Lockdown Painting

Spring is coming here on the coast! I’m hoping to get a few pictures to share with you soon, but for now, it’s not an understatement that we’ve thoroughly been enjoying warmer, sunny days!

With our country being in lockdown for the past two weeks, most of my family has been home and unable to work. Was I ever grateful that we’d already bought paint to do up our guest house! (And—is it just me, or does it seem like everyone tends to bring out their handyman projects when they’re stuck at home?)

We were given this guest house near the beginning of the year—the original owner built it as a tiny house for himself, and eventually decided he didn’t want to keep it. He offered it to us, and we were delighted to take it. Our home is relatively small, and when we have company, it isn’t always easy to fit everyone in—although it’s amazing what you can do when you have three bedrooms!

Over the past three or four months, my brothers have been working tirelessly to get the house insulated, re-lined, and prepped for painting…and finally this week, all that work was done, which meant the fun could begin! And since I had a brother at home who was willing to help me, we seized the moment and spent several full days in there over this past week.

Here’s what the interior looked like as we were starting to paint:

Part-way through, the first coat finished on the ceiling:

Second coat on the ceiling and first coat on the walls:

My patient, helpful brother, and painting buddy! (Any guesses as to who got the most paint on themselves?)

And the finished product! Four coats on the ceiling and three on the walls.

It’s a little hard to make out from the pictures, but the ceiling is flat white, and the walls are a very light cream. Depending on the lighting, it can really look like it varies! The picture above was taken in the late afternoon with the golden light coming in; the one below was taken this morning.

Now I’m working on doing the windowsills, and after my builder brother (who is super talented, by the way) gets the skirting done, I’ll paint that as well. The windowsills only need one more coat of paint, but the skirting will probably need two or three more coats. We’re almost there! I’m looking forward to when the flooring can be put down by my floor laying brother (I tell you, it’s handy to have brothers in the trades!). I’m also looking forward to finishing the curtains and getting them up! Hopefully, it will be a restful place for our guests. A place removed from the craziness of our household, but not too far away, either.

I’m trying to decide if I want to name the house, and if so, what name—and where we should put a sign, if I do name it. I’ve been tossing around ideas like “Moonlight Cottage” (after the area we live in), or perhaps something like what John Bunyan did in The Pilgrim’s Progress at the House Beautiful—each bedroom had a different name, and Christian slept in the one named “Peace”, if I remember right. If you have any ideas, feel free to share them below. I’m planning to bring it up for family discussion sometime soon.