Painting, Patience, and Eating Crow
I’ve spent the summer with, among other things, a brush in my hand and paint on my forearms (and also on every single piece of clothing I own). About a third of Grandview’s interior is now fresh, including miles of trim and, because I apparently offended a past-life saint, the thin wood between window panes in two rooms as well. If you’ve ever painted muntins, you know: this is where optimism goes to die.
It hasn’t all been pretty. The walls carried… history. Genuinely extraordinary history, but also in this case the kind of historical old house smells that seep through plaster and linger in baseboards. The closets were bad enough that we struggled to even wash the smell out of the clothes that hung there. We couldn’t send our daughter to school smelling like grandma’s attic, and so I wedged a box fan in the window, taped the room, and rolled on a coat of Zinsser B.I.N. Shellac-Based Primer and Sealer, which I’m absolutely sure killed more brain cells than I can afford to lose. “Ultimate stain & odor killer,” it said. Alcohol-based, which was a new experience. Next time I’ll bring more box fans.
The walls told on the previous life here. The last owner loved art and may have loved nails even more. Every room was a constellation of holes: pinpricks, anchors, and craters. I started mapping them with blue tape, then settled into the ritual: fill, sand, vacuum, prime, repeat. Like a tide coming in and smoothing the beach. I’ve not done much plaster patching, and my amateur research suggested that “hot mud” is a closer match than the green or blue stuff I use with drywall. So hot mud it was, and the stuff did the trick. I bought the 20 min, but won’t make that mistake again.
I wasn’t unkind, but I was also not enthusiastic about the paint my wife advocated for. She wanted ECOS. I protested at more than just the price. I pictured thin coverage, extra coats, poor hide, the kind of worthy-but-fussy product that turns a weekend into a saga. It’s water based. “If shellac can’t cover these smells and stains, I’m pretty sure this stuff isn’t going to cut it,” I thought… and said. I informed her of these concerns with the confidence of a man who hadn’t yet tried it. Then I tried it.
The first project shut me up. A closet. The same closet we had already hit with B.I.N once and Kilz 2 twice, but still smelled. One coat of ECOS and a day later 80% of the smell was gone. “Lucky,” I thought. Any topcoat would have done that. So I tried the adjacent closet, just as smelly but yet untouched. One coat of ECOS and the smell was 80% gone. ECOS hid better than I expected too, including over unprimed walls. I’m not recommending that, but I am relaying my experience. Two coats with no primer covered perfectly, when I usually prime and then topcoat twice anyway. Rollers, mini-rollers, and brushes all laid it down cleanly, and it was relatively behaved. You do want to keep a wet edge. It doesn’t win the coverage-per-gallon contest, but the color depth and just overall finish? Worth the extra can, especially if you’re painting yourself. I’m eating my words hard on this one, but the rooms look great so I don’t mind the taste. For what it’s worth, these guys aren’t paying me, I’m just legitimately eating my words, and have a new favorite paint.
The painting scope is expansive, but it’s no full-time job, nor is any other scope you’ll find here at TGP. I’m fitting this all in between my regular work and time with the family. That means this has all come about in a pretty piecemeal way. The biggest challenge with that approach, I found, other than having to look at cratered and unpainted surfaces for months on end, is that collecting and setting up all of the gear every time took nearly as long as the painting itself.
So I made a kit. Pretty standard for folks who paint a lot, I’d imagine, but relatively novel to me. In a small bucket, I packed a large roller frame, mini-roller frame, a small array of rollers, two brushes (1.5” and 2.5”), a razor knife, a roll of paper towels, and a roll of painters tape. This bucket sat on top of a paint tray with a few liners. Because all of our stuff has been constantly moving around as we settle into this place, meaning that I’m constantly losing track of it, creating this kit probably saves me 30 minutes of setup every single time I want to paint.
There was a period where I got pretty frustrated by the slow pace. We have so much to do here at Grandview that painting barely feels relevant, and it takes sooooo long. But it’s necessary, especially with young kids who have just moved across the country and are trying to re-establish their sense of place. After the closets, I moved to the kids’ rooms. Then the primary and a little room adjacent to it. Windows and trim downstairs. A hallway. More closets. I put in a few hours every few days; after work but before kids bedtime, or on a weekend morning. That kind of thing. It still feels overwhelming, but I can see the progress and that feels good.
There’s plenty more ahead, including a staircase that will test my patience and a great room with deep cracks in almost every single section of plaster board. I’m budgeting extra time for the remaining windows because I’ve learned to be kind to future me. But as of now, a third of the house feels settled. The rooms don’t just look different; they behave differently. They feel more like home.
A few practical notes for the curious: I complained about the B.I.N. shellac primer, but honestly it works great and is still the nuclear option for mystery odors. Something unique was going on in those closets. But use it with a fan if not a respirator. It’s seriously nasty stuff, but it works. Otherqise, Kilz II is a reliable workhorse and my go-to for prepping a room for new paint. ECOS won me over for the finish and the color depth, and I’d absolutely use it again. It’s the same price as other quality paints (think Sherwin Williams or Ben Moore), but it doesn’t seem to ever go on sale like other higher end brands. So functionally it costs about 30% more. Coverage by area wasn’t heroic, maybe a shade below average, but I’d trade that for how it looks finished any day.
