June 1, 2003

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  Life is full of lessons.

  
  

  As I explore the wonderful world of household D.I.Y., I discover, as in the rest of life, that some things are best left to the professionals.

  
  

  Sometimes I realize my limitations before it is too late.

  
  

  Other times I find myself in the middle of a mess and just say “this is one of those experiences that everyone should have once in their lifetime”

  
  

  Once.

  
  

  Doing a ceiling in Acoustic “Popcorn” texture paint by hand with a roller is one of those experiences.

  
  

  I know now why it is most often a professional spray process.

  
  

  

  
  

  But Home Depot had a nifty little display of texture paints, with step by step instructions, and all of the necessary tools… So I decided since I had an already textured ceiling (a geometric swirl sand finish that I have always hated) that hadn’t been painted in nearly 30 years, and had some serious cracks, that the best way to repair it would be to re-texture it. And I thought it would be really cool to spray glitter on it too. A great fantasy effect for a bedroom.

  
  

  

  
  

  So I got everything taped off and covered in dropcloths, and put a coat of sealer/primer over the ceiling yesterday. Since it is raining once again in the swamps of New Jersey, and the air feels somewhat akin to pea soup, I knew this project was going to require extra drying time. I needed recovery time, too. Painting ceilings is very strenuous. We have really low ceilings, and all I need is a short extension pole, and a low stepladder for edging, but all that reaching and stretching…yowsa! I ache in muscles I had forgotten I even had!

  
  

  

  
  

  Then today came the fun part. I opened this 2 gallon bucket of texture paint, and the first thing I did was break my stirring stick in half trying to stir it. Okay. I seem to remember my dad telling me about how in the old days, textured finish ceilings were made by mixing mortar mix into the paint. I can see that…

  
  

  The process works like this: Using a smooth textured roller and moderate pressure, you put a thin first coat on the ceiling. After that sets for 5 minutes, you then use another roller, this time a texture roller, with stiff nylon “strings” in big loose loops. Looks sorta like some kind of pot scrubber, only in paint roller form. The second coat is a little thicker, and requires more pressure and rolling in different directions to make the texture evenly bumpy.

  
  

  Once both coats of paint are up, you spray the glitter on. I was using a low tech glitter sprayer, looks sorta like one of those squeeze ketchup bottles, with a straw through the top. You fill it half way with glitter, aim the tube at the ceiling and squeeze. I was using some glitter I had on hand, a clear diamond dust type glitter, just for a subtle light refracting effect. this is a large room, so I had to do it in sections, so the paint didn’t dry too much between steps.

  
  

  

  
  

  Doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Well, working with this paint was like trying to roll biscuit dough onto the ceiling. And talk about heavy!! Once the roller was loaded, a feat in itself, it weighed about 5 times what a roller with ordinary paint would. Then to get this paint our of the nap of the roller and onto the ceiling…well, “moderate pressure” was more like leaning my whole body into it, until the extension pole and roller handle began to bend. And that was just for the first coat!

  
  

  Fortunately Bernie felt sorry for me and decided to help me a bit with the first coat. (and to take some pictures) There was no way I would have been able to handle both coats, I think my arms and back would have given out completely. The texture coat was loads of fun. Took even more pressure to get it up on the ceiling relatively evenly. And spattered more big globs of this doughy paint back down on me, the walls, the floor, and everything else in its path than it put on the ceiling.

  
  

  I don’t know if you can see the paint in my hair and on my face in these pictures, but in the last one, you can see that my arms are completely covered. That was a short sleeve shirt I was wearing, the rest is all paint! After I finished, I went out to the driveway and just turned the hose on myself. Clothes and all. then I went in and got a shower. I shampooed my hair and then combed some heavy conditioner through it to get the paint out. Well, most of it. At least I no longer look like the abominable snow-woman.

