30 October 2007

Every once and a while you take a break from work in order to rest and relax - or paint your sons bedroom...

4 days off. 3 days painting. Job done.

But something strange happened while I was doing this project. I was locked in a small room for hours on end - to the point where I lost touch with what time it was, who was around, what was on TV and what the weather was like outside. I went inside myself (if that makes sense) and spent hours there with music in the background, thinking in depth about a variety of subjects, working through html/css problems in my head and feeling this overwhelming sense that I was trapped in a tunnel with no light at the end.

You could call it being in the "zone." And it does help you focus and finish stuff. But I'm not sure I like the feeling...

Finally, my brief how to:

1. Paint your entire room with the main color in the pattern.
2. Use a tape measure or pattern to go around the entire room and mark off the different lines. Make the mark about 6 inches off the floor.
3. Use something like the Black&Decker Auto Leveling Laser to display your lines on the wall. Place the laser on the floor so it points at the ceiling and is directly in line with the mark you made at the 6 inch line. You will have to tweak the angle of the laser a bit to make sure the line displays all the way up the wall to the ceiling.
4. Use 3M (Scotch) Delicate Surface Blue Painters Tape along the laser line from ceiling to floor on the outside of the color band you intend to paint. Do this for the left and right sides of each color band around the room. Make sure to push the tape down tight with a thumb, finger or plastic tool so the paint won't seep under it.
5. Paint each color band with the second color (will probably require two coats). I used a smaller roller (3-5") to do the color bands.
6. Remove the tape as soon as you are done with the second coat - starting with the first band painted. It will be dry to the touch by then and the tape should peel well.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 for each additional color band desired.
8. To fix paint that bled under the tape: Place a razor blade on the line between colors and use a small paint brush to fix the bleed mark.
9. It's up to you how to keep from getting paint on trim and on the ceiling :)
10. Tip: To keep corners from getting to you simply tape off one centimeter away from the corer on whatever side looks best and allow the color to wrap around the corner and to your tape. You will have a very straight line and no one will care that it isn't actually in the corner...

Don't worry - I'll get back to posting about WEB stuff real soon. Just trying to clear my head of all the paint fumes...