{Babygirl's Room} Painting the Ceiling

Thanks for your comments on the Canvas Art yesterday…I do love that picture of Babygirl. It really shows her personality, and I think the quirky shot keeps it from looking like a shrine to her.

Okay, so remember when I so cleverly thought I’d add a white stripe around the top perimeter of her room, to give the illusion of crown molding? I assumed all white paints were created equal…Ahem.

Turns out they aren’t. So that hot mess left me with no choice but to paint the ceiling. The plus side was I loved the idea of a color on the ceiling (aka the fifth wall), but would have never painted it without major incentive.

Well, I sucked it up this weekend and got ‘er done!

Because of ‘Part 2’ of the Faux Crown Molding (which I’ll show you this week), I didn’t have to be super careful when cutting in around the wall (for real this time!), so it went surprisingly fast.

I chose Sisal by Martha Stewart, color matched to Home Depot Behr Paint + Primer flat finish. It’s a beautiful, warm khaki color…kind of like, well, a sisal rug! And I’m not all that proud of my vents and switch plates, so I tend to paint them to camouflage.

Here are the Golden Nuggets I learned for painting a ceiling:

1) Using an angled brush, I first cut in about 4″ from the wall all the way around, and around the light fixture. This took about an hour, after which, I took a one week break.

2) I used a high-quality, thick Purdy roller for the remaining area, so I had no problems with splatter. It did, however, eat most of my paint and I blew through an entire quart in one coat! I think next time I’ll use a lesser roller, and go slowly to avoid splatter.

3) My roller handle did extend, but I kept it at about 18″ long and stood on a ladder to roll on the paint so I’d have better control.

4) My shoulder and neck started to burn about 1 minute, 32 seconds in, but I ~~whined~~ pushed through and finished the rolling in around 30 minutes.

5) Then I laid down on the floor ~~whimpering~~ to admire my work. It dried ~~before I was ready to get up~~ quickly, and I was able to see any spots that needed touching up.

6) Large amounts of wine and a Tylenol were quite helpful in relieving the crick in my neck and shoulder.