Saturday started 9am with a Koney Island breakfast with mom and dad H and Curtis, after which Cortney and mom H went shopping while Jon and dad H started painting. It's a good thing, too, because it ended up being an all day job. The first coat went really well, and while it started drying the boys finished the laundry room renovations and fixed the dryer and screen door while the girls cleaned and organized the kitchen, then mom H made a wonderful picnic style lunch. After lunch the guys did a little touch up then started on the second color. But once on the wall the second color was not at all what we had intended so the girls headed back to Lowe's to try again. After a very enjoyable dinner at the pizza place down the street the guys covered the first coat of the second color with a first coat of a third color (anyone else confused?) before mom and dad H headed home around 8:30.
Every cloud has a silver lining. Sunday afternoon the two of us did some final touch up on color number three, but very little was needed because where the second second color didn't fully cover the first second color (confused again...) it created a charmingly whimsical feeling that we didn't want to cover up. After removing the tape and moving the furniture back into place, the room looks perfect - unfinished, but perfect! The night didn't finish perfectly - try as we might the brackets for the new window shade did not go in easily, only to find out that the shade had been cut wrong at the store. So today we have to exchange the shade, hope the brackets stay up, and put up the valance rod, but at least we have arrived at the final stretch.
We aren't quite ready to completely give the surprise away, because it's not quite done, but there are more hints in the work pictures here. We do want to note that there are key workers missing from these photos - those being mom and dad H, who we cannot thank enough - so we included one of Cookie instead, who worked about as hard as she is here. :o)