I have a question and figured I'd pick your brains. I know someone here will know the answer.

I've decided to deal with my "empty nest" here at home and am redoing the room that our two boys have moved out of.

My main quesiton is...the walls were painted about 18 years ago with a semi-gloss paint. I will be going to a lighter color and have decided to use a Kilz flat color with the primer built into it. Can I paint this directly onto the semi-gloss or will I need to sand the walls first or apply a flat base and THEN put on my real color with the Kilz? I am having to fill so many holes first that I might just go ahead and sand the rest of the walls anyway. There isn't much area that doesn't have holes in it anyway (like pushpins, staples, thumbtacks, etc) plus a few bigger ones. What do you think?

Ok, nevermind about the sanding vs flat primer. Since I'm dealing with this and have to sand the spackle anyway, I decided I may as well just sand the whole wall. It's practically the whole thing anyway, all walls are in the same shape. Plus the temp here is 102, 103 and that's not counting the heat index.

Holy crap. Yeah, a little hard to sand the spackle without sanding the whole thing. I wouldn't feel comfortable painting over a semigloss without sanding anyway.

Yep...I've decided you're right JB. This will probably be the last time that room is painted, so I want to do it right and make it look good. And like you pointed out, it's kind of hard not to sand the old paint, may as well do it all.

Well, the wall spackling has all been sanded, the ceiling (yes the ceiling too) has been spackled and sanded. Hopefully today (if I can move) I'll take down the blinds, fill holes from them and then sand those too. After that comes the sanding on the rest of the walls, vacuuming, and a sponge down.

Maybe after that I'll get out my steam vac and clean the carpet and then think about painting. I'm getting there, just taking some time to do it.

In the meantime I have 4 days until the first day of school here to set up my day care at school. That is, If I can get into my room. Major school renovations going on and of course my room was last. As of yesterday it was all painted, the tiles in my office were pulled up but not replaced yet, renovation crew's crap all over my floors (used to be the girls gym in a middle school) and bathroom partition panels on the floor in the back of my room). I have a meeting on Thursday and before that I have to get to my computer (which is packed away) and pull a contract from it to be signed. I refuse to stress out about this. I'll try my best, but if it doesn't all get done by the first day then so be it.

Yeah! My walls are all sanded and the ceiling is sanded. Now I need to do a little wood filling on the window sills of mysterious gouges and holes. Hmmm, imagine that. Then more sanding of that and then a total wipedown. Then I can think about painting. I made up a list of things to do in there to fix the place (just the repairs and painting part) and had about 25 items on there. But, it's getting done. I have to go start setting up my daycare today so we can start school in 2 days. I won't be able to get into my office until tomorrow (Fri) so who knows?

My daycare is up and running and almost maxxed out for just myself.
My nest at home: have sanded all of the walls and the ceiling, wiped down free of all dust, windows pulled out and cleaned and replaced, all furniture moved out except the dresser which has been covered, floor vacuumed of dust, water stain on ceiling vanquished with about 4 coats of Kilz, and entire ceiling painted twice with Kilz. Now, on to regular ceiling painting next, maybe in about 2 weeks. In the meantime I need to do a little wood filler on the window sills and more sanding of that and another wipe down. It's taking a while, but I'm getting there.

You're doing a great job. After it's all finished I need it for ammo storage and a music studio.

Hah! I know a place you can store stuff and it won't be pretty!

I didn't realize it had been so long since I've been here. Sheesh! Anyway...replaced all recepts in my room, ceiling patched, water stain covered and whole ceiling painted with 2 coats, walls all spackeled, sanded and painted, same for trim, carpet has been cleaned, closet cleared out and new piece of carpet replaced the 50 year old piece that had been in there, ceiling fan has been cleaned (wished I'd replaced the pull switches in the fan/light when I had the electricity turned off for the recepts), new curtains and hardware are up, windows cleaned. Next thing (hopefully this next week) install blinds in the windows (2) and get an entertainment stand for the tv/cd/stereo/receiver/vcr (yes I still have one of those, I might put it in...haven't decided for sure yet)/turntable/speakers/and tv converter. Now all I need to add to that is a dvd player. Can't wait to play some old vinyls, I've missed them.