Painting Psychology

I mentioned yesterday that I was spending the last (and extra) day of February painting our living room.  I actually took the day off from work (and sent Ike to daycare) to accomplish the task, which is otherwise impossible to get done with wandering little 14-month-old hands.  (It’s true, by the way. Ike is officially 14 months old, which is entirely crazy.)

Anyway.

The paint job is part of the living room makeover that I launched forever ago, but it’s not that exciting because it’s just white.  It’s Elegant White, to be exact (a Behr color matched in Glidden paint just because I like to make things a little complicated.  I opted for white because this room doesn’t get a lot of sunlight and can end up looking cave-like by evening.  I’m hoping the white makes it brighter, and serves as a super neutral base for whatever colors and patterns we bring into the room.

But this post isn’t so much about the paint itself; it’s about the process.

As I set out to paint on Wednesday morning, I was committed to going around the room to cut in around all the windows, door frames and the ceiling.  That lasted about 10 minutes and then I couldn’t take it any longer.  I just had to get real paint up on the wall!  It was looking like one hot mess.

That’s when I wondered what my painting style explains about my personality.  Clearly I have a patience problem.  Or perhaps my attention span is too small. After all, I think my attention span has been severely compromised since becoming a mother.  A two-hour nap session is rarely enough time to see a project through from start to finish, so I am always accomplishing things in pieces—whether it’s laundry, sewing or cooking.  I digress.

Anyway, I went on this way the whole day.  Cutting in when I absolutely had to, then rolling away whenever I could.  Back and forth from brush to roller. It took forever.  To make matters a little worse, I actually ran out of paint with one quarter of the room left to do.  Despite using Glidden’s paint+primer, I had to use three coats to cover the old paint.  So now I still have to find a way to finish this project another day!

But, I did manage to get three coats on a few of the first walls, so I can now enjoy the less-tan look of our living room.

And if you can identify the smudge of food on our couch in the above picture, you get a gold star.  I’m guessing it’s soggy graham cracker smeared on and dried.  Awesome.

So, what kind of painter are you?  Do you meticulously go around taping, cutting in and carefully painting?  Or do you throw caution to the wind and just slap some paint up on the wall?  And do you think your painting style matches your personality?

Oh, and does anyone want to psychoanalyze me based on my painting style?