Companionship?

Laat Saturday I thought: I’ll start by giving the old bathroom door a lick of paint. So we went to the paint shop to get some. That took ages, because, of course, we just couldn’t decide on the type of paint and, above all, the colour. As for the kitchen cupboard doors, I decided not to paint them, but to rub them down with furniture oil, and that turned out to be a good choice. From a purely financial point of view, it cost less than €5, including two brushes. Not that I paid for it, but still. A tin of paint would easily have cost €15.
Once home, I immediately removed the covering that was on the kitchen cupboard doors and which was already half coming off, took off the door knobs and started applying the oil; that went really quickly.
It takes a bit of getting used to and, yes, I would have preferred it white because the kitchen has no window and is really nothing more than a passageway, but this will do. And the wall units, from which I’d already removed the doors and which are now nothing more than shelves, I’m going to look for some baskets or boxes for those, which I’ll also treat with this oil.

This morning it was the bathroom door’s turn.
This is an old thing where a so-called carpenter has sawn off a bit, and if you ask me, this door has never been new. When the door is wiped with water, not only does it bleed, but it looks as though the "wood" is starting to dissolve too. It looks just like cardboard, and that’s probably exactly what it is.

Green seemed like a good colour to me, simply because cream doesn’t go with the white walls and quickly looks grubby, and besides, there’s green in the curtains and cushions too. Before using it, I gave the tin a shake; I’m not keen on stirring, and shaking works just as well.
Right from the first strokes, I realised this wasn’t the acrylic paint I’d had in mind. It was indeed the same brand, but the wrong tin: this isn’t water-soluble. I’ve never taken so long to try and paint one side of a door. I say ‘try’, because there was no way I could get the paint to spread; in the end, I used a small paint roller and had to press down hard.

The air was stifling, and my fear that my companion, the cat, would keep pushing his nose against the door or smear his fur all over me was unfounded. The air was certainly unbearable for him too; he stayed in his basket until I was finished.
Well, finished. There’s not much I can do about it at the moment. According to the information on the tin, it takes 24 hours for the paint to dry, and then I can paint it again. If it continues at this rate, I’ll be stuck with this for another three days. Extremely annoying.

After inhaling the fumes and feeling sick, I opened the window. I hope the stench clears out quickly.
I don’t think I’ll be painting another door or the gate with this paint. That stuff is just as annoying as the tin of Hammerite I once had to apply.
And now I go to my studio to paint, doodle or sketch. Without companionship is the best.

_{Prompt: see title
16-3-2026}