The first thing we noticed when we looked at house was ... the carpet has to go and it needs painting. Not because either was so worn (though the carpet has its share of stains from previous pet owners), just ugly.
Using some of our tax refund money, a few weeks ago we finally purchased some carpet for the garden level. Got a sweet deal from Sloane's Carpet Secret. I will share the secret for the local readers... just on weekends in the Spring they sale carpet out of a warehouse. It's supposed to have flaws but when they showed them to us, we were like 'that's a flaw?'.
The only flaw is that like a baby rhino, Drew marked his territory the first day we had it. We will wait on re-carpeting the upstairs until the boys are fully potty-trained.
Anyway they installed it a few weeks ago. We wanted them to wait until we had painted but there was some miscommunication. We did put all the downstairs furniture in the garage though. Today, Robin and I moved most of it back in. She started painting one wall in the big family room downstairs. Soon we will actually use that area that we haven't since the flood.
While Robin painted, I dealt with 18 gallons and 15 quarts worth of paint stored in our garage by previous owners. (This doesn't count a few more gallons which were oil based. I just dealt with the latex based ones.) Some was as old as from 1994. The vast majority were colors most people would have not found attractive even 14 years ago. Why buy quart-sized touchpaint on colors you have full gallons of? And why save them all these years? I digress.
I followed the instructions I found on a Google search...
1. Remove and discard lid.
2. Make sure paint is 1/2 full or less. Pour excess into empty milk jug(s).
3. Add clay-based kitty litter so can is 3/4 full.
(18 gallons and 15 quarts take almost 3 -20 lb bags of kitty litter.)
4. Stir mixture.
(I would add that if you add a quart cup, stir and then add in another quart-sized cup, it makes it easier to stir.)
5. If liquid paint remains, add more Kitty litter.
6. Let dry until hard.
7. Dispose of can in the garbage.
Luke helped me with the mixtures because I sold it as a science experiment over work.
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2 comments:
You got a lot done. I'd never heard of handling old paint that way. Very clever! The children are adorable - great to have so many pics on your blog.
Tried to donate it to local theatres and HS theatre dept but got no answer. Like who wants paint that's been frozen and unfrozen maybe a dozen times? My method may get me scoffed in the PRB (People's Republic of Boulder) but we do recycle and let's just say I am 'changing the stroage location from my garage to storing the local landfill.'
My kids got my wife's adorable genes.
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