Archive through November 22, 2002
TV ClubHouse: Archives: Q&A:
Archive through November 22, 2002
Julieboo | Friday, September 06, 2002 - 12:44 pm     Here's an odd question: Does anyone know what the USA equivalent is for a UK size 12? (Children's shoe size, that is.) |
Reader234 | Friday, September 06, 2002 - 01:21 pm     I dont, but you'd think there would be help somewhere on the web... did you try oh, Ask Jeeves? (is Jeeves still answering questions?) |
Babyruth | Friday, September 06, 2002 - 01:28 pm     Here you go: http://www.dancesport.uk.com/shoes/conchart.htm |
Halfunit | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 07:43 am     I need tips.... I am painting my living room today. Believe it or not, in my 32 years, this is the first time I've ever painted a room.... I have the furniture grouped in the middle of the room with a dropcloth over it. I have laid newspaper down over the hardwood floor (which seems to amuse the cats as they keep messing it up!!!). I have gone around and dry dusted the ceiling and walls, and wet washed the molding and doorframes. I think I'm ready. Paint and supplies are waiting for me in the kitchen. The ceiling is going to be ceiling white, and the walls a very very light olive. I think I'm going to leave the molding the way it is. I know I do the ceiling first. Will the roller get all the way to the edge? Since I'm painting the walls another color, do I need to worry if I get fresh white on the walls? I also bought an edger roller and one of those flat edger thingies so that I don't have to mask anything off with tape (but I did buy tape, just in case - the people at Lowe's probably think I'm NUTS!!). Am I doing this right?????? Hubby is going to help when he wakes up (he works 2nd shift and goes to bed at 6am), and he says he's painted rooms before, but he is very very sloppy and I'm worried. I think this "project" will be a true test of our marriage, lol. HELP ME !!!!!!!! |
Spygirl | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 08:01 am     Halfunit, let me preface by saying that I am NO EXPERT whatsoever on painting... But in my experience....I would not ever paint a room again without first taping the edges -- all of them. The roller does not go to the edge neatly and it will bleed paint over onto the other wall without a clean edge. I did my bathroom without taping any edges and it looks terrible (IMO). If you have trim that runs along the top of your wall, you're set because you just tape off the trim and you can paint both the ceiling and the wall in "one setting" without a problem. But, if you do not have any trim and the ceiling and wall meet together, then it would be more complicated. You'd have to deal with issues of whether tape would stick to the popcorn stuff on the ceiling etc etc. But, if you do have to paint one part, wait for it to dry, and then tape off and paint the other part, make for sure you get tape that will NOT pull the fresh paint off when you remove it. I had that happen in my office at work and had to do a lot of touchups on the trim. Hope I've not confused you anymore than necessary Happy painting!! |
Silksmoke | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 08:10 am     Halfunit .. my first suggestion would be, put the cats in another room and keep them there for the duration of the project. Don't know about your cats, but mine tend to get way too involved in what they consider "exciting" new activity. We've never used the flat edger thingie, knowing me I'd get paint all over the protective part. We have used the blue painters tape, and it's worked well (it pulls away easily after the job is done without leaving any of the sticky part on the walls or molding). Neither myself nor my husband are not even remotely great wall and ceiling painters, so don't take anything I say as "gospel" (except for the cats ). |
Spygirl | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 08:33 am     I missed where you said you had that edger, Halfunit. I used a small one on my bathroom and it still didn't work very well. Maybe for more experienced painters (or for a person with more patience or hand-eye-coordination than me) it would work fine. I know that I will always have to tape off anything I paint. And my office actually looks terrific (no modesty here) and I get a ton of compliments on it, but I didn't have to paint the ceiling. Three walls are one color and one wall is a different color. |
Halfunit | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 08:35 am     Thanks you guys! I realize I'm going to have to remove the kids from the room. They are trying to "help" WAY too much... (LOL, the drop cloth is actually a 10' x 20' piece of saran wrap and the "kids" are chasing each other through the furniture underneath the plastic...) There is no pretty stuff where the wall meets the ceiling. And the ceiling is flat, which is probably a good thing. I am SO SCARED to open that paint can!!!!! (OK, I'm going to start - what do I have to lose, it can't look any worse than it does now, RIGHT??) <begging for reassurance from people who've never seen the room, lol> Yikes!!!!!! |
Halfunit | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 08:38 am     Oh yeah... did I mention that I don't own a ladder? This should be FUN !!!!!!!!! |
