Brooke here.  Apparently I have not given Brown “access” or “a username” or “the login information” or some nonsense like that, which is his excuse for not having posted anything.  Sheesh.

Downpours kept us inside today, so while Brown cleaned out the kitchen, I kept at the wall prep in my study.  The anchor holes required a third layer of spackle, plus another heavy sanding.  The holes still need to be painted twice with a mini-roller to replace the texture, as all of the sanding has removed the nap history and those spots won’t blend in with the rest of the wall when painted.

The study is taking a lot longer to prep than the Murder Room.  While the Murder Room was in good condition, there have been several different layers of paint and primer in the study, and all of these lend their little quirks to the walls.  I’m really, really in favor of good wall prep – I’m one of those nutjobs who thinks that paint looks better when it’s applied over a uniform surface.  It doesn’t have to be a blank canvas (when we start painting the main room, I’m sure I’ll rant about this since there is some wacky stuff happening on those walls) but it does have to be consistent if the end result is going to look halfway decent.  Sadly, tho’, wall prep is nothing but tedious.

Plus there’s stuff like this…

If you absolutely, positively have to do latex over oil, sand the surface first!  Paint is supposed to stay in one place, not rip apart when scratched or bumped.  I should really strip the entire trim down to the wood but, again, there’s that lead paint problem and I’m just not equipped to do anything more than a light sand and vacuum job.  Bah, I say.  Bah.