Paint, Rattle and Rollers

The powers of paint never cease to amaze me.  It has transformed our living room, jazzed up the library circulation area and has made foam insulation board into countless theatrical settings.  Beginning this semester I am taking on a larger role at the Houghton Movement and Art Center.  After a year of teaching acting, Sarah Badger asked me to come on as a regular employee in the role of assistant director of the studio.  One thing that has sprung out of my increased roles was the idea of giving the studio a new look.  So, last week while HMAC was on break, Sarah and I rid the inside of the building of that minty green color.  (The outside is another story.)  Extreme Makeover: HMAC edition, as Sarah called it, sprung out of a meeting we had several weeks ago.  We were looking at the studio trying to find was to maximize the available space and really get the most out of the building.  Our initial plan was to organize the back rooms, consolidating like materials and making each one a dedicated storage area for different things (including a home for the ever growing collection of props, costumes and set pieces for The Valley Theatre).  As the gears began turning on how best to do this, we started to consider other little improvements:  getting curtains to cover the mirrors in the studio, rearrange the lobby and adding some color.  With the February break looming we decided that would be the perfect time to dive in.  After an eventful trip to thrift and home improvements stores we found a few new furniture pieces and eventually settled on paint colors. 

                When break rolled around we gathered our supplies and a collection of CDs (my retro tunes vs. Sarah's hipster jams) and got to work.  We started with painting so that while it was drying we could work on other things in between coats.  However, we were quickly reminded just how time consuming painting projects can be.  First there is the taping process.  We were working with two colors, so not only did we have to tape around trim, windows and ceilings, but we had to tape the corners of the walls where the paint would transition.  Then we had to fill the holes in the walls.  There were a lot of holes.  This took a long time, a very long time, but eventually we got down to painting.  We finished with the nice dark blue we selected and then moved on to purple.  We couldn’t tape along the blue sections because the paint was still drying so we did as much of the purple as we could then called it a night. We had originally thought we could do this in a day.  That was not to be.  Day 2 we moved on to purple.  In theory this should have taken less time, and I suppose it did, but it certainly wasn’t quick.  Augustus was no help at all.  He just played with his elephant rattle and tried to roll of the couch, leaving all of the heavy lifting to us.  Kids today... Regardless, it was an informative few days.  I learned about Graham's prolific fan-fiction career, the difficulties in getting dark blue paint out of tan carpet, and what passes for snacks in vegan/woodlands creature communities.   

                When the painting was done we were both surprised by what a difference it made.  We knew it would look better, but it made a big impact.  Sarah made the comment that it felt modern and that pretty much sums it up.  Now the studio feels like a vibrant, active place.  Switching the desk and the sitting area helps to delineate the office section from the lounge.  It makes for a better flow when people are arriving for or departing from class.  It looks great, it’s more practical and adds a much needed flare to an otherwise drab building.  Projects like this are rewarding, because they provide so much bang for the buck.  Plus, it was a lot of fun to do.  We never got around to organizing the back rooms, which is ironic since that was the catalyst for this project.  I guess I know what we’ll be doing next break.