Bigd | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 08:39 am     The trick is prep work. Clean, dry wall. Tape off everything. Paint the ceiling first. Good brushes, don't scrimp. But if you really want some good advice you should go to the Trading Spaces/Changing Rooms area on the board. They are all do-it-yourself gurus in there. Car54 usually knows the answer to everything. Good luck! and may the force be with you! |
Car54 | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 08:40 am     Half, the best thing I have used when painting white ceilings, colored walls is that wide paper type tape they use on Changing Rooms all the time...it is about 4 inches wide, you tape the top edge of the walls, and then if the roller touches, the paper keeps it getting paint on the ceiling. It goes on much faster than masking tape and comes off easy easy!!! I would never use anything else on flat painting. |
Halfunit | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 08:43 am     Oh boy... everyone says tape... The roll I bought is 2" wide - that should work. My fear is I can't lay a strip of tape straight. OK, you guys have your agendas to take care of today. I will report back in later and let you know how it went. |
Rissa | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 08:58 am     I have the greatest of all suggestions, but it depends on the type of room you have (ie. the style). A few years ago I painted a bathroom that up to then had been builders white ceiling and walls. I painted the walls a nice olive colour (good choice. LOL) and once done stood back in horror because even though I had cut in the ceiling very carefully.. the two different colours were showing how out of line the ceiling was. Wasn't perfectly level and with a flat (not popcorn) ceiling, it really showed up. I considered painted the ceiling the olive too, but really didn't want that, so...... I went to the fabric store and bought cording (you know the silky looking type that they make curtain tiebacks with) that was the same colour as the walls and with a hot glue gun, I ran the cording all around the ceiling. It looked incredible... totally evened out that ceiling line and was very elegant. Looked so good that I did the same thing in both my daughter's bedrooms. Just begin and end the cording in the least seen corner (although my husband couldn't tell where it started even after searching). I will second Spygirl... TAPE. Make sure you use painters tape, because the other stuff will take the paint off when you remove it. Make sure you press the edges down or it will still bleed. When painting start over the tape and paint over the tape and away, not pushing paint towards the tape. If you take the time to tape off properly then the actually painting takes half the time, especially the edging in. Good luck!! |
Car54 | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 09:04 am     Good Luck Half! The time you put into taping will pay you back a million fold. There is nothing worse than finishing a room where you rushed and then the little blips bug you forever! (Lookin at one of those blips right now, as a matter of fact!) We have a decorating projects thread over in the TS folder if you want to share your fun! I am the guiltiest of starting projects that go on forever ....no time to ever finish! |
Halfunit | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 11:03 am     Well, the ceiling is almost finished... hubby woke up and is helping, and I have to admit - he has a good technique. Would you believe I went through a gallon of ceiling paint already? We have to go and get another gallon. The room is just a rectangular room 11' x 22'.... Is this normal paint consumption? I'm pretty sure it hasn't been painted in about 10 years. (We've been here for 5.) |
Costacat | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 11:16 am     Half, be sure to let the ceiling dry entirely BEFORE you attempt to paint the walls near the ceiling. You'll need to tape of the ceiling so that the olive paint for your walls doesn't mush up your new ceiling paint job. Last summer I decided to do my entire place... by myself. And at the same time decided to repaint all my cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom (dark stain to white enamel to brighten 'em up). The kitchen, bathroom, and all wood trim was bright white enamel. All the walls everywhere except the kitch and bathroom are a color called "watercolor" (a bit of white, pink, and grey -- very off white but not cream). I had to tape everything off everywhere! I finally got me a rhythm going. I'd primer the trim, paint a coat on the walls, paint a coat on the trim, paint a coat on the walls. Let it all dry, then tape off and do the final paint on the trim. That way I only hadda tape stuff off once (cause if I slopped and I knew another coat was going on I was OK). I ended up buying a bunch of roller covers and rather than cleaning 'em each time I just tossed 'em (more $$ but easier!). I'd recommend using a regular brush to paint next to woodwork, in corners, where walls meet ceilings, anywhere where a roller brush isn't going to make it all the into. Do that first, then you can do the roller jobs at one time. I think it was easier that way... BIG HINT!!!! KEEP THE CATS OUTTA THE ROOM! I had one kid start to slide off the dropcloth covering my living room couch, and she started to fall DIRECTLY INTO the pan of paint! I caught her in time and kinda sorta threw her across the room. Which ticked her off a bit. But I think it would've ticked her off even more to have a bath (or two) to remove the paint). <grin> One last tip. Take your time. Really. It's a lot more enjoyable. Cause I was a paint spattered idiot by the end of a day's worth of painting. Oh, and it took me two weeks to paint my entire home (2br 1ba). Most of the time was spent on the kitch and bath though (changing the color of the woodwork was a pain, but it sure does look nice in here!). |
