Just 10 days ago I woke up, sleepily walked to the great room where my husband was doing his morning reading, and said, “I decided yesterday that it would make me very happy if we could paint the trim in here.”   Now what guy doesn’t want his wife to be “very happy?”  Fortunately is was his day off, so we drove to the “big” town and secured our paint.  Along the way we even saw the most amazing American Bald Eagle I’ve ever seen perched in a tree along the greenway.  I wrote about it here.   What a great day!  Nature and decorating.  My heart sings!

a view of the french doors and the sun room with the wood-toned trim

Back at home, we rolled up our sleeves, moved furniture, and went to work.  Even though we have lots of windows and a set of triple french doors leading to the sunroom, we managed to get all the trim on the windows and doors primed.  I continued to work on it almost every day for the next week, putting in some long hours whenever I could, between working and volunteering.  But, with one person, the process goes much more slowly.  And with Hurricane Sandy coming to visit, it was impossibly gray and dark, inside as well as outside.  Picture me holding a lamp in one hand and painting with the other.  I wasn’t a speed demon that’s for sure!   The project began on Thursday.  About Tuesday I realized that I had previously invited my small group for dinner on Friday night.  What was I thinking?  Oh yeah.  That I would be a very happy woman if my trim were painted.   Um.  Not in the process of being painted.

another view of the original wood-toned trim

Do you know how many coats of paint is required when painting varnished or polycoated trim?  Three or four.  Some windows I could do in an hour.  Others took f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  By that Wednesday the great room windows and baseboard trim were finished!!  But, the sun room was not finished.  Fortunately my dear husband finished painting the last coat on half of the remaining trim on Thursday while I cleaned up from painting and reorganized the furniture.  I was so grateful for his help painting and his muscles for moving furniture.

the transformation begins with a coat of primer

Remember, my small group was coming the next night for dinner!!!!  I still had to switch out dining room tables, from basement to great room, get that new-to-me vintage table cleaned up (details upcoming), and still I needed to make the room look pretty, and clean the rest of the house which had been neglected due to my painting frenzy.

a glimpse of the new white trim on the french doors

Good thing that while I painted I had plenty of time to listen to all the comentators talk about the presidential election to think about my tablescaping.  Seriously, tablescaping is not what is important.  But, it sure is fun.  I want my guests to feel special and loved…that’s important.  So though I don’t believe it is necessary for everyone, it is my way of setting the stage for an extraordinary gathering of friends.  It’s so fun when guests come in and see a pretty table.  A smile crosses their faces and you can sense an excitement and anticipation for an evening of fun grow in them.  Voices lilt and laughter ensues.

You are wondering….”What did she do for the table?”

Well….since that is really a whole other story…I hope you’ll come back tomorrow for all the fun juicy details.  Yes?  Please?

new white trim in the sun room and no wood trim to grab our attention

Back to the trim transformation.  I am a very happy woman now that my trim has been painted.  No…painted trim does not really have much to do with my happiness.  But, it sure makes my rooms look better, and I don’t have ugly orangey trim popping up in my photos and yelling, “Look at me!!”  So, I guess…in the end….painted trim does tip the scale on my happiness meter.    {big sheepish grin}   And really…why have  ugly ordinary dated trim when you can have extraordinary white trim?

Have you ever decided to take on a big project without really thinking about your schedule or other important ramifications?  Please tell me I’m not the only one who makes rash and spontaneous DIY decisions.

Details…my wall paint is Benjamin Moore “Old Prairie” and the trim color is Sherwin Williams “Alabaster.”

Happy Day!
Diane

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