Lesson Learned ~ don't be lazy, do it right the first time!

Remember in my last post when I alluded to a funny story about the cabinets in my closet. Well the truth is, what happened really wasn't that funny to me. It was a lesson for me to learn about doing things right the first time. Let me set the story up for you first and you might understand why things happened the way they did. As you guys have read from my previous post, the closet project took longer than expected. I was hoping for a week tops to complete the job but it actually turned into 2 weeks and some change. That's a contractor in my home from 9am to 4pm, Monday thru Friday. It is a weird feeling to have a stranger in your home for that long. I didn't even want to eat, because I thought it would be rude. What if he's hungry or thirsty? Do I offer him something? If I sat down to relax I felt guilty. He's in there working and I'm sitting on my rear. I know I over analyze, and I was paying him to do the work so I didnt have to, but it was still stressful for me. Not to mention that my clothes took up residencey on the guest bedroom bed during the remodel. It was like an episode of hoarders in there. LOL! There were lots of decisions to make, lots of running to Homedepot or Lowes to get this or that and LOTS of mess! So by the time the contractor was finished I just wanted it to be over with so I could feel some kind of normalcy. Unfortunelty, I had decided that the cabniets did not match the gray color scheme so I needed to paint them white. Ok, so here is where my laziness cost me. I decide that I didn't need to sand the cabniets. I get the primer that he used for the wall, which he suggested that I buy from a paint store called Kwal. I'm thinking this must be some high quality stuff. I have 5 gallons of it and I dont want to run to the store to get something else, so I start priming the cabniets. As I'm painting I notice that it is bubbly looking. I try to rationalize that it is because Im using a roller so I switch to a brush and that seems to calm my fears enough to contiue on. I primed everything except the doors and drawer facings and then take a break. When I came back to see if it had dried, I noticed the bubbly look again. I softly ran my finger nail over the primer to see if it had adhered to it. It didn't:( I quickly grab the kids and rush to the store for some better primer. Something that will adhere so I dont have to sand anything. When I get to the store a gentlmen ask if he can assist me. So I tell him that I need primer for some cabniets and I dont want to sand. He strongly suggest that I sand before I prime. I roll my eyes internally and just get some primer that claims that you don't have to sand and rush home. By this time my husband is home and he suggest that I prime a small section to see if it will work before I reprime everything again. Wow, he's a smart man! So after I test a spot and see that it scrapes off just as easy, my husband looks and me and says "you need to scrape all of that primer off" I'm thinking to myself is that even possible? Well folks, I'm here to testify that yes indeed it is possible. With lots of elbow grease and help you can scrape primer with the best of them.

Thats a scary picture for a lot of reasons! Wow, I need a bath! Fortunetly I didnt have to scrape alone. My kids thought it would be fun to help mom, which I'm ever so grateful for!







Let's not forget about the mess this made! Feeling sorry for me yet?


Needless to say, after all the scraping, I sanded everything. Lesson Learned! Pictures of the finished project to come. Stay tuned.... x's & o's Jamie

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