A few days ago I wrote a Rant Post about how nothing ever works out the way it should.
I had a day off today, and I intended to photograph a bunch of games I want to sell, but the parcels never arrived when they were supposed to and my plans were ruined because of it.
Decorating
After ranting for a while in that post I had a breather, felt a bit better, and thought that I could spend the day doing some painting that is needed doing.
This was taken around 8:30 AM this morning after I came in and cleared out the space of nearly everything I could get out the - smaller than usual - doorway of the office.
A bit of context on why the original paint job was so bad.
When I moved into this place I picked up some paint and decorated my bedroom. I love the smell of a fresh room and find it easier to get settled into a place after it has been decorated.
Also, I wanted to hang some shelves and didn't want to put them up, only to have to paint around them.
After finishing the job, I used the rest of the paint to do the small office I work from.
I got around and it was going fine, until getting to this wall, where I ran out of paint. It stayed patchy for a while. I have shelves and display cabinets to hang, but like the bedroom, I didn't want to hang them until the walls were finished.
Here's one of the display cabinets I want to hang, and I have another one of them waiting to be built, which I had to buy because there wasn't enough space in one for the Star Wars figures I want to put in it.
I'm a bit of a Star Wars collector, and while I have a bunch of stuff, my focus and things I'm most interested in are the original Kenner figures from the 70's and 80's. So far I have 50 something of the original 77.
Anyway, these things have been lying around the office on the ground taking up space, whereas they should be up on the wall. The walls also need to look good, since it's going to be a display wall.
Oh, and here's another example of how nothing ever just goes right for me.
I gave my partner my card and asked if she could pick me up a tub of Oxford White paint so I could do the walls. It's around 46 Euros for a 5 litre... more than I need, but at least I'd have some leftover if I ever need it.
She came back later that day with a weirded-out look on her face, gave me my card, and before handing me the tub she asked how much I thought it would be.
"46, maybe 50 Euros, why?"
"It was over 100," she said as she handed it to me.
She's not really sure about paint, and before going into the hardware shop, my mum... for some reason. Told her to buy Satinwood paint, instead of soft sheen.
More expensive, and only for wood, metalwork, PVC, and furniture, as it says on the tin. The thing that makes this type different from normal wall paint is, it's thicker, dries quicker, and it shows up imperfections in walls.
I went out, and tried to get my money back, and in fairness to the guy, he said it's too particular of a colour, and type of paint to take back. Also, it wouldn't have been mixed up if it hadn't been asked for.
No joy. But, it's water-based, so I decided to add some water to each tray to loosen it up, and hopefully make it a bit more like normal wall paint.
It went on fine with the bit of water added, only about a cap or two per tray was enough, and while it still dried fast, I was able to get it on fairly quickly.
I decided to paint two walls with it, as the wall with the doorway on it did look a bit patchy too.
But, it's done now. It looks much better, and it wasn't too bad to work with.
My mum needs the same type of paint for woodwork and said that she'll give me 50 Euros for the rest of the tin I have left over, which is about 3/4 of it.
Actually, thinking about it, I think this was her plan all along... let the mug spend all the money on paint she needs and then sell nearly the whole tub for half the price. Clever.
I finished the painting at around 11:30 and started at around 8:30/ 9, so I made pretty good time. I put two coats on the walls. After cutting in and having a coffee, it was dry to the touch, so I could get the second coat on fairly quickly.
It gave me a good chance to clear out the room, give it a deep clean, and sort a few things out.
It feels more airy, and a much better place to work in.
Now, all I have to do is hang the display cabinets, and it'll be sorted.
I'm glad to even have my desk and everything sorted because it was getting so junked up, and I could barely move in the room with the pile of stuff on the other side.
I'd like to put some shelves up above the computer and monitor, but I'm also thinking of potentially mounting the screen on the wall. It would be nice to have most of the desk clear with the speakers on shelves, and the monitor mounted, but that's a job for down the line after the more important bits of work are finished.
It's been a productive day, I listened to about 5 albums while decorating, I've moved back in, done 1 load of laundry, have finished my post and it's not even 3 PM.