Loving Through the Mess- Painting

Hubby and I have almost finished painting at the new house. 

We've been living here a few weeks now, but it's starting to finally feel like ours and not just someone else's place we are squatting in. As I mentioned in my previous post about moving while pregnant, we bought our new family home from smokers- who were gross enough to smoke indoors. Which meant there was no removing the smoke from some things. After lots of cleaning (hello vinegar), throwing away of window treatments (they were ugly anyway), odor sealing primer, and fresh paint you can't tell there were once smokers here.

And damn was I shocked at how much the smoke residue was stressing me out.

I haven't always been such a neat freak. I used to spend a lot of time in places that reeked of cigarette smoke in college, and didn't think twice about it. But when I got pregnant, the reading material about foods I couldn't eat sent me into a spiral about all the poisons out there that we can be exposed to. Conclusion- we are all going to die of cancer, because everything is a carcinogen. But that doesn't mean we have to voluntarily expose ourselves to the worst ones.

So with a lot of prodding at Hubby, he (very reluctantly) joined me on my hyper-intense mission to deep clean the new place.

I get this need for clean from my mom. She has always kept her home tidy. As a (step)mom myself now, I find I get immediately irritated any time that anyone in my house makes even the slightest mess. I am constantly telling myself to bite my tongue, that kids will be kids and messes are part of the experience.

This is an extra challenge because I don't have a built-in love for these little mess makers. It has taken me time to love them, and I don't always feel the love. Sometimes I have to take a moment and just breathe through it. I also have no idea what my mom did to keep from completely losing her cool about every craft project I ever made.  I don't consider myself to have been a messy kid, but I can recall some messy moments.

As we tried to finish up all our painting projects this weekend, my stepdaughter asked about a dozen times if she could help paint.

Now, for reference, Hubby and I can't even paint a room together. My OCD completely unravels at trying to paint with him as our approaches are very different. We learned we can't paint together without fighting at the last house- so I knew painting all of this one would be an absolute nightmare (and it has been). I had to swallow my emotional issues and desire for it all to be perfect, because I physically am too pregnant for ladder climbing anymore. I didn't have the stamina to paint all 3,500 square feet, and because of those smokers, it had to be painted.

Hubby has reluctantly cleaned, and I have reluctantly relinquished my painting projects to him.

To keep the kids occupied and out of our way while we painted, I took a "cool mom" suggestion from one of my friends. Our basement here is semi-finished but there isn't any flooring yet. We plan on installing flooring in the future. So, to give the kids a canvas of their own to decorate in the house, I let them paint the basement floor.

Sure, we limited it to one room, and there was a strict "no paint on the walls" rule. But for the cost of two destroyed outfits, a roll of paper towel, and some acrylic paint from Walmart, it kept them busy for almost 3 hours.

I threw this idea out there on the fly yesterday, and if I was going to do it again I'd makes some changes.

1. Would have had them pick different clothes. Both ended up with paint on their pants and shirts. But since we never buy them expensive clothes anyway, I'm not too upset with this. I could have been better prepared though.

2. Should have done it before the walls had been painted. Hubby found a few paint flecks on the wall afterward and was NOT happy, though he didn't scold the kids since it was our own fault for letting the mess happen in the first place. I even managed to save Hubby's socks he was wearing when he stepped in the wet paint (the trick is washing with cold water before the paint has dried at all, so basically immediately).

3. More supervision. Both kids had their socks off and feet in the paint before I knew what they were up to. Summoning hollers from them only came when it was time to be done and they didn't know what to do about their feet. I could have limited that to a more manageable cleanup at the end, but no harm no foul- everyone just got an extra shower yesterday against their will. And Hubby and I are blessed with kids who knew they were messy and needed guidance on how to get clean the right way.

In the end, it was a fun day for the kids, Hubby got his painting done, and it was a solid afternoon where they didn't stare at a screen. They got to feel a little included in the new house progress, and I'm several steps closer to the serene calm I want from my home.

Until next time,
Emma Leigh