J had originally picked out for his room isn't what we're going to use. I pulled it back up last night, and that border was $29.99 for a 10 foot roll. Ummm, all the ones I've seen are 15 feet. I love my boy, but that's freakin' ridiculous! So I started browsing, seeing if I could find one like it or at least similar for less. I found something better. He was ECSTATIC when I called him downstairs last night to show him what I'd found. It was an American Chopper border. We're all fans of that show, and he immediately said, "Mom, I want THAT one instead of the Nascar. That will be PERFECT for me!" Awesome. And that was a 15 foot roll for $13.99. I can live with that. But since his furniture is all Nascar themed, the hubby wanted me to try to find some kind of Nascar border that we could put on one of his walls. So I found one that is a race at Daytona for the same price. Yep...came out much better than I would have if I had gotten what he originally wanted. The Princess is still getting her Disney Princesses border. Wal-Mart had it, so I picked them up there today for cheaper than I could have ordered them.

I'm so glad we decided to let them pick out their wall colors and help paint their own rooms. We have all had so much fun. I told the hubby this afternoon that it was just so cool to finally be ABLE to do it, without having to worry about painting it back in a couple of years before moving out.

It's OURS.

I keep reminding myself of that.

It's OURS!

It doesn't quite seem real yet.