The Color Purple

12:00

I have a wall.  It is purple.  See?

In the cool northern light that comes in from my balcony, it almost looks slate gray, but I promise you that it's purple.  Remember the Christmas tree from Williamsburg Pottery?  That purple.

When I came to see this apartment at the beginning of August, I thought the purple wall was fine.  It was a bold accent color, and it's not a huge wall, really, so I didn't have a problem with it.  However, once I moved in I realized something I hadn't earlier - without furniture in front of it, the purple wall revealed a problem: it was unevenly painted.  You can see some of this to the left of the cable outlet in the picture above (blow it up and see what else you can find - there are some weird spots by the thermostat too, and up near the ceiling).  So, although I am willing to live with a purple wall, I am not willing to live with an unevenly-painted one.  Therefore and forthwith, I'm painting the sucker.

What color, you ask?  Well, you'll just have to wait and see - I'll be back later in the day with more photos.  But one thing is certain - you can kiss the color purple goodbye!

2:00

I have a wall.  Now it's white.

Sorta.  As you can see (though not very well in this picture - it's clearer and brighter in real life, promise), the purple refuses to go without a fight, something I was told to expect when I went to buy primer and paint.  So I've put on Primer Coat #1 and will let it set for about an hour before I apply Primer Coat #2.  Hopefully two coats is enough, but I reckon I've got enough paint to do three if I have to.  I hope not, though, because if I do there's no way I'm making it to church tonight...

4:00

I still have a wall, but now it is definitely white.  See?

 
This, however, raises a quandary.  It's 4:00, and the Saturday evening vigil Mass at the local church is at 5:15.  If I let this primer dry for an hour, it'll be time for me to leave for church.  I could go tomorrow morning or tomorrow evening, but I've already been to those Masses, and I want to see if the vigil of Saturday is any different.  Alas, it appears that I won't be able to do that, because if I do go, I'll get back around 6:30 and want dinner, and by the time time I'm done the light may not be good enough to paint by.  So no church tonight - I'll have to go sample the vigil Mass next week.

Not Quite 7:00

I have a wall.  It is brown.  And it is also a miracle.  I will explain.

 
I had it on good authority (my parents, who have both painted walls in the past) that all I would need was a quart of paint (the saleslady at the hardware store wisely recommended that I get a gallon of primer).  So after the primer had dried I got out my paint roller (blessings on the person who invented them - they're amazing) and started on the left side of the wall.  But as I was nearing the right side I began to panic.  Would I have enough paint?  Surely not - there was hardly any left in the can!  What would I do if I ran out of paint?  Desperate, I began painting more and more lightly, hoping to conserve enough paint to allow me to touch up the edges (which I couldn't do with the roller, unless I wanted to paint the ceiling too).  I finished everything I could do with the roller, but there were still edges and hardly and paint left to paint them with.  Grimly, I reached from my brush.

And then I had a Hannukah moment.  (Wait, what?)  I'll explain.  The story behind Hannukah comes from the Jewish tradition and, as you may recall, describes a menorah in the Temple in Jerusalem which burned for eight days on a single day's supply of oil.  I could have sworn that there was hardly any paint left in my can, but I managed to paint all four edges and touch up the spots I had painted more lightly, and there was still paint left!  My perception of volume is obviously faulty, but aside from that, I am relieved in obscenely gigantic proportions that I didn't run out.  Is the wall perfect?  No, it's not - you'll probably be able to see some some brush strokes when it's dry (there are some still-wet ones at the far right of the picture), and I need to touch up the baseboard (it's white, so I'll use leftover primer), but it's done - no gaping white holes to be filled with a paint that wouldn't quite match (of course), and no emergency trip to a hardware store which I've yet to locate in this city.  And in any case, it's far better than what preceded it, so you'll hear no complaints from me.

Whew.  I need a beer.