Painting the kitchen

So here I was sitting at home with nothing to do except feel sorry for myself and with my partner having gone back to work, which meant that she was away over night two times a week. With nothing to do but wait for the bi-weekly visits of the Stroke Nurse (RP) I was already feeling bored.

Just over five years ago we knocked down a not very well built and out of keeping extension at the back and side of the house and had a larger one and much better on built in its place. This gave us a much lager kitchen, as utility room, an additional lounge and an office. At the time we finished it off with white walls and ceiling, but by now the paint had started to fade to an off-white. As a result we had been talking of repainting the kitchen for months. The only thing that held us, well me, back was getting the time, with me working up to the hours a day six days a week. Well, it was all different now. After my Stroke  we agreed that I would do the painting over the next couple of weeks. Because of the size of the room 6 m (19 ft 8 in) by 5.5 m (18 ft) and with the high point of the ceiling of just over 4 m (13 ft 1 in) I needed to get hold of scaffold tower. After a bit of research I found one to hire from a tool shop in the local market town which the partner and I went and ordered it after we got back from watching England play Italy at Twickenham, after which we bought the new paint: white with a hint of apricot and orange chalk paint for one wall.

The scaffold tower was due to be delivered on the 23rd February and I would have a week before it was being picked up again. So the weekend before we set about clearing the kitchen of everything that was that’s home was not in a cupboard, including taking apart, and moving, a Welsh Dresser. When the scaffolding arrived, on the Monday, I was left on my own to put together the metal and wood tower. It would have been an interesting job even if I had been fully fit, but the way I was feeling now it became a monumental juggling act. One that I managed to complete in the short period of 5 hours, having had it almost collapse on me at least twice. That was all I could manage for the first day. I was down to taking my blood pressure only three times a day but it little sign of coming of reducing. Prior to started work it was 164/93, after finishing for the day it was 172/99 and before I went to bed it was 154/82.

On the second day I started relatively early (about ninish). This first full day with the scaffold was taken with preparing the walls. Getting rid of cobwebs, wiping down and finally filling the few cracks that had appeared over the years. As this was all I was going to be able to do that day due to having to leave time for the filler to dry I could and did take it easy, which showed in my BP readings (08:00 − 161/93, 18:00 − 158/96 and at 22:00 − 154/86).

It was only on the third day that I actually began to paint. I have never been a fan of rollers, when painting, so I set about painting the room by brush. So many people have told me that rollers are best but I really like the texture that you get with brushes. The first job was to paint the three walls and ceiling that were not going to be orange. Because we have a block and a work service protruding into the room there was a large amount of repositioning of the scaffold and even then it still involved a certain amount of reaching from the platform. I was finding I was only able to do twenty minutes or half an hour before I had to rest, sometimes for as long as a couple of hours. As I had a lot of wall to cover this was not allowing me to make much headway. (My BP readings on day three were 155/99, 184/108 and 154/92.)

Day four brought the prospect of yet more painting. As on previous days I was only able to work for a limited period before having to take a rest. What with having to manoeuvre the scaffolding and take rests progress was slow. At least my BP was holding steady, if still high (155/99, 184/108 and 154/82).

The Friday, day five, with all chance of completing the painting of the main walls and ceiling gone was much like the previous four. As is often the case when painting on to plaster it takes more than one coat. I finally finished the first layer and so began the second, which was in some ways easier added to which I was getting the hang of where to place the scaffolding but with it having to be returned on the Monday time was running out, which added a certain amount of pressure of its own.

The weekend brought little respite but fortunately I was nearing the end and by Sunday afternoon the final brush stroke was depositing its load. While the paint was drying I dismantled the scaffold.

All that was left to do was use the orange chalk paint on the on remaining wall but that could take its time.

The last week had taken its toll and so I left things as they were until the Tuesday.

When I did restart I took the rest of the week.