When we left our heroes, they had begun painting their new house. The parlor ceiling had one coat of primer. The dining room ceiling had two coats of primer. The study ceiling had both coats of primer and both coats of paint.
![[photo of study during drywalling]](/images/house/studyruins.jpg "Drywall and holes everywhere")
The study, two weeks ago, in the midst of drywalling
As the action picks up, Kris stays home from work on Monday to do more painting. Between visits from her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, she's able to get both coats of primer up in the study. She also manages to put up a layer of Martha Stewart Barn Red on the study walls before J.D. gets home.
![[photo of kris painting the study]](/images/house/krispaints.jpg "A painting satisficer at work")
The study, last night, getting its final? coat of paint
In the evening, our heroes attack the walls and ceilings with gusto. When the dust clears, the study is completely painted (though it may need a third coat of red paint), the walls are primed in the dining room, and the ceilings in the dining room and parlor need only one more layer of paint before completion.
![[photo of primed walls in the dining room]](/images/house/drprimed.jpg "Primed and ready to go")
The dining room, walls primed, ceilings painted
(note the holes in the wainscot still have not been fixed)
Tune in next time to find out how much more the dynamic duo are able to accomplish on Tuesday!
(To compare these photos with those from the last update, click here.)
Curiously enough, I'm a maximizer when it comes to painting. I'm slow and meticulous and want every little spot to be perfect. This is a problem, because I'm not particularly skilled. Also, I'm clumsy. As a result, I'm constantly having to touch up spots I've already painted.
Kris, on the other hand, tends toward the satisficer end of the scale when painting. She paints like a madwoman, slapping the stuff all over the walls. When I look at her work, I wince a little because I see blemishes I want to fix, but I console myself by saying, "Kris Gates is always right. Kris Gates is always right." I know that Kris actually has higher standards than I do in most instances, so that if she thinks the paint job is acceptable, then it's acceptable.
As a painting maximizer, though, it's hard to let acceptable go when I want perfection.
The combination of a weekend backpacking and two days painting is beginning to takes its toll on my legs and feet. My legs are exhausted — which means there's a cascade failure of muscles, etc. that ultimately weakens my knee, making it "googly" as I step — and my feet are sore. Because of my poor equipment and lack of experience, I came away from the backpacking trip with three rather large — and sore — blisters. And a raging case of athlete's foot.
I'm quite the sight when I get out of bed in the morning. I hobble down the stairs, clutching the railing, an old man at thirty-five.
Kris and are both beginning to taste completion. We can sense the end of this project approaching. Last night we spent half an hour on the lawn, beneath the walnut, eating cheese and grapes and sipping wine. I had a smoke of my pipe. We talked about moving furniture into place.
We must be getting close to the finish if we're talking about moving furniture into place!
On this day at foldedspace.org
2005 — Frightened I have no idea where I gained an irrational fear of bears, but this has led me to consider the things that scared me when I was younger.
2003 — J.D. in Slumberland In which a century-old comic strip is enough to give me nightmares.
It's a funny thing about painting--at first you notice every blemish, but soon you forget and it becomes a background again in your life. The fixation with paint will pass...