Mama Gets it Done

The end of the school year is always a crazy, busy time.  So, really, the PERFECT way to experience this last week is to throw in a bunch of house projects as well.  Haha.  Seriously, though, today was one of those kinds of days where I felt like I was a chicken running around with my head cut off! From painting to parties to pure bedlam, I've run the gamut over the course of the day.  How's this for non-stop action?  Wake up, get the kids breakfast, clean up the breakfast mess {kind of}, paint the banisters I pulled off the wall and primed yesterday, run Jane over to ballet, walk to the playground with Alex and some friends while waiting for Jane to be done, go to the store when dance is over so that I can pick up the Oreos Sophie needs for her class party today, get to the store and discover that I had LEFT MY PURSE AT HOME {aaaaahhhh!!!}, drive home to get purse while calling in the order for Sophie's special pizza for said party, make it back to the store and then race to pick up her pepperoni pizza with no cheese and no garlic butter on the crust from Domino's to bring into school for the party, come home and put little ones down for a nap, finish taping the spindles on the railings {EASILY the most time-consuming and aggravating task of the project}, finish painting all the railings, feed the kids {because it's dinner time at this point}, bathe the little ones, give in to Grace's request for a movie night after Sophie cleans up the family room for her, go running with a friend, and then FINALLY help Scott to calm an out of control firstborn who is VERY upset about being grounded from the iPad for the rest of the week.  Whew!!!!!  Recapping it all is making me even more tired.

Before I close for the night, though, here is a quick review of what I did to paint the railings.  First, I wiped everything down that I planned on painting with a deglosser {also sometimes called a liquid sander}.  I primed the railings with Zinsser brand Cover Stain which is an oil based primer thus necessitating an oil based paint to go on top.  After consulting with my now BFF Sherwin Williams workers, I went with the Surface Enamel that is pictured at the top in a satin finish.  For the record, I was roughly following a tutorial I found on Pinterest which strongly recommended using foam brushes and foam rollers for the application.  All I can say is that my experience priming with the foam brushes was almost as aggravating as taping off the spindles today.  After letting the primer dry overnight, I was ready to tackle the actual painting this morning and let the record show that this paint went on and covered like a dream!  I've never worked with an oil based paint before, but it was magnificent.  I used my high-quality Purdy angled brush this time around and it was SOOO much easier to use. Because it was oil based and a shinier sheen, any brushstrokes that were created in the process of painting just melted away as it dried.  It definitely took a longer time to dry than a latex based paint, but my BFFs assured me that this enamel paint would dry to a durable and chip-free finish that wouldn't even need a top coat or polyurethane.  And it looks awesome!  And only took one coat!! 

 Before

After

{Sherwin Williams "Black Fox"}

And that is that.  Isn't there something so satisfying about a good before and after??  Hahaha.  Until next time, I'm signing off!