Asphyxiation, Asphyxiaaaa-aaaa-tion

The apartment painting project continues - I've been working on the bedroom. The previous tenants, Kim and Kevin, were the last ones to paint the bedroom. Kim and Kevin, thank you soooo much! They got a bunch of paint from Kevin's uncle, mixed it all together, and painted the bedroom a dark olive green. Thanks guys!

So I decided I wanted the walls to be white, and off I went, starting with the west wall. Two coats of primer, one coat of flat paint, and two coats of semi-gloss later, the wall was ..... not white. Almost white. White with a green tint. Kinda a puke-white. At which point I discovered that the paint they used, courtesy of Kevin's uncle, was evidently oil-based. And would need to be covered with an oil-based primer, not the latex-based stuff that I used.

Down but not defeated, I decided to paint the other walls, starting with oil-based primer, and then possibly get back to the wall I had already put 5(!) coats of paint on, at some point in the future when I wasn't so depressed.

So! Last weekend, I went and picked up a gallon of oil-based primer, disposable roller pan liners, turpentine for cleaning up splatters, etc. And I started painted the north wall. And stopped breathing.

I can't believe it is legal to sell oil-based primer! I must have lost most of my remaining brain cells from the fumes that were coming off that stuff! Stink?? Oh, My God. I did the first coat, went to run some errands so that I could breathe again, and when I got back to the building, I could smell the paint outside on the back deck! With all the doors and windows closed! So I bit the bullet and did the second coat, this time with windows open in 20 degree weather, and the apartment still stunk for two days after that. I'm talking eyes running, headache-inducing stink.

I will never use that stuff again. Because, you know what? After two primer coats of the Paint of Death, the green still shows through. So this weekend, I will put on a coat of latex semi-gloss and live with the result. Because I like breathing.

Thanks again, Kim and Kevin!