Day 24 = Running + Painting

I have a very tall living room. It's not only two stories high, but the stories themselves are pretty tall ones. The ceilings in my kitchen and dining room downstairs and in the bedrooms upstairs are taller than normal ceiling height. So when you're talking about the tallest point of my living room, then you are talking about the nosebleed section (if my living room had one). Just to put it in perspective, the top of my head does not even hit the scaffold when I stand under it.

That said, I figured after a year of living here, it was about time for more home improvement. When I bought my condo, I immediately installed (er, had someone install for me) new granite countertops and a new stainless steel gas stove. I also had the kitchen and dining room completely repainted to a mustard gold color. Originally, the kitchen and dining room were painted an awful hunter green and the kitchen had wood-grain formica countertops and a flat-surface electric stove. Gross!

I decided in January that this was the year to paint my living room, stair case, bannister, fireplace and upstairs hallway. And I was hell-bent on doing it by myself. Not because I'm cheap but because I'm driven. I have this big huge wall and at first considered a red tone, but when considering resale value, not everyone would want a huge red wall, so I compromised with this neutral chocolate color that pairs well with my saltillo tile. I painted the other common walls a lighter wheat color. Originally, they were all just plain ol' eggshell.

So for the better part of the past two months (I finished the final touches on the bannister the last weekend in February just as my brother arrived for a weekend visit), I've come home every day and worked on painting my house. I was very lucky to have borrowed a scaffold from my friends Katherine and Chuck, who just happened to own a scaffold! And tonight after my run, they came to pick it up and checked out the results of my arduous mission. I only had help from Katherine on one day (she painted the uppermost wall as seen here using her expandable ladder) and on Valentine's weekend, a guy named Bill came over to help paint near the ceiling above my stair case. Otherwise, it's been all me and it's been most gratifying and quite a workout.