Paint the Trim

We're back up at the Cabin DIY friends!  After a couple of weekends of building the wall to the new third bedroom and then priming and painting over the crazy kitchen wallpaper, all that was left was the trim.  The Hubs was gone one weekend, so I packed the boys up in the car after work to head up for the evening.  We got there just around bedtime, and once they were tucked in I got right to the business of painting trim.

See, my problem was that I had a lot of long pieces of molding to paint, and since there is 3 feet of snow and -10 degree temperatures out there, I didn't have a lot of places to paint them.  I figured tackling this project late at night when everyone else was sleeping would allow me to set up shop in the middle of the kitchen, which is basically the only long and big enough space I had available where it was warm.  So I stayed up until 2AM painting all my trim pieces and the wainscoting in the main living space with one coat of primer and 2 coats of paint.  My 22 year old self is ashamed of how lame grown-up Erin is by the way, but at least I had a glass of wine while I was doing it.

While I was at it I went out on a whim and decided to paint the bottom half of the wall in the Living Room as well, which we originally painted all one color. 

My Dad was up at the cabin too and snapped this photo before he went to bed.

Luckily that was a good, last minute, late night, drinking-wine-while-painting decision.  With the wainscoting in the kitchen painted the same, it totally brings the places together.

First Coat

First Coat

The next morning I woke up with the boys after only about 4 hours of sleep, but luckily my paint was dry.  During morning nap Ryder helped me measure and cut the trim on the miter saw I set up in the screened in porch.  (Which was -10 degrees by the way.)  I wrote a little note to remind myself which way the trim should face to cut it correctly.  I hate cutting crown molding. 

It was totally worth it though. 

I love the way the white trim makes a beautiful line between the new painted paneling and cedar wood ceiling. 

And the wainscoting and trim in the Kitchen and Living Room are totally winning.

Try to imagine this Living Room shot with a fireplace where that TV is with white, built in shelving flanking it.

See how the wainscoting ties the rooms together?  (Try really hard to ignore that gross linoleum.)

So one quick overnight trip made a huge difference in the space.  I have to admit though that it's frustrating spending so much time working on this place and still having so far to go, but I'm trying to remind myself to keep my eyes on the vision and take it one step at a time.  I remember feeling this way with our house too in the first year.  Before and afters help.  Here's where we started.

Before

After

Before

After

That's progress, right?  Baby steps.