I Finally Understand!

You will all no doubt be thrilled to hear that I have finally come to terms with what seems to be my (our) fate.

Machines hate us. All. Machines.

I'm skipping a little bit out of order in posting this tonight, because we had a big week  at the house this last week that I haven't yet mentioned. I really need to vent about what happened today though!

Tom had to work this weekend, so it was just Daniel and me. But Daniel had to work a night shift last night, so needed to catch up on some belated shut-eye this morning, so then there was just me.

I dutifully arrived at the house, and began the task that I had been assigned for the day - painting the master bedroom (that we had previously sanded). Although as any of you who have painted before would know, it takes a very very long time to get to the point where paint can actually start hitting the walls.

So I started by removing everything from the room. Here it is beforehand (I know, there really wasn't much to remove):

Well, everything except those bundles of tiles. They are RIDICULOUSLY heavy, and we've tried to be smart by spreading them all over the house instead of clumping them in one area and potentially causing the floor to fall through because of the weight. So, I moved them into the middle of the room where they wouldn't get in the way of the scaffolding as much.

And then I got to start on the oh-so-joyous task of covering the floor. We had a giant roll of black plastic left over from our second house, so I used that. It's nice and thick, so puts up with the inevitable rough treatment that equipment (including rolling scaffolding) gives it.

I then searched the house from top to bottom for scissors to cut it with, and all I found were these. Hmm.

Needless to say, they were not effective. I actually ended up using the knife portion of the same device, which was only marginally more effective. I don't recommend it. In future, I will be going out and buying scissors if I can't find any!!!

I got it done though, and taped the edges of the plastic with packing tape (couldn't find our fancy painters tape either). The packing tape seems to do the job ok, although I wasn't willing to try it on the walls. The floor has a nice safe glossy-ish finish, so I've got a much better chance of peeling it off the floor without incident.

The whole floor covered, including the tile mountain in the middle.

Another corner, with my feet.

 

So! Once the floor was done, I went out to buy my paint, thinking that the next step of the process (masking up the windows, etc) wouldn't take very long, so I'd better be prepared with my paint. Fortunately I also remembered to get Sugar Soap so I could wash down the walls of the grime and sanding dust they were coated in.

Wonder of wonders, I did manage to find a sponge and slightly grimy bucket at our house, so I was equipped to begin the cleaning process.

What with all of the safety latching, climbing up, climbing down, safety un-latching, and moving of the scaffolding so I could reach the entirety of each wall (to the top of our 3.2 metre ceilings), even this simple task took ages.

Allie was her usual helpful self.

Eventually it was done, and I found an old roll of masking tape (not exactly painters tape, but it's ok) and a pile of newspapers I'd been saving, and started covering up the trim around the windows.

 

When Daniel arrived after his nap I gave him the task of figuring out how to work the paint sprayer. It didn't take long for this to turn into our major problem, as we couldn't figure out how to unscrew its handle in order to put a filter inside it as the instructions demanded.

Of course frustration, very sore hands (those ridges on the cylinder are pretty tough on skin), and arguments ensued. I eventually gave up (after trying to call Bunnings for some help without much luck), and drove down to our local hardware store (love you guys at True Value Hardware, Wellers Hill!), where I begged the first guy I saw to help me. Hardware genius that he was, he discovered two flat sections at the bottom of the handle:

Those two flat sections enabled a spanner to get some grip and simply turn the thing so that it could be unscrewed. Hallelujah!!!!

So that obstacle surmounted, I put Daniel to work beginning the paint spraying, while I kept going on the masking of unpaintable areas (which was so much harder than it would have been if we were painting the ordinary way with rollers and brushes, because I had to cover so much more area to allow for the excess spray from the machine)

 And I masked and masked and masked. Here's one corner of the ceiling.

This is where I'm going to stop with the details. Typing it all up is going to just infuriate me, and I'm sure you're all sick of me whingeing about machines by now. Let's just say that getting to know this paint spraying machine was like learning how to be a first time mother. Figuring out what all the different noises meant I should do, pulling my hair out in frustration, and experiencing moments of sheer ecstacy when it did what I wanted it to do.

We had runny paint issues that then had to be rollered (after which Daniel had to leave, so I was left by myself again)...

I think I practically rollered the entire room anyway, because the darn thing wouldn't stop creating strange lines across the walls (where there was a higher concentration of paint than the other areas). I'm willing to admit this may have been caused by operator error, but believe me, I tried!!!

I did get all of the walls undercoated, so at least I can say I achieved something. Apologies for the poor quality of these shots, it was almost dark by the time I finished, so I had to use the flash. And I need a wide-angle lens.

 

My joy was short-lived. I then had to clean the stupid thing, which took about an hour, along with a bruised toe (from a spanner falling on it), eletrocuted fingers (don't even ask), a sopping wet yard (because the only hose we've got leaks all over the place), and probably more complaints to council from the angry neighbour because it was noisy, and after 6:30pm.

So, let me announce once and for all that I get it. Machines hate me. The feeling is mutual. I will be doing everything I can to avoid contact with them in future.

And I will be rollering the next coats on tomorrow. By myself, again. Sigh.

Looking forward to a more positive outlook tomorrow!

Love Bec