Paint Fumes = Happiness

I have two nephews, one with a birthday in late June, the other near late July. I have decided, at this stage in the game (the oldest is 11, the youngest is 7) that it's easier (and, MC and I think, better) to give "experiences", instead of "stuff". The last couple of years, this has led to taking them to concerts on both legs of the Rush Snakes and Arrows tour (2007 & 2008). This year it had to be something different.

They moved into a new (for them) house last August/September, and their new rooms left a lot to be desired. Specifically, the paint colors were near torture. The eldest's room was mellow neon purple - on all four walls. An accent wall may not have been so bad, but it very nearly had the feeling of living inside a grape. The youngest was graced with a room that had been painted a neon lime green. The closest color approximation I can make: take a green highlighter, and drop it into a bottle of water.

With no changes being made in the almost year they've been in the house, the idea floated up from the eather, and slapped me around like someone being snapping out of a hysteria. Paint the rooms. That was the root thought, and then I talked with my mother to see if they wanted to be involved. They talked about it, and suggested changing out some of the furniture. We talked options, and looked through stuff at Ikea.

This past weekend was the big "While You Were Out" styled makeover. They had already been doing some prepwork duringthe week - packing up boxes of clothes, toys and books so things could happen quicker [read: moving furniture only, not stuff]. When we got there Friday, we made realatively short work of cleaning out their rooms, putting virtually all of the furniture except their beds into the garage.

Saturday was a day full of painting. A fresh coat of white on the ceilings, a grey, high-hide primer to cover the old colors. After lunch (and time for the primer to dry), fresh coats of grey flat paint for the Eldest, and a light (Carolina) blue for the Youngest. At the same time, we also painted their bathroom grey as well. After dinner (and more drying time), we went back for one more pass, cleaning up the white trim with a fresh coat of gloss.

Sunday was a day of details and staging - assembling the furniture, mounting a couple of shelves on the walls, and unpacking the boxes to stage the rooms for their arrival. A steady stream of activity through mostof the day, and we finished up and left around 5pm. We left town around 6:30 and made it home a little before eight.

Later, after they had gotten home (around 8:30pm) we all spoke on the phone, and we were told "it was cool" and "awesome" and other words of praise. In short, they liked it. So while the sniffing of paint fumes in a well-ventilated area is not normally a good idea, sometimes the results can be worth it.