point of no return

What does this picture mean to you?

Homeowners will know this: the moment you improve one thing, other things that seem okay suddenly look worse.

Case in point: our upstairs hallway. The second I swiped some primer onto the guest room trim, Mike became obsessed with the scuffs on the hallway walls and trim. Suddenly a project that was faaaaaar down the list had bounced right up to the top.

“Let’s paint all of the upstairs trim!” Mike declared, thrusting a fist into the air, his red cape flying behind him on the wind of motivation. (Yes, I am embellishing.)

Me? I was a little less than enthusiastic, mostly because trim painting goes to the one with the steadier hand and it gets tedious pretty quick with the incessant edging, two coats of primer, two-three coats of paint. It’s not a fast process and lacks the satisfaction of rolling great swaths of wall.

But, Mike was quick to point out, he could merrily paint the hallway trim if we did that first and then followed with paint, he wouldn’t have to worry about cutting a clean edge. Whatever color we choose for the hallway will be very light, so it should easily cover any overage. All he has to do is tape the carpet (or we could destroy the carpet and cough up the dough for hardwood, ha).

Up until last night, we had contained our trim painting to fully enclosed rooms, because we want to be careful about stop points between different spaces and were not sure about painted trim in big living areas (like on the main floor). But our hall trim is so scuffed that those little trim markers weren't going to cut it, and we really don’t feel like removing, refinishing, and re-installing trim. After looking at our hallway, we realized we have very clear and easy stop points. So although we aren’t ready to tackle painting the two-story foyer, it shouldn’t look too bizarre if we at least re-do the hallway.

Stay tuned!