Tangent Lodge Gets Fresh White Paint in the Living Room

A painted wall, nothing all that significant in most cases. This week at Tangent Lodge http://tangentlodge.blogspot.com/ it's a milestone worth mentioning. It means at least a portion of the room has passed muster in the joint taping and sanding process. It also means there is enough surface in need of paint to tryout the Wagner Power Painter I purchased a few weeks ago.

After a number of weekends spent applying 2nd and 3rd layers of joint compound, and sanding until my glasses were thick with drywall dust, I called it quits and declared my prep work good enough. I'm no professional, but if you can't see the imperfections from 5' away, I see no point in going further. After all, this is a cabin, not some movie star's mansion in Malibu. What flaws remain have earned the title of "Patina"

I knew before I started that using the Power Painter would be a messy operation. I wasn't disappointed. The 5 gal. bucket of primer I was to use had a pouring cap making it possible to only take out a quart at a time to fill the sprayer.

The catch is there is no way you're going to pour right from the large bucket into the sprayer without heavy spillage. First step is into an ice cream bucket, then fill the sprayer from that.

The spraying went quick and smooth, the biggest problem being the sprayer's reservoir would empty in a matter of a few minutes. Refilling demanded a second set of hands to keep from dribbling paint everywhere.

It went so fast that after I was satisfied with the walls I started on the ceiling. Yellowed from years of smoke from a wood stove, the clean fresh white paint was a bold improvement. Having not protected light fixtures and such, I only painted enough of the ceiling to confirm this was the easiest way to get it done.

We rounded out the weekend by installing new outdoor yard lights and some solar powered lights across the front of the house. It was a full day and a half of cutting firewood and painting. At the end we cleaned up and gave the house a good sweeping.

With things more organized, next week the ceiling will get our full attention. Putting color to the walls isn't all that far off now, we're both looking forward to finishing the living room/dining room real soon.