Kstme | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 12:11 pm     Half...I will second what everyone has said! We are in the middle of painting some rooms here...this project is referred to as "our hobby" due to the time it's taking! We finished the bathroom a couple of weeks ago...did the walls one color and the ceiling/trim a lighter color...found a border wallpaper that really brought it altogether. We're reversing the color scheme for our laundry room and that "should" be finished this next weekend...(holding my breath!) I do NOT use rollers...I LOVE those "sponge brushes" and find I get so much less on me and they are a breeze to clean. I also use regular brushes to get the edges and corners. GOOD LUCK!! |
Halfunit | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 02:53 pm     2 coats on the ceiling, and on me... I finally decided to get tough and took my finger and swiped two streaks of paint under my eyes. War Paint I think we are going to do the lower wall trimming today and paint the walls tomorrow... that will give the ceiling ample time to dry. Thanks for all your suggestions you guys!  |
Hillbilly | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 03:18 pm     Half...you know the real trick to painting your house is....throw a party for all your friends and hand them a brush and roller when they come in the door. |
Spygirl | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 04:04 pm     To add to what Hillbilly said -- just don't give them any alcohol at the same time  |
Wcv63 | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 04:11 pm     I remember deciding to paint a ceiling on a weekend my husband was away as a surprise. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER, paint another ceiling again for as long as I live. Halfway through I was miserable, my shoulders and neck were aching and I cried my way to the finish line. I hardly got any sleep and had paint speckles in my hair for at least week after. These days I only paint walls and I find that if i do ALL the cutting in first the project usually comes out looking very professional. Well, professional enough for me!! |
Halfunit | Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 04:34 pm     Yes, by the light of two shadeless lamps, we are continuing on with the walls. We never used tape <spank me>, but the edger that hubby bought is working GREAT. It's a 3" x 4" piece with a pad and rollers on one side. The edge/trim is almost done, and we borrowed one of those paint sticks from a buddy, so I am going to follow him around with that. The nice thing about hubby doing the meticulous part is one, I hate it, and two, he paints these little figurines for his hobby. I have some on my webpage which is in my profile. About 2/3 of the way down is a red arrow pointing to hubby's hobby. It's amazing as these little guys are only an inch tall and come totally without paint, like model cars do. I think we are in the homestretch now gang, and all is well in the Halfunit home!!!! |
Gidget | Wednesday, September 18, 2002 - 06:47 pm     Did anyone watch West Wing tonight? I would like to know the exact title of that song with Hallelujia in it and the artist if possible? |
Djgirl5235 | Thursday, September 19, 2002 - 07:35 am     I'm moving into our new home Hallowe'en, but we get posession on the 29th at some point. Well, my fiance & I have booked the rest of the week off, and are planning to paint the Living room & kitchen on the 29th & 30th... Let me just say first... I'm the trimmer/cutter inner... I use a 15 inch metal straight edge to cut around the trim, and ceiling. The only thing is that we have picture frame molding on our living room walls, and I have figured out the best way to do these rooms... since we'll be up until the wee hours on the 29th cleaning and preparing, then up on the 30th to paint... We're painting all the trim for the kitchen & living room that night (without having to worry about being careful about bleeding the colours), letting it dry while we sleep, then painting (CAREFULLY) the rest of the walls and the ceiling... At least with the ceiling being white & the trim being white, that shouldn't be a problem!!!! |
Ruditoo | Friday, November 22, 2002 - 10:11 am     ? here I hope this is allowed. I need some great sites with free e-cards. Especialy active with music, birthday for 2yrs and up, mushy ones for M and ones for friends I miss and special thank you,and just plain crazy and witty for special folk. If this is not coherent you'll understand why I don't make my own. I've just started venturing out into computerland. Ask Jeeves was my favorite site.LOL Thanks everyone for your understanding of one who had to be pushed off the turnip truck. |
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