A LITTLE PAINTING ADVICE FROM THE FRONT LINES

So we're embarking on painting our interior walls, and I guess we weren't prepared for the endurance challenge it's turning out to be. Everyone always talks about painting as an easy, relatively cheap way to transform a room, but we're finding painting to be neither easy nor cheap. We're both newbies, so we're trying to give ourselves some grace and keep our spirits up as we seem to learn everything the hard way. We're finally starting to get the hang of this gig, so I thought I'd pass along a few practical tips we've picked up. You probably know all of this, but somehow we didn't, so maybe this will be beneficial to someone out there who knows as little about painting as we did and could use a few pointers.

1. The ColorSmart tool on Behr's website is kind of fun to play around with but is marginally useful, and the "Paint Your Place" option for viewing selected colors using your own digital photos doesn't work at all. Don't waste your $5 on it (like we did). However, if you happen to stop into Home Depot, do pick up Behr's brochure on basic painting how-tos. It walks you through the basics and provides a list of supplies you'll need. This was helpful.

2. Paint on a chip looks different from paint in a can looks different from wet paint on a wall looks different from dry paint on a wall. In order to get a good feel for how a certain color will look in a room, you have to paint at least a 2-foot by 2-foot square on the wall, let it dry, and look at it in different lights and times of day.

3. This can get really expensive if you're buying whole quart cans, which are generally the smallest size you can buy and start at around $12 each. But there is a solution! Lowes sells sample sizes in the store for $4 each! Hooray!

4. Lowes paint isn't very good quality. We heard this and then proved it with a worthless 2-gallon bucket of primer that worked like crap. Since then, we've been buying all our primer, wall paint, and trim paint at a little mom-and-pop paint shop called All Florida Paint at Mills and Orange. The service there is awesome. There aren't ever any lines, the employees give good advice and even carry your purchases out to your car for you (they maybe only do this for girls), and the products are quality. They know me in there now. We're paying a bit more for these perks, but it's worth it, and they can even match Lowes' hues like nobody's business.

5. Taping off the trim is handy, but paint still tends to leak under the tape. You can do two things to help minimize this. The first is to use the good tape. Don't be cheap and buy the Shurtape brand or worse, regular old masking tape. Get Scotch brand blue painting tape, and even go a step further and get the "delicate surfaces" kind. Again, you'll pay a bit more, but you'll thank yourself when you're not having to go back and touch up all your trim. (More tape tips here.) The second is to use as little paint around the edges as possible. If you glop it on real thick, it's more likely to render your tape useless. Try to go really light with it. Using a smaller brush helps. It's also a good idea to re-tape in between coats, if you have the patience.

6. Paint on a finished wood surface won't stick and will peel off and chip badly. In order to paint a varnished surface effectively, you must first remove said varnish. Apparently the previous owners of our house didn't realize this. Now we are learning all about paint stripper and its accompanying safety gear.

7. Paint stripper is scary stuff indeed, but it is your friend. Wear chemical-resistant gloves, closed-toed shoes, long sleeves, pants, and a protective mask over your nose and mouth, and ventilate the area well. The label says this, and it's good advice. While this may sound intimidating, it takes that junk right off - varnish and all.

FAQs

Here are some answers to FAQs I've been hearing lately.

Q: How was your vacation?

A: It was great! Our adventure started in Southern California at the wedding of Philip's best friend Ben. The wedding, an outdoor affair, was lovely, and afterward, on the way from our hotel to the airport, we drove the PCH, stopping along the way to see some dramatic seaside cliffs. Beautiful! I also got to see my good friend Marcia while we were out there, which was a blast.

Then we spent five days at Glacier National Park in Montana. I cried when it was time to leave; I could easily have stayed another five days. The park is breathtaking, with vivid wildflowers, majestic mountains, interesting wildlife, and glassy lakes, but what I remember the most was the absolute silence out there. While hiking on the trails, we couldn't even hear a bird chirping; all was perfectly quiet. It's a bit uncomfortable at first to be honest, but once I got used to it, I relished it. We hiked hard, doing a three-mile hike, a six-mile one, and a 12-mile one. I was sore the whole time, but in a good way. I really looked the part of a hardcore outdoorswoman, thanks to my husband's help. Who would have ever believed that Erika Larson would one day be the proud owner of clunky hiking boots?

