So, the Trim painting project has begun, and let me tell you – its more work then I originally planned for (but isn’t that always the case?).  We decided to start with the door frames in the hallway, since that area will have the most overall impact on the house.  See below for a picture of  our hallway in all of its dark-stained-wood-glory:

See what I meant about that whole cave effect thing? Pretty Scary.

The doors are all a bit dusty since I took these pictures right after I started sanding the one doorway that is out of sight from this angle! (yup you heard me, there is in fact another doorway in that little tiny hallway!)

I kicked off the project by covering the floor with plastic and blocking the entrance to the kitchen with plastic as well in order to keep some of the sanding dust out of the rest of the house.  Luckily we have a palm sander – the black and decker mouse- which really minimizes some of the physical labor of sanding everything down.  I know, I know you’re thinking why on earth are we sanding everything in the age of no sand primer? Believe me, I’d love nothing more than to just rough up the surface, prime and paint, but unfortunately our trim appears to have about 27 layers of stain on it, with many uneven splotches where the older stain had chipped or peeled. I guess that’s what you get with a 100-plus year old house! And anyways we want this paint job to last and be as beautiful as possible.  Sometimes it really feels like with a smaller house, every little job needs to be done 100% and that every detail counts.

Since I was a slacker and only got one doorway sanded- you’ll have to wait till this weekend for the next after picture!