Masking in "H" "E" Double-Hockey-Sticks

THE RAVENNA HOUSE Saturday began early, sometime in the 4 o'clock hour.  I know what you're thinking, wow those guys are really motivated.  But rest assured, we are not that motivated.  See, baby Wilder is cutting a new tooth, which means lots of cries, drooling, and early morning wake-ups.  But alas, we decided to seize the day - after all it had been seized for us - and get an early start on painting the basement.

We learned upstairs at the Ravenna House that painting the inside of a house (or half of one) is a big process.  Especially when using a sprayer (more on that here).  But this time around, we were ready.  On Friday night, Garrett and I prepped the basement bathroom, family room, bedroom, and stairway.  We wiped down the walls to remove any leftover sheetrock dust, vacuumed the floors, and masked off the floor tiles, shower, countertops, appliances, and anything else we didn't want painted.  A rocking kind of Friday night, if you know what I mean.

For masking, we used a combination of painters tape, brown paper, and this awesome waterproof rosin paper product I found by way of Young House Love.  The latter product we used to cover the stair treads and flooring.

We set an aggressive paint schedule for ourselves.  Friday night was prep.  Saturday, Garrett would prime everything in the morning and once that dried he would paint the moldings with a coat of semi-gloss, and that night we'd mask off the moldings and paint the ceilings all while I took Wilder to a birthday party.  Sunday we would mask off the ceilings and the moldings and paint the walls with two coats of eggshell.

Skeptical?  Me too.  We've been doing this renovation thing long enough to know that schedules should be doubled.  And then multiplied by three.  You think something will take a month.  Plan on a year.  You think something's going to take 2 hours.  Carve out a weekend.

But with all that masking and prep done ahead of time, the actual painting part went quickly.  Dare I say, quicker then expected?!  When I got home from the aforementioned birthday party, Garrett had primed the entire basement and painted the ceilings with two coats.  We had to work late (like until 9pm - that's late, right), but we got everything done.  Yay for us!

When we woke up on Sunday morning (at the ripe ol' time of 5am - thanks again, Wilder) the primer, ceilings, and trim were all dry.  We spent the morning masking off the ceilings and trim.  Don't be fooled by the meager length of that sentence.  It took us 5 hours to mask and get the basement ready for wall paint.  Masking ceilings and trim is a tedious task involving masses of blue tape and, if you're a good person, rolls of pre-cut brown paper.  That brown paper is less then $2 a roll, but without it, masking would be hell.  No, worse.  Renovator's hell.  A place reserved for those who glue pink linoleum over original porcelain hexagon tiles and lay imitation plastic siding over wood shiplap.  You know who you are.

Ah hem.

Anyway, here's a look around the family room in the final throws of masking.

And here's where the story ends, or shall I say pauses.  Just for a week.  We're off to Chicago for Auntie Dayne's graduation.  But when we return, I'll be ripping off that masking and showing you the new and improved basement.  Oh and prepping for Wilder's first birthday party.  Don't even get me started on how that little guy could possibly be a whole year old already.  Mama's gonna cry when he eats that first cupcake.

Now if we could just get him to sleep while he is teething!  Any tips?

xoxo

p.s. The fabulous Emily Henderson.  Always love her aesthetic!

p.p.s. Obsessed with the brownstone.  Can I get a pony in my kitchen?

p.p.s. This is what a teething Wilder looks like (poor guy!).