  
  

  I guess the ceiling looks okay. I am trying not to look at it too much until it dries because the streaks and unevenness will drive me crazy. I hope that it dries looking more even than it does now. I also noticed that the texture doesn’t extend all the way to the edges of the ceiling evenly. I had just barely enough paint, and don’t plan on buying another 2 gallons just to touch up the edges, so I hope it isn’t that noticeable when it is dry. I have a bad habit of lying in bed staring at the ceiling and seeing any flaw….

  
  

  I am thinking maybe of adding some crown molding anyway, for architectural detail, so it may help hide the edges of the ceiling. I am not sure, though. The window and door trim is natural wood, as is the floor. I plan on painting the baseboard (heater) in a darker color than the wall, actually, the same dark color I will be ragging on as a faux finish glaze over the base coat…I was thinking of a crown molding to match the baseboard, but I am not sure how it will look with the natural wood of the windows…

  
  

  I guess I will have to wait and see. I picked up a nice remnant of upholstery fabric at Walmart yesterday. It will go on one of the pieces of furniture I will be upholstering for this room. I just want to get the darned walls done now, and get the messy part out of the way!

  
  

  

  
  

  One parting picture —

  
  

  this is for you, Rem

  
  

  

  
  

  Sure enough, Pearl managed to get into the pictures, as soon as she heard Bernie with the digital camera. I think she is wondering why mommy changed colors…

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  more stuff about my yard (I almost forgot I wanted to add this, I got so involved in the paint story): Thanks, everyone, for all the nice comments on my yard photos. I guess it looks really big, but they are just a bit deceiving since there are no fences or other dividers between our property and the neighbors. Just to clarify, the back yard ends right next to the old truck and the wagon wheels. Those big pine trees are on the development’s property, but it is right-of-way for access to the detention basin (which is on the other side of the trees) so we don’t have immediate neighbors on part of that side.

  
  

  Along the other side, next to the driveway, our property ends at about the middle of the drainage ditch, which is right past where the picnic table is in the photo on that side. It is also a right-of-way area for the development, we had to sign a legal agreement for that (long story) But the view is really nice on that side too, since the neighbor’s property (which used to be my grandmother’s house) has a big wide expanse of front lawn. 

  
  

  I guess it is all relative. When I was growing up, our property was just a part of my grandparent’s farm, which was close to 19 acres (with 4 houses, all family, on it) so now we are just under an acre, since the rest of the property got divided up and sold. 

  
  

  The lawn is green, that’s about all I can really say for it, since it is mostly just weeds that are mowed short. There are still a lot of holes and bare patches, but I have been working on the yard like crazy for about 8 years, trying to make up for about 15 years before that when my father neglected it and it got all grown up with weeds and poison ivy, and piles of scrap metal, brush, and other junk.

  
  

  The major part of the back yard was once an in ground swimming pool, but it got old and the walls began to collapse, and then my dad and his buddy got drunk one day, took a bulldozer and filled it in. Believe me, they didn’t do a real neat job, either. They plowed the fence, the sidewalk and everything into the hole, and pretty much just left the back yard a rough, rocky, barren patch of weeds and brush.

  
  

  The pine trees, that used to be along the back side of the pool, where all grown up with vines and weeds, small shrubs and trees that sprouted in there, dead limbs and mostly poison ivy. Took me a couple of summers working on them, just to get the bottoms trimmed out and all cleaned out underneath. I sprayed gallons and gallons of brush killer, too, before I finally banished all the poison ivy that was growing through them. Only to find out that they were beyond our property line anyway. The developer even took two of them out to make room for drain pipes and storm drains. I was sick when I saw that happen, believe me!

  
  

  Still a long way to go, but getting better all the time. Yes, a riding mower is on my wish list, as is a nice big fenced in area in the back yard for the dogs. But there are so many things above those things on my wish list, like a bed (yup, fixing up a bedroom and have no bed) a laptop computer, a new refrigerator, and a dishwasher. I think the dishwasher is probably the top of the list. We need new floors in three rooms, too. So I guess I will be pushing the mower for a while longer.

  
  

  

  
  

   

  • 4:30 pm
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