Renovations under way

The very first thing we did when we arrived in NY was to get a library card at the local library. I realized I always get my library card first - months before I get a drivers license, days before I meet my neighbors, even before I start painting. I just never feel part of a community until I can check out books. Little is more important to me than intimate knowledge and access to intimate knowledge.

The previous owner of our new house is an elderly gentleman who is sweeter than a blue ribbon winning apple pie and he has a memory that's as sharp as can be. Technically, he's still the owner because our closing has been pushed back until Monday, but since he's already moved to his new place, he's permitting us to start some of the early renovations before the actual closing. So, today I started slowly by painting Savannah's future bedroom, which she may share with the future little William or Sophia after a year or so.

None of the walls had been painted for 31 years, which is also the age of the shag carpeting you'll see in the pictures, a beastly thing I can't wait to rip out. It was therapeutic to paint Savannah's room and I found a way for the rascal to help me! I did all the trim work and painted with the large roller and made "squares" of white space for her to use her little 2.5" roller to paint inside of. Overall she did a great job and it didn't take me that much longer to let her help, which is a bonus whenever a little one is involved. Savannah's room color is Lemon Chiffon. Since I had such bad experiences with Behr paint in our last house, I vowed to use contractor-quality paint this time and am purchasing our paints from Sherwin-Williams. They have two lines of paints that I'm using, one is the Durability line, which is a low-VOC paint that can be easily cleaned, the other is called Harmony, which is a no-VOC line. I opted for the Durability line for Savannah's room since we're not moving in until Tuesday. I like the cheerfulness of the color and think it will look good with her wooden furniture and pinks and whites and greens.

Before pictures - plain flat white that needed a washing.

After - Lemon Chiffon yumminess.

More Lemon Chiffon yumminess. I chose not to paint the vertical side of the finished duct because to me, that is very distracting visually. Eventually, I'll need to paint all the ceilings as well, but I'll leave that for later when I can paint a bunch at a time.

My little helper! We both wore paint and dust masks because even with the windows open and low-VOCs, she's little and I'm four months pregnant - so no chances to be taken here!

The evil shag rug that is as old as I am - no wonder I don't like it! This beast will be removed after I paint the next bedroom on the walkout basement level.