{home} how to paint an entire house in one weekend

If you asked me what the number one thing you can do to make a home feel like your own, I would say paint it. It is incredible how much personality and ownership comes out of picking colors, putting them on the wall, and then moving in your belongings. I always said that when we were finally able to buy a home I wanted to spend the first weekend painting and then move in the second weekend. I never knew if this would actually be a possibility. Would there be enough overlap between our move-out date and our move-in date? Would we be able to pick colors quickly enough? Would it be physically possible?

Then the day came when we actually bought a house and there was a big enough overlap and we did pick the colors and it was physically possible. What force of nature could possibly exist that would result in five rooms being painted from floor to ceiling? Our family. That weekend two things became very clear: 1. Many hands enable you to get a lot done. 2. The hands of our family are powerfully productive.

So here’s how to paint an entire house in one weekend:

1. Invite A LOT of people who you know are willing and able to do the job at hand.

The mister and I have a pretty incredible family with an impressive history of do-it-yourself mentality. Jeff’s family is famous for their come-help-us-with-a-project parties of their youth. My parents are both carpenters. Our brother-in-law worked for a painting company while in college. We have the credentials. We knew with the amount we wanted to get done we would need all hands on deck.

2. Organize, organize, organize.

With so many helping hands, we knew we would have to be prepared. We asked Jeff’s sister, Kelly,  and her husband, Brenton, to come early on Saturday. (Not only did they agree to this, but they also arrived with doughnuts and champagne. They rock.) They came fully equipped with our new little nephew, who was put in charge of morale. With their help we got Rosin Paper taped throughout the entire house before anybody else arrived. This was a crucial step. With Rosin Paper in every room, all painters were able to move paint brushes, rollers, paint buckets anywhere at any time without worrying about moving a drop cloth. We also made sure we would have plenty of help both days of the weekend.

We brought samples and ceiling paint with us on Friday, which was our first night in the house. The samples went on the wall first thing so that we could make some decisions early. Then, while the ceilings were being painted out, Jeff and his dad ran out to buy the paint.

Another key step was having the king of the paint stick, Uncle Tom, there on the first day. What we call a paint stick is a giant roller that sucks in paint much like the water launchers from my childhood. Uncle Tom can get a layer of paint on a wall in a matter of minutes. Without him we would never have been able to get those ceilings painted.

It is also important to have plenty of materials. Brenton helped us greatly with this. He has an amazing number of tools. He had plenty of edging brushes for the detail work. He also had a roller/brush spinner that was immensely helpful in the cleaning process.

3. Paint.

We ended up with three shades of gray, admittedly a favorite of mine, especially when paired with the bolder colors of the other two rooms. We had people working in every room; some working with a roller to get coats on the wall and others working with brushes to edge all of the rooms. On both days we had a “safe” room that was paint free for the day where everyone could put there stuff and know it wouldn’t get splattered with the beautiful hues of our home.

By the end of two incredible days of work and support from our family we had a home that felt like ours. It was a whirl wind and we picked our colors in a short period of time. Many people warned me against this, but I love how it turned out. In the end, paint is just paint, it can be repainted. Sometimes when I worry too much about getting something right, I don’t get anything done at all. In this case, the risk was certainly worth the reward.

Thank you so much to every person who was here helping. We really couldn’t have done it without you.