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Have you ever relished painting a house? Of course, not on a drawing sheet. I am talking about the brick-and-mortar house we live in. It is an experience worth treasuring. Go for it!
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East or west, home is the best. Big or small, a home makes you feel very special. That is why they say “feel at home” to make you feel comfortable. Our house needs to be taken care of the way it takes care of us. Painting our home is one way to express our love for it.
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The last time we painted our house was 11 years ago when my elder brother got married. It was he who painted it all with the sheer enthusiasm to make it look all-new for his bride.
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Since then life has come a long way. Our family now has three new additions to it by the couple. The cuddlesome babies have now grown into troublesome kids. Besides their cute pictures hanging on them, the walls of our house bore the marks of their adventures and mischiefs too.
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Every time I thought of painting the house, my enthusiasm was thawed with the afterthought of the exhaustion it would result in. This time I lost my job due to lockdown and I was left with plenty of time just to kill. “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” bearing this in mind, I found painting our house a nice way to keep myself busy and cheerful.
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Our house is pretty big. I chose the toughest place to start with, apprehending how my enthusiasm was likely to wane with everyday exhaustion carrying on to the next day. It was our living room with a lot of heavy furniture to move out before prepping. Large as it already was, the ceiling too, was shedding flakes of plaster of Paris.
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I covered the floor with old newspapers, filled the nail holes on walls, scraped the loose paint off, and then applied the paint. It took me four days to paint it patiently. I opted for a yellow color to paint the walls. It holds an aesthetic appeal to me. When our living room welcomes sunlight first thing in the morning, the yellow color enhanced with sunlight makes the room look brighter and more spacious.
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Next encounter was with the kitchen. Much smaller it was but no less of a challenge. If the walls are not cleaned thoroughly, the paint would not adhere to them. So I had to prep walls that were splashed with food, stained with grease and soap scum, and covered with loose and flaking paint due to moisture.
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After the kitchen, it was a couple of rooms, and lastly the exterior of the house.
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Time was not a constraint for me. So every day, I would finish a bucketful of paint I prepared while taking a break couple of times.
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I was accompanied in my painting spree by my elderly mom who kept an eye on me so that I would not fall, the rubber gloves that protected my hands, the paintbrush, and the color which I bought from Berger Paints.
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Painting is fun, but creating the perfect shade of color by mixing it with a distemper sets the mood for it. The faint and peeling walls rejuvenate when a color-soaked brush caresses them. You can see the wall smiling as soon as the color dries up.
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Next time you see the faded walls of your house with peeled-off color teasing your like a dirty child sticking his tongue out, brace yourself up with a brush and a bucket of paint to tell yourself and your house, “Get a life!”