Home Improvement: Day 1

Well, actually...

as I said before, Hubby and I have done a lot of work on our house in the (almost) 6 years we've had it. I am still working on 'before and after' shots of what we've done already, but since we didn't have a digital camera until just last year, I have to track down, scan, and then post the before pictures.

Anyway...

I had the whole day off to myself today. After morning coffee with Hubby before he drove off to work, I took a trip into town to get some spackle for the basement wall. It's just a small wall, so I took a chance and got just one can. Besides, I had said that we still have plenty of 'free' projects to do around the house, and then immediately had to go out and spend money. I figure $10 for a home improvement project is pretty damn good, though! And, it was only that 'expensive' because I bought a new paint roller (couldn't remember, but we DID already have a new one), and a tray liner (which we also already had).

I've never used spackle before. In fact, I almost just bought drywall joint compound because it comes in a big bucket, even when you buy the smaller bucket, and I figured I'd be sure to have enough. But then I figured it's best to do the job right. I always make fun of Hubby for using a paring knife to cut bread and say, 'a job is easiest when you use the right tools'...so I took my own advice. It made me want cake when I opened it though. To me, it looked like a can of delicious frosting!

I used the entire can. (I finished to whole wall and realized there was a smaller portion of wall facing the main wall. I mean, I knew it was there, but didn't realize it was textured. It was smaller and not as pitted as the larger wall, so I used up what I had to fill in the major flaws, figuring I could sand away the rest. Also, it's not as visible and with paint it may not be noticeable to potential buyers.)

So here's a close up of the textured 'pitted' look.

And what I started with...like something out of some horror movie involving an abandoned building, I know!

After a layer of spackle, it looks better (trust me), but now it's ready to be primed and painted.
Now the color? I have about 8 or so cans of paint in my basement from our original re-do's. Since it's basically the wall at the end of a hallway, at the bottom of a flight of stairs, I'm thinking a light neutral. My 'gym' room is a very pale green hue called Chardonnay. But I also have a slightly darker color but along the same lines called Chatham Green, which is what we used in our bedroom. Oh, and then there's a really light blue that Hubby used for his studio...I'll probably go with the Chardonnay, even though it is the same color used in the room if you were to go through the door in the picture above. It's a basement, though...would anyone even notice? Would that be a bad choice? Should I just go with white since I'm going to have to repaint the whole stairwell, eventually, too? Oh, my...it's just paint for the basement!!

And, yes, I did wear a mask and goggles when I sanded the wall! Though, I'm not sure why my mask is all sunken in and looking like a duck bill!

So after that, I got all the dust out of my hair and sat down to study for a bit. And now...I'm enjoying sitting still while I blog a little before moving on to the oh, so exciting task of paying bills.

I wanted to start painting tonight, but I am not sure. I have to be at work at 5:30am tomorrow, and so will be out by noon so that will give me a good portion of tomorrow to continue my work downstairs.

Stay tuned for the next chapter of 'Boring Things Old People Do On Their Days Home From Work'!