Throwback Thursday // My First Paint Job

When I moved back to Virginia from Alabama in 2010, I was stoked to be going back to my mighty Commonwealth. But, as usual, it was a rush job. Packing a u-haul, towing my car, calming pupster, driving myself from Alabama to Virginia with said u-haul, car tow and stressed puppy.

There was an incident with a ditch in North Carolina that required a tow truck (remind me to retell that story one day), many books on tape and so much tension (because I was terrified that my car would fly off the tow, or that I'd hit something seeing how in that 16-foot u-haul, plus tow, I was basically a semi) that my knuckles were white and my hands hurt by the time I got to my parent's house in Yorktown. That's where I left pupster to take everything else up to Alexandria to meet my friend and soon to be roommate so we could find a place. 

Finding an apartment in a hurry in the D.C. area on a budget is a tall order. Especially one that allows pets and is metro accessible. 

We found one that turned out to be pretty overpriced and probably more trouble than it was worth, but for a year, it was home. 

For whatever reason, I decided I was going to paint my room and my bathroom. My bedroom would be a nice, serene green, but I was hell bent on a red bathroom. Pro tips: do not stand on dining chairs in your tub, while drinking red wine. Red paint will end up in your hair and it does not blend in with red hair. Also, red paint will end up on the ceiling and you will come dangerously close to breaking bones. And the chair. 

But here's what I came up with. All by myself. Before Pinterest. Before I bought home improvement magazines and watched home and garden shows. 

I spent hours agonizing over which shade of red to choose. Many, many trips later to Bed, Bath and Beyond, I finally picked out the shower curtain, that I still love, but alas, I left it in Virginia. 

That over the toilet shelf thing was kind of rickety, but I assembled it myself and hammered nails into the side as a jewelry organizer. Despite having painted the walls red, I was reluctant to put nails in the wall. Did I mention this apartment complex charged for EVERYTHING. Shockingly, they didn't charge much when we moved out for the blinds that Grover actually ate. 

When we moved and I didn't have room for the shelf thing, I just knocked the legs off and used the top shelf and cabinet for a bedstand. I only just got rid of it when I moved to Montana in January. It was a cheap, but trusty piece of furniture.

After I took this picture, I hung a white wicker framed mirror that my grandmother gave me over the towel rack and it double as a dangly earring organizer. Quotes and photos eventually rimmed much of the giant mirror and  I ended up really loving this bathroom. 

True, my edges weren't perfect, I never did master that blue painters tape, but it was my project and my first home DIY/decor success. 

Of course, when we moved out, I was hating myself something fierce for having chosen such a deep red paint. We had to prime the walls when we left in prep for a fresh coat of plain ole cream paint. Let me tell you, priming over that red took forever. And it didn't look nearly as nice as when I originally painted it so there was no satisfaction in seeing progress, only all the work left to do. 

I still have a pair of jeans with primer on them, and a shirt, and Grover's collar has primer flecks. Ah, memories. 

We might end up with a similar paint color in the Homestead, but you better believe we're staying here more than a year if I paint a wall that color.

Do you remember your first DIY/home decor project? What was it and what lessons did you learn?