I describe our house as a work in progress.  Which really means that it is constantly having something changed or renovated.  When we first purchased this house, the previous owners had painted everything inside and outside (barring the roof) white.  Which in itself is fine, until you notice that they had also painted over light switches and the glass covering the range hood light (which thought was broken for the first 3 months).

Since we moved in, much of the house has changed, the latest being the back deck.  This was one of those jobs that started being small that grew to be the whole deck needing to be demolished and replaced.  Needless to say it was a big job, that is only just nearing completion.  We are still waiting on the staircase balustrading to be made and fitted.  But before we can have the deck warming, hubby decided that the back of the house needed to be repainted….

Anyone that has painted previously knows that there is a fair amount of prep work, prior to painting and the painting itself is a messy/fiddly job.  So this was my Sunday last week, the timber cladding on the back of the house had to be cleaned with sugar soap, dried, filled and sanded.  Then the painting could begin.

Something that struck me during these processes, was that you needed different eye protection during the different tasks.  You needed safety goggles for the cleaning, particularly when reaching above your head.  The drying and filling, any safety glasses would have been fine (though I noticed that I did need sunglasses for much of the job – so factor in a tint or polarised if you are outside in the middle of the day or when it is glarey), then the goggles again for the sanding.

I feel for the plasterers, as it is really difficult to see through dusty lenses and it is quite easy to scratch the lenses, when cleaning the lenses, if they aren’t rinsed first.  Back to the normal safety glasses/sunglasses for the painting.

As this was just a day with one goal and various parts to get there.  It got me thinking about how most people will need various eye protection for their different jobs.  Another example of the one size fits all approach, failing.  There is no one pair of safety glasses, that is perfect for everything.  My advise is to think about your daily tasks and make sure your eye protect suits.