We saw a lot of the park in the short time we were there, though there's tons more to see on a return visit someday. We visited the two historic lodges located within the borders of the park, Lake McDonald Lodge and the Many Glacier Hotel, as well as the first visitor accommodations built just outside the park's west entrance, Belton Chalet. We also spent a day in the less-traveled northwest area of the park, the North Fork, where the Polebridge Mercantile (amazing baked goods) and the Northern Lights Saloon (bizarre and super-awesome) are located. The wee town of Polebridge was a trip. All their electricity comes from generators, and the evening we patronized the saloon, it was pizza night. That was the only thing on the menu. The baker from the Merc next door had hand-made the pizza dough. It was some of the best pizza I've ever had!

A couple other highlights were driving the Going-to-the-Sun Road (the road that bisects that park and provides access to the park's interior, including sub-Alpine regions) and "white-water" rafting. I put "white-water" in quotation marks because I spent most of the trip down the river with my legs dangling lazily off the side of the raft. By the end of the summer, when the winter snowmelts are basically over, the rafting trip becomes more scenic than wild. We stayed in a cabin at Silverwolf Chalets, which was cozy, adorable, and adults-only! (We highly recommend Becky Lomax's Moon Handbook about Glacier - we carried it with us the whole time, and it's how we planned our entire itinerary.)

At the end of the trip, we drove to Sandpoint, Idaho, to visit Philip's uncle Tim and aunt Toni. They were great hosts, taking us out on their ATVs and on a gondola up Schweitzer Mountain.

Q: How was your trip to Hawaii?

A: Again, it was great! I went on my first-ever press trip a couple weeks ago, and it went above and beyond my expectations. I fell in love with the group of writers, editors, and publicists with whom I spent the week. The whole bunch was fun, considerate, inquisitive, positive, and adventurous. Hilton hosted us and totally spoiled us with in-room goodies, turndown service, and incredible meals. I got to do some really cool things, like zip-lining in a Kauai rainforest, swimming under a waterfall on the Big Island, participating in a dolphin encounter, taking a surf lesson in Waikiki (I got up on my first try!), and enjoying some authentic Hawaiian entertainment. There was some work involved (hearing publicity pitches and interviewing people), but honestly, it was mostly just a ton of fun. I missed my husband a lot, but he kept busy attending an important management meeting in Alabama and going to a Tigers/Sox game with my dad and to Mike Kotsis' bachelor party in Chicago.

Q: How's the house? Are you getting settled?

A: The house is a blessing and I adore it, but we haven't gotten settled really at all. With all this crazy travel, we haven't had any time. Philip just got the yard under control last weekend - what a beast (the yard, not Philip). We also shopped for and put an order in for new living-room furniture! This is a major accomplishment for the Mr. and Mrs. Philip Huenekes, who are extremely cautious and slow-moving when it comes to large purchases. Now that we've got our sectional sofa all picked out, we can move on to painting the walls, and then finally, unpacking all the boxes.

I'm very excited about the remainder of 2007. I don't have any work trips or freelance projects on the calendar for the rest of the year (it's a miracle!), so I'll be able to focus on the house and the holidays. I'm hugely relieved. Check out pics from our vacation on Flickr; I'll get the Hawaii photos up soon.

HOUSE/JOB/TRAVEL/LIFE

This blog has been sorely neglected over the last few months, and a lot has happened, so I wanted to fill you in quickly on our life as of late.

The biggest news is that we bought our first house! We love, love, love our house and are very excited to be living there. The process of buying it was wrought with a lot of anxiety and conflict over values, finances, the future, lifestyle, timing, background, etc. It’s amazing how many sensitive areas this decision touched. But after about a year of me tracking listings on Realtor.com and six months of house hunting, during which we toured probably 30 properties, we bought a house that we had walked through on our very first day of house shopping.

I honestly feel like God orchestrated this whole ordeal. After falling in love with the house we eventually would buy, we decided it was too expensive, but continued to track it. No other house grabbed our attention like this one, but it was just too much money, despite the fact that the asking price kept falling. Eventually it disappeared off of MLS listings, so we had our real estate agent inquire about it. The owners were preparing to refinance, pull the cash out and look for a renter since they had to move because of a job change. We said, “Wait! Let us make an offer.” We ended up buying the house for $80,000 less than the original asking price and even $20,000 less than what the previous owners paid in 2004. Holding out proved wise, and it was worth the wait!

The other major change in my life is that I’m no longer copy editing. In May, I was hired as the associate editor of Destination Weddings & Honeymoons magazine, which has really been a dream come true. While the job has its drawbacks (like any job), I am getting to write and travel, which are two of my biggest passions.

