Thursday 26 April 2012

In which Betty has a Colourful holiday


Wow, it’s amazing how quickly the school holidays slither by when you’re busy doing something as important as painting your Mallacoota house! And amazing how much painting a house hurts! My aching shoulders! My numb and swollen hands! My poor back!
 
Ah, but my house – my house looks lovely! It isn’t that I had anything against the bright lime green bedroom, except there was a bit too much of it. It was very intense. As for the mauvey pink second bedroom – can I confess that every time I set eyes on it I wanted to scream and throw Barbie dolls at it? Both are now a restful rich blue (Dulux Blue Oar). The egg-yolk yellow bathroom was all very cheerful, it’s true – but between all those bright colours and the insipid pastel blue of the rest of the house, I just felt that I wanted something less – jarring? So... the rest of the house has become a serene light grey (Dulux Silkwort). I had a few uh-oh moments - the Silkwort over the blue looked a sort of dirty coffee colour until it dried. Yikes! And over the yellow of the bathroom it looked a bright light lilac! When the walls were covered, however, and dried, yon Silkwort became the colour I fell in love with on the colour card (phew! Can you understand the sinking feeling you get after you've forked out bazillions for about a thousand gallons of the stuff, and you suddenly think "OH SHIT, it's the wrong colour!!!)

Twas hard work, especially when all my middle-aged lady ailments started kicking in, tee hee, like carpal tunnel syndrome (it’s hard to grip a paintbrush when your hand is numb) and arthritis (can I actually hold that bent-over contorted position for as long as it takes to do the cutting-in on that awkward bit of bathroom wall?)

Torrential rain didn’t help either. Paint does not like to dry when the humidity is about a million percent, as it’s been this week. Let me tell you how wet it’s been. I did some washing a week ago, and hung it on the line, then in the garage, then on the line, then in the garage… and it was still very damp this morning, six days later, when I gave up and took it to the Laundromat in town to re-wash it and then dry it in an industrial-strength dryer. I had to fight everyone else in Mallacoota for dryer time, coz nobody in town had dry undies by today! It was ugly.

Still – it’s all done now (the washing and the painting) and the house looks great. Thanks and acknowledgements to Mark, who arrived to help out a few days ago and got trapped here in the Anzac Day mini-cyclone, and Pisshead, who provided moral support and some severe hangovers, but managed to avoid actually doing any painting!

Here are some before and after pics :-)
Barbie pink bedroom *shudder*
Lime green bedroom before
Lime green bedroom after
One more before, just to ensure you get a proper eyeful of the green.

...and again, the restful blue...
Insipid blue lounge
restful grey lounge

egg-yolk yellow bathroom

restful grey bathroom
front garden before mini-cyclone
front garden when it turned into Lake Betty






8 comments:

Trobairitz said...

Hello there. I found your blog through another and I wanted to stop by and say hello. I am enjoying catching up on your adventures.

I love the humor you add to all of your posts.

Great job on the painting by the way. Hubby and I have been doing renovations to our house for 5 years so I understand about the soreness involved.

Julie said...

Great work, Sue! The 'after' shots look wonderful!

I thoroughly emphasise - it's been nearly 3 years since I bought my old fixer-upper. Now, finally, all the major inside painting is done (still a couple of touch-up bits to do). It is a big job, particularly if you're doing more than one room at a time.

Next time you're down in Sunny Tasmania you should come over for a coffee / wine and some furby cuddles.

cheers
julz

Lady Louise said...

It all looks wonderful and very restful - thanks for the experience!

Sue said...

I'm back in sunny Canberra now :-( and missing my little house in Mallacoota. Perhaps I should paint my house here as well... Hmmm, after all the aches and pains have gone away, perhaps.

Trobairitz, I don't know if I could stand a whole 5 years of aches and pains! You and your husband are very dedicated. Is there an endpoint in sight, or is your house a perpetual 'work in progress'?

Julz, I'm still working on that motorcycle tour of Tassie. Will get there one of these days!

The Editor said...

So...

Sue...

Where will all the attendees of Dysaugural 2013 be camping?

Where will The Bonfire Of The Vanities be located?

Will there be secure undercover parking for the Hyosung?

:-)))))

Sue said...

As you can see, Gerry, there is nowhere to camp or to make a giant bonfire. It certainly would be a DYSaugural. It's not looking very optimistic, is it? Perhaps I should direct ppl to the caravan park across the road... Hmmm, now there's an idea! Something to discuss at Unaugural X in a couple of weeks :-)

The Editor said...

Re the Dysaugural, a beach party perhaps?

lemmiwinks said...

All going well, I'll be at Unaugural X, thus bookending my Unaugural experience. Sure I missed most of the intervening ones, but I will have been there at the beginning and (I hope) the end (though I hope it's not the last.)