And on my knees, under my fingernails, in my hair, but most importantly on the walls. I am painting a room, something I have never done before and was quite apprehensive about doing.
Last week I began the fiddly but essential preparation. I sanded, vacuumed and washed the bright aqua, glossy walls, then the grubby dented beige base boards and door trim. Not the window trim, mind you, as there is none. As with many of our windows there is no trim at all! L14 picked a colour as this will be her room eventually and then I painted a sample patch.
Next came the frustrating and never ending task of cutting in. I did less than a metre before giving up in disgust. It looked terrible. When Andrew came home he demonstrated, advised and encouraged so I began again. It took a long time to do all the cutting in, sanding of drippy bits and repainting. Many rooms have four walls which means four flat expanses to paint. Some might have an alcove or a closet which extends into the room a bit. Our house is full of rooms with strange protrusions ranging in depth from half an inch to a couple of feet. The room I am painting is no exception it has eleven flat surfaces making up the walls, which translates into many edges to cut in!
But that is behind me now as today I began rolling. The roller is much more satisfying and more forgiving also. It is beginning to look like it just might work, and it definitely won’t be called the blue room any more. Of course there is the trim still to come, which I imagine will be like cutting in all over again…
Sentient 
Hi Heather
The kids and I painted our whole house in the Christms holidays, a painful but satisfyining task! I found that the pads on handles you can get were very helpful for cutting in and particularly trim – it is easier to get a straight edge and quicker too. There are various shapes and sizes – I found it worth experimenting, but I used a small pad with a handle for the trim, and a larger one (maybe 15cm square) for the cutting in. It had little wheels for stopping it touching the edge, but I didn’t use those. With that tool I did the cutting and rollering in one go, otherwise you end up with a line. So I would cut in with the pad and straight away roller.
We have one room left, as we stored all the funiture in the lounge room while we did everywhere else, and then had all the floors redone, and I can’t get up the enthusiasm to get that done. I really should though.
Have fun
I painted my first room about 10 years ago and I’ve been addicted ever since. It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint or a new colour can do for a room.
As for all those quirky angles you have in your home, I’m jealous!
I really like looking through interior decorating magazines but I can’t help but notice that the rooms in there are hardly ever square boxes like the rooms in my home. I always think to myself, “Yeah right, who has rooms with alcoves, indentations and strange angles like that?” Obviously, you do! Lucky you!