Don't be after me Lucky Charms

I would have taken a picture of the first coat, but I was too scared. It was leprechaun green. The saleswoman had opened the can of paint, and in response to Mark's squeal, had said, "Don't worry. It dries darker."

So he kept saying, "She said it dries darker." It looked like it might, but I broke it to him: plan on three coats. After the second coat, Mark said, "It seems to dry clear." The old paint spots were a different color than the sanded spots. I tried not to say, "See, you should have sanded down to the bare wood."

I'm good at saying stuff like that. You know, stuff like, "You know what you ought to do?" I just kept busy by saying, "Three coats will be like magic!" Besides, I can always cover it with carpets.


But here it is, all done. The green is not quite the color of the carpet that I sent Mark to the paint store with, but it's not leprechaun green enough to repaint it, either.

There was a stenciling incident, too. Java took a stroll on the wet paint, then stepped on the wood threshold. We considered sanding it or scraping it, but anything we do short of sanding the entire thing and restaining it will look worse than a set of paw prints, so I'm just going to consider it stenciling. It's kind of cute, if you like your cat more than your house, which I do.