The Sanding Saga Continues: 2 Weeks After Starting

Here we are, two weeks after sanding the walls and I still have dust flying EVERYWHERE! But I will admit, I gave up on cleaning. I got the big stuff done (mostly) and the rest....Well, it will probably be flying from now until next year.

Somebody please stop me before I take on any more home updates! Oh, wait, I started to re-stain the deck this weekend. And that is turning into a whole nother nightmare project right in front of my eyes.  Wasn't supposed to work out that way, but what in life is?

Between the wall and the deck I am about to go broke and crazy. It is all Lowe's fault for having paint and stain on sale at the same time. I can't miss a sale and I'm too impatient to wait until one thing is done to play with my new "toys." I'm just waiting on the day the nice people at Lowe's tell me they are sick and tired of seeing me. I've made 4 trips in 3 days and still need to pick up a few more things.

Anyways, this is all turning out better than I could have ever imagined! I was so tired of scraping and sanding I decided to do what I could do and just try a coat of primer over what was left. I patched all my holes and started in a small area to see what would happen. It was a thing of beauty! There is something about a clean, smooth, white wall that just can't be beat. Okay, it wasn't completely white just yet, but it was progress. I read on a home improvement blog "progress over perfection" and I have to keep repeating this to myself when I get fixated on something that is beyond my abilities and I need to just stop. One thing is my trim. 40 year old trim will never look like brand new trim no matter how bad I want it to even out and be smooth. I have to just do what I can do and move on.

Here are some before photos

Main wall after sanding texture

Around closets after sanding

I applied at least three coats of Killz primer to the wall. With every coat just a little more damage faded away. Just a few more specks of leftover brown paint got covered. I ran out of Killz and didn't want to make a trip to. Lowe's (gasp!) or Wal-Mart so I stopped by Sherwin Williams on my way to work. I had looked it up before going and knew they sold a primer that was close in price to Killz so I thought it wouldn't hurt to just get it. I've never been in a Sherwin Willams store, but holy crap, that is some expensive stuff! I asked for a basic primer and walked out paying $30 for a gallon. I doubt I'll be going back.One good thing was that made for the final coat of primer. I finally could live with the way the drywall looked and was ready for paint. I went to Lowe's, got my paint and could not wait to get some on the wall to see what would it would one day look like.

Main wall after priming

Around closets after priming

And this is where the break down happened.

I'm on my 4th gallon of this exact paint in this exact color so I know what it is supposed to look like and what the texture is supposed to be. It was so far from it I could not believe it. The paint was the consistency of water. Thank goodness I used a drop cloth (which I don't always do because I'm lazy and not the brightest.) I got more of the paint on the drop cloth than I did the wall. It just would not stick to the roller. This is a type of roller I've used before, so I know that wasn't the problem. I stirred it well before I poured it out, so I know that wasn't the problem. The only thing I can think of is I just got a bad can.

I could have possibly lived with that but once I got it on the wall, it was nothing like the color it was supposed to be. I have this color in my dining room and my hallway and this wasn't even close. This was something like a yellow brown taupe when the other rooms were the perfect cool greige color for our house.  I want to get rid of yellow undertones, not be surrounded by them. I sat back on the bed and seriously fought back tears. All this work, time, and money. I got it so pretty only to ruin it with the wrong color of paint. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry a lot over this.

Doesn't look like a big difference but it was huge to me

After letting it sit overnight it only got worse. My husband agreed that something wasn't right. We had to go to Lowe's anyways so I just thought I would ask if there was something that could be done. I didn't even have to explain the story, I just started with it wasn't the quality I expected and they said bring it back. I can not tell you how happy that made me. I got another gallon that I think is going to work out much better. I know it won't be the exact same because of all the primer under there and the lighting in the room but it looks like it will be close. I'm not stable enough to handle painting a lot of it just yet but in time I will be.

For now I'm just going to sit back and be amazed at how lovely a clean white wall and trim is. It isn't perfect, there are still small bumps and rough patches but it is good enough for me. No one will ever criticize it the way I will. I have to let go of thinking that someone will walk in my bedroom and only see that patch of texture that just would not come off in that one corner. I'm not yet 100% convinced that all of this will be worth it in the end but I'm getting there. One day I will look back on all of this and say I was an idiot to tackle it but I love our bedroom so much more because if it. Perhaps.