Wax On, Wax Off. Paint the... Garage!

Julie did a great job on the corners and trim. Get ready to say goodbye to yellow walls!

NMS-North has been in their South Carolina Headquarters for two years now, and so far we've upgraded the lighting in the garage and added new tool cabinets, so its time to do something about the yellow walls. Oh I don't personally hate the color yellow, but it is far from my favorite! OK, I don't like it. So, we painted it very plain white. 

Be safe with those ladders. 

Plain white should make working in the garage better, with things looking brighter and a LOT less yellow! We removed the few light switches and electrical outlet covers so that we could roll as much as possible. 

I think this is after the first coat. The second coat went on the next day and covered things up nicely. 

I had a few days off from school this fall, so this created a great window of opportunity to get the work done and also avoid the heat of summer. Add one coat of new paint on the ceiling and two coats on the walls and BAM...WE HAVE A WHITE GARAGE! I'm thinking I might trademark the phrase "YELLOW GARAGE BE GONE."

Painting around the water heater back there was the most challenging part. 

We moved almost everything into the driveway for the two painting days, back in at night, and shoved the heaviest storage tubs into the center of the garage to work around them. Maybe a professional painter would have emptied the room, and then used a spray gun to do it way faster, but we got it done with a plain old roller on a long handle and brushes. Since it's just a garage, we used a a minimal amount of drop cloths. Hey, those new paint splatters on the floor are creativity in action! Modern art for everyday living! Groovy baby!

The paint man at Home Depot suggested outdoor paint for the garage, since it is not heated or cooled. 

NMS used the Behr Exterior Satin Enamel paint from Home Depot, so thanks for their 10% discount for military. By using the same paint on the ceiling and walls, we didn't have to worry about cutting in the corners or using painters tape. Plus, remember our new motto from this project: "It's only a garage." 

Day two, the walls look better than day one! Two coats covered up the yellow with no problems. 

Even the second time around it wasn't fun painting around the water heater. Oh make no mistake, I can do some painting, but when we moved here we hired some professionals to paint the interior of the house. 

Working on the ceiling was fun too, getting around the lights. The ceiling only needed one coat since it was white in the first place. 

This is a huge 18 inch or so paint tray. I tried a roller that large, but it was just too big and bulky for me, so back to the standard size roller. 

Here we are at the end of day two, so we put everything back in and parked the cars. The next step will be to add some car related flags, posters, and other stuff on the walls.