Needless to say, adjusting to a new job and a new house at the same time has been sucking up a lot of time and energy. In addition to that, our travel schedule has recently ballooned out of control. Philip is on his way to California for his best friend Ben’s wedding, and I’ll be joining him on Friday. From there, we’re heading to Glacier National Park in Montana for some hiking, white-water rafting and scenic driving! We’re also stopping in Idaho for a couple days on this trip to visit Philip’s aunt and uncle.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of reuniting with some girlfriends from college in Bloomington, Illinois (during which I met my best friend Sarah’s new baby Logan!), and I also had some really nice family time in Rockford. In September, Philip’s headed to Tucson for work, while I’m off to Hawaii (!) for a press trip. In October, we’re going back to Detroit for our friends Mike and Jill’s wedding.

Between all that, I’d love to get our house more settled—paint some walls, get a few new pieces of furniture, decorate, etc.

After our Glacier trip, I’ll try to get pics up on Flickr. And stay tuned for housewarming party information…

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

THE GOOD: Habana Grill

If you are a central Floridian, I highly recommend this restaurant! Philip and I have been here several times, and it is top-notch - great Cuban food, authentic atmosphere, yummy sangria and mojitos, good service and even live music several nights a week! We went last night on a little date and once again, had a fabulous time. We are trying to go out to eat only 1-2 times a week, which saves money, is healthier, and makes the experience more special. It seems that when we eat out like this lately, the conversation goes places it just doesn't seem to go when we eat at home. It's positive to get out of our usual space, away from the stacks of to-dos, and focus on one another. The restaurant was pretty empty last night, which is a bummer. I don't want to see it close down! So show your support for a locally owned restaurant and head over to Habana Grill the next time you're trying to pick a restaurant.

THE BAD: Pollock (Warning - spoilers ahead)

Philip and I watched this film the other night, and while it was interesting to learn about the life of this "influential American painter and a major force in the abstract expressionist movement" (thanks, Wikipedia), I didn't enjoy this movie for several reasons. The main reason was the ending. Unbeknownst to me, Jackson Pollock, an alcoholic, died at the age of 44 in a drunk-driving car crash with his girlfriend and her friend, killing the friend also.

To understand why this ending was so extra deflating, here's a little background. The entire film chronicles Pollock's relationship with his wife, Lee Krasner, strongly highlighting the role she played in caring for him, encouraging him, building his confidence, acting as his publicist and manager, and doing her best to protect him from his addiction. The film does a decent job of rounding out her character; she isn't a perfect saint - nagging, indulging in emotional fits, and approaching art from an intellectual standpoint, rather than seeing it as expression. But still, she is the true champion of the story.

The film reaches its crescendo at the height of Pollock's career. He has become rich and famous; he and Lee share a long gaze at a gallery show during which he is signing autographs. In hindsight, I think perhaps director Ed Harris intended for the gaze to indicate that he recognizes he wouldn't be where he was without Lee, but that he doesn't love her? Well, to me, his expression was too blank to communicate anything meaningful, and her little smile was like, "We're gonna be OK."

But then in the next scene - five years later we're told by a caption - Pollock is overweight and drunken and calling his wife unbelievably crude names. He has this new girlfriend, and the movie quickly descends to the closing scene, in which the car crashes into the bushes and the two girls' screams are silenced. The end.

Yeah, NOT redemptive. I guess if I'd known Pollock's story better, I would have been more prepared for this soul-squelching ending, but good grief! I sat there with my jaw on the floor for about 10 minutes. In some closing text, we find out that Lee, also an artist, goes on to live a long life managing Pollock's estate, and she even produces some of her best work in his studio. Couldn't we have at least seen her in the studio, looking tired but at peace, painting something lovely?

Aside from that, the film was very slow moving, and there were all these annoying scenes where the suspense was high and you were expecting something dramatic to happen, but then ... nothing. E.g., Pollock walks from the house to the studio in the snow; he pulls up his collar; he tosses his cigarette; all is quiet; he slowly opens the door ... What will he find? Will his work have been vandalized? Stolen?? What is behind that door???

Just his studio, exactly as he left it.

What was the point of that?!

I felt like Pollock was trying to be an epic study of a tragic hero, in the spirit of A Beautiful Mind, but it lacked the scope, the timing, and the redemption. In the end, I just found myself saying, "What a loser." Here was a talented guy with a supportive wife, and he just ended up a cheating drunk who crashed his car into a tree. I would not spend your time watching this movie.

THE UGLY: Uglydolls

Apparently these are very cool and hipster-worthy? I saw them all over Park Ave. CDs the other night, and I don't get it. Ugly stuffed animals for adults? Does it give you street cred to have one on your sofa? Who owns these things?