Painting Disaster

Here's and update on the progress of my painting project.

Oh MY GOSH my house is too big. I hate it. I needed help! So, I went and found some workers painting a house still getting built in my neighborhood. I asked them to come look and tell me what it would cost for them to come do the things I couldn't reach (like the 2 story walls, and the moulding that is 25 feet high etc.)
They came and started. The 2 guys came for a few hours, painted a little bit, then left. They got one room (walls and trim) done the first day, then it took 2 days for them to paint the walls and trim of my 2 story entry way (they actually used 3 scaffolding levels, so i guess it was pretty intense)... but they dripped paint all over my wood floors. They used lacquer remover to get it off. My beautiful wood floors were all spotted. I was LIVID! They came back again and again and worked maybe 3 hours a day and went SOOOO unbelievably slowly. One guy painted doors (got about 5 done) and the other guy did the walls. After 5 days of them being lazy and pathetic, and ruining my wood floors, I fired them. The high stuff was done, and I couldn't stomach paying those guys any more money. I paid them half of what we agreed (although they might not have even finished half of what we agreed to having them accomplish). Then, I started doing the project by myself. I painted all day every day. 4300 sq feet of walls. and trim, a MILLION doors and 2 staircases... I found a guy at the gym who was willing to help for 10 bucks an hour. He helped me do the walls and trim of 3 rooms - made things go SO much more quickly!
I FINALLY finished. It was the biggest pain. I never wanted to pick up a paint brush again. I didn't even do my laundry room or media room (although I did paint the doors to those rooms).
After about a month of solid work, my trim was FINALLY an ivory color (matching my ceilings) and my walls were a sand color... 26 gallons of paint...

The next week, I woke up, and suddenly couldn't stand my bathroom cabinets anymore. They were that same ugly khaki color, and it just didn't look right.
So, feeling like I knew the paint staff at Home Depot to be competent, (heck, I had been in there almost every day for a month buying more paint!) I took off a cabinet door and brought it to them. I asked all the right questions, like, what kind of paint is on this? What kind of paint do I need to use to paint over it?
New guy: "oh that's interesting, your cabinets are already painted with a latex - you can just paint over that with any latex paint color you choose".

Day 1: paint guest bath upstairs with the chocolate brown latex paint. Feel so good about myself. That was QUICK! Those cabinets look AMAZING! What an improvement! Begin painting the boys' side of the jack-and-jill bathroom.

Day 2: paint starts falling off cabinets. RRRRGGHHH. Maybe I should have primed them? Sand cabinets. prime cabinets. decide to prime Charity's side of the jack-and-jill and also prime guest bath downstairs... feel pretty confident - finish painting all those cabinets the chocolate brown latex. Looks pretty good... feeling good too.


Day 3: let paint dry

Day 4: paint peels off the primer. WHAT???? It wont even stick to the primer????? ARRRGGHHHHH!! Tears. Go to Home Depot. Complain and demand to talk to someone competent. They were baffled that the paint didn't stick to the primer. They replaced my paint with an oil based paint. They replaced brushes and gave me more sandpaper. Start sanding

Day 5: still sanding/scraping off paint from cabinets. Tears. Frustration. Joe tells me it is a disaster. He is right.

Day 6: Go out of town.

Day 9: Come home. Finish sanding/scraping. prime cabinets. (a MILLION doors, drawers and facings!!!) Oil based coat 1.

Day 10: Oil based coat 2... for some reason, 3 cabinet faces have paint that bubbles. OH MY GOSH. I AM GOING TO KILL MYSELF! I HATE THIS STUPID PROJECT! Walk away. let paint dry.

Day 11: Decide perfection is not an option. Leave bubbles. re-hang cabinets and put in drawers. Start and finish master bath room cabinets.

Day 12: Sand down bubbles. prime/paint and it is ok.

Day 13: I vow to not pick up another painting project for a LONG time.

Yes, it looks SOOOO much better now. Unfortunately, it was also disaster. I think if I ever want to change cabinet color again, I will pay someone to do it.