On this episode of "While You Were Out"

Last week, Kevin went on a business trip and left the boys and I at home. He didn't realize it, but I had been planning a surprise for him for when he returned home for months.

Remember when we had holes drilled in all the walls on our second floor? I was finally super sick and tired of looking at all the poorly-patched holes in the walls, and I decided to take care of it myself. While Kevin was gone.

I started by engaging Nana and Grandpa to look after the boys at their house while Kevin was away so that I could work uninterrupted. Then, for about a month, I secretly sanded and patched and sanded and patched and sanded and patched all those holes. I worked on it in little 10 minute bursts, whenever I could steal away from the boys unnoticed. I was worried that Kevin would realize something was going on when the walls started looking better, but he never caught on.

In fact, the weekend before his trip, he made himself a to-do list. The third item on his list was patching up all those holes. But, by this time, I had already completed the job. In fact, I had even dusted and washed the walls by this time, because I was going to paint them in just two days. I was really worried that he was going to notice it then. As it turns out, he only completed the first two tasks on his list, and still never noticed that I had taken care of the walls. *Huge sigh of relief.*

While he was at work the next day, we went and bought paint. I used Better Homes and Gardens No VOCs Low Odor paint. You see, the smell of paint makes Kevin sick. Which is why he hadn't painted the walls yet. And why I decided to take care of it while he was away. And to make sure he didn't get sick when he got back, I used the No VOCs Low Odor paint. Which was fabulous, by the way.

Kevin left bright and early on Tuesday morning, Nana came and got the boys, and I got to work. The first day, I painted two bathrooms.

Here is the boys' bathroom, before and after.


I picked Pebble Gray for this room. And I really love it. (Yes, I picked all the paint colors all by myself. I was a little worried that Kevin wouldn't like them, but I figured that if he really hated it, he could repaint it himself. Which is to say, that it didn't matter what I picked, as long as it looked good in the end.)

I also painted the shower room in our master bath with Lemonade Slush yellow.


The second day, I finished painting the rest of the rooms. Next on the list was Connor's bedroom. I had to repaint the inside of his closet, too, as there were four holes drilled in there, too.


Connor really wanted me to paint his room black. But I painted it Lime Granita instead. When he first saw a picture of his freshly-painted room he said, "It's okay, I guess." Once he was at home, he said that he liked it, but what he really wanted was "black with glow in the dark flames." I told him that we could repaint and redecorate his room however he wanted as soon as he was old enough to help me paint it. That seems to have smoothed things over.

I painted the loft two different shades of blue. The dark blue is called Dusty Spruce and the light blue is called Porch Swing.



The hallway between the boys' rooms is entirely Porch Swing blue.


The loft is the most dramatic improvement. This was the last room that I painted, and I finished it about five minutes after Kevin called to say that he was done with his trip and coming home a night early. He was on his way to the airport, and he would be home in a matter of hours. I was worried about the paint smell and so I told him what I had been up to. He decided that he wanted to come home anyways, and so the Low Odor paint was put to the test.

Soon enough, the boys and Kevin were home again with me and I had put all the furniture back. In less than 48 hours I had completely torn the upstairs apart, painted it, and put it back together again. And the Low Odor paint was perfect. The house didn't smell like paint hardly at all, and definitely not enough to bother anyone. Three cheers for that!

Kevin said that it seemed like a whole new house. He was super excited that I had taken care of painting for him, and he loved all the colors that I had picked. He said it was exactly what he didn't know that he wanted.

I love it, too, and I am so glad that I did it.