Ah yes, the perfectionist issue-- guilty as charged ;) When I started painting DD's closet and found myself worrying about a screw-head depression showing on the back wall, I figured I'd be hopeless with a big expanse of ceiling! I'd be at it forever! I don't like flaws in the work other people do here, either, but I know I'm a lot harder on myself with my own work. What a nice present from your grandparents, Alicia! That must've really made your lives easier. I'm so happy about getting out of a relatively small amount of mudding-- having finishing the whole house lifted off your shoulders must've made you ecstatic! We're having a shallow knock-down put on the ceiling. It's such a big expanse, all open from the end of the kitchen to the opposite end of the living room, that any defect or ripple will have plenty of chance to show. I think knock-down is the best option under the circumstances. (I've been scraping little DD's ceiling free of that awful vermiculite crud. That's another dandy job, but at least I'll be finished fairly quickly.) We have wood heat for our main heat source, but the furnace has an electric fan so if the power goes out, warm air can't circulate. We haven't had any extended power outages for ages, but (I lost my Pacific Parrotlette after the last one...) I'd like a backup. Also, we're on a hill, and the east side of our house is very exposed. When it gets really windy (hasn't so much this winter, but most winters we get a lot of E wind) it gets cold on this side of the house (don't suppose all the windows help things much). A fireplace on this side of the house could take the chill off on those E wind evenings. I'm thinking gas just because I don't want the mess of wood here between the kitchen and living room. Shoveling out ashes, dropping bits of bark...The wood would have to be stacked in the front yard in order to be convenient, otherwise I'd have to truck it halfway across the house. I know the mess we get in the basement from the wood furnace. I checked the Fireplace Forum and got some ideas for realistic logs. Still planning here, too. Tisha-- it's a mess! Imagine using not-that-sticky paste to hold up pieces of paper tape that go all the way across your ceiling-- working up over your head-- trying to keep the part you've put up from pulling down while you move the ladder (pros use funky stilts) a couple of feet across the floor. Glop gets all over your hands, in your hair...mine anyway; I'm not a neat worker! You got it Shelly-- I love having my space be my own creative endeavor. I don't mind having someone else do the taping and mudding, but there's no way on earth I'd ever want to hire someone to chose my decor for me! I look at my recently-completed backsplash and I know that I, personally, picked out where each chunk of stone would go, and stuck it there myself...it's really gratifying :) I've taken some photos-- I'll try to get them up this week.

Patricia, since egg is adhesive and water-resistant, I don't know whether the Wilt Pruf would add anything. It might even reduce the repellency. Mike, I may have some of the stuff around, I might experiment with it just for curiosity. I'm fairly satified with my minimum JB control regime (cutting buds and drowning bugs), but I suppose squirting the flowers every day or two would not be much more trouble than shaking the JBs into a bucket. I don't really understand the principles involved in repelling insects, but it seems they are guided more by attraction than repulsion-- this fragrance ester or that frequency of reflected light is good for eating, gathering nectar, laying eggs on, etc. You've noticed how cabbage butterflies can pick out a cole family plant unerringly, no matter what kind of stuff it is surrounded by. Bugs have a specific instinctive response, pro or con, to certain substances they have evolved alongside of. I'm pretty sure JBs are repelled by synthetic pyrethroids because their DNA knows that pyrethrum daisies and similar plants must not be eaten. But their DNA does not know that pelargoniums are poisonous to JBs. I have no idea whether JBs even have general receptors for "bitter."

I would paint the ceiling first with a 1/2" nap, semi-rough roller cover. When you cut-in the ceiling line, cut down on to the crown molding with the ceiling paint. This creates a smooth surface for the sage topcoat. Use the brush, a 2" angled sash brush to trim the molding up to the ceiling, pushing the paint up toward the ceiling, then flowing it out with the brush. While painting the molding, overlap on to the wall surface below about an inch. Finish painting the crown molding. When cutting in the wall to the molding, cut up toward the molding, pushing the paint up, then flowing it out evenly with the sash brush. Did I help? Michael

Top and bottom horizontal, left and right vertical....these days I actually use a 3/8" roller. Brushes are dead to me since the acrylic era of paint has arrived.