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The home gym’s most visible painting work is finally complete: Kristi Linauer finished the trim, corrected the tops of the wall stripes, and installed and painted the outlet plates. Her February 6, 2023 update marks the end of the room’s long painting phase, although doors, flooring, lighting, window treatments, and storage were still ahead.
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The update is especially useful for anyone wondering how painted stripes meet new trim or how outlet covers can be painted to match. Linauer’s account is a personal project report rather than a controlled test or universal installation guide, but it shows exactly where a design change created extra touch-up work and which type of cover she prefers.
The milestone Linauer had been waiting for
“I crossed a major hurdle with the home gym progress last night,” Linauer wrote in her February 6, 2023 progress post. The hurdle consisted of three related jobs: painting the trim, touching up the colored stripes where they met the ceiling, and installing and painting the outlet plates.
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Those details matter because the room had looked nearly transformed for a long time without being functionally finished. The walls had been painted in June 2021, but the room then sat incomplete while Linauer concentrated on a master-bathroom remodel. By the time she returned to the gym, the broad color scheme was already in place; the remaining work was the precision work that makes a painted room look intentional.
She described the relief directly: “This was beginning to feel like the never ending painting project, so I’m very relieved and excited to finally have this done!” The statement captures what changed at this stage. The room did not suddenly receive a new color palette. Instead, the edges, trim, and electrical covers that had remained unfinished were brought into the same visual plan as the striped walls.
What had been done before the final push
Some of the trim work was already underway before the milestone night. Roughly half of the ceiling trim had been installed. The door and window trim was in place and had been wood-filled, but it still needed sanding, caulking, and paint. That distinction is important: installed trim is not necessarily finished trim. Nail holes, seams, and transitions can remain visible until the filling, sanding, caulking, and painting stages are complete.
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Why the crown-molding plan changed
One installed piece changed the design decision
Linauer had wanted crown molding in the gym. After installing one piece, however, she decided that the profile did not look right in the room. Rather than continue with a detail she disliked, she removed that direction and chose smaller ceiling trim instead.
This was an aesthetic decision specific to her room, proportions, and colorful wall treatment. It should not be read as a general rule that crown molding is wrong for a gym or that smaller trim is always easier. The important practical consequence was that the stripe edges had been painted for one trim profile and then exposed to another.
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The replacement trim did not eliminate touch-ups
Linauer had hoped the smaller trim would let her avoid correcting every stripe. Instead, she found it difficult to create a paint line she liked where the white trim met the wall. The narrow transition made imperfections easy to see, particularly against the strong colors.
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She also avoided painter’s tape. Her earlier experience was that tape could lift portions of the stripes, including narrow white lines. Because preserving the existing stripes mattered more than gaining a taped edge, she worked without relying on tape and ultimately touched up the top of every stripe.
The sequence is a useful reminder about renovation planning: a change that looks smaller on the wall can still create a large amount of detail work. The trim itself was not the only variable. Its width, the way it met the wall, the original stripe endpoint, and the risk of disturbing cured paint all affected the final finish.
How the stripe edges were finished
Touch-up work replaced the original assumption
The upper edge of each stripe had been treated as though crown molding would hide it. Once smaller ceiling trim became the choice, those assumptions no longer held. Linauer therefore went back over the top of every stripe so the wall color met the trim cleanly enough for her standard.
Her account does not specify a brush size, paint sheen, drying time, number of coats, or a universal technique for reproducing the result. It does establish the actual decision path: the edge was not perfect because it was never meant to remain exposed, the molding changed, tape was considered risky based on prior experience, and manual touch-ups became the workable solution for this room.
What readers can learn from the edge problem
- Decide how a stripe will terminate before painting it. A stripe that ends beneath crown molding may need a different level of precision from one that meets a narrow ceiling trim.
- Changing the trim profile after the walls are painted can turn a concealed edge into a visible one.
- Painter’s tape is not automatically harmless on a multi-color wall. Linauer specifically reported that it had lifted parts of her stripes, including thin white lines.
- A smaller piece of trim may change the appearance of the room without reducing the amount of cutting-in and correction required.
These are observations from one renovation, not a promise that the same sequence will be necessary in every striped room.
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How the painted outlet plates were handled
The cover type Linauer chose
For the electrical outlets, Linauer recommends looking for full-coverage covers labeled “paintable.” She explains that the texture on this type of cover gives paint something to adhere to. The goal in her room was to make the outlet plates visually recede into the painted wall rather than leave bright, contrasting plastic rectangles interrupting the stripes.
The update says the outlet plates were installed and painted as part of the completed milestone. It does not describe removing receptacles, disconnecting wiring, changing electrical boxes, or applying a particular coating system. Those omissions matter: the post documents the appearance-related choice of cover, not an electrical installation procedure.
Her durability example is personal experience
Linauer also reported that one paintable cover in her kitchen had remained in good condition despite frequent use since a 2017 repaint. That is her own long-term observation, not a controlled durability test. It supports why she continues to choose textured, paintable full-coverage covers for her projects, but it does not establish a service-life guarantee for every cover, paint, household, or cleaning routine.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFor a reader trying to match outlet covers to a striped wall, the practical point is narrow and clear: choose a cover specifically identified as paintable and designed to cover the outlet area fully, then treat the result as a finish-matching project rather than evidence that all plastic covers accept paint equally well.
What “finished” meant at this point
Linauer’s headline milestone referred to the walls’ visible finishing work, not to a fully equipped gym. The following table separates the completed work from the items she still described as planned.
| Area | Status in the February 2023 update |
|---|---|
| Wall stripes | Painted earlier; the tops of every stripe were touched up after the trim plan changed. |
| Ceiling trim | Smaller trim selected after rejecting the look of installed crown molding; painting was completed for the milestone. |
| Door and window trim | Installed and wood-filled earlier; sanding, caulking, and painting were part of the finishing work. |
| Outlet plates | Installed and painted using paintable, full-coverage covers. |
| Doors | Still planned; Linauer was considering white instead of black after seeing the finished walls and trim in daylight. |
| Flooring | Foam gym flooring was still planned. |
| Windows | Window treatments, including shades or curtains and their hardware, were still planned. |
| Lighting | Additional lighting work was still planned. |
| Storage | Closet storage and a dresser were still planned. |
Because several installation and furnishing tasks remained, “the walls and trim are finished” should be understood as a painting-phase milestone. It was not confirmation that the room was ready for exercise equipment or that every planned detail had been completed.
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The room’s color scheme and the next design decisions
Linauer describes the finished room as intensely colorful: “Being in this room is like living inside of a pack of Fruit Stripe gum, and I absolutely love it!” The remark is personal, but it explains why the trim and outlet details carried so much visual weight. Against vivid stripes, a rough ceiling junction or unpainted cover would be conspicuous.
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One large teal stripe has a future purpose: Linauer planned to build Swedish ladder bars, also called stall bars, on that wall. The post does not provide construction or anchoring instructions for the ladder, and it does not confirm that the installation was later completed.
Daylight also influenced a pending choice. After seeing the completed walls and trim in natural light, Linauer was considering white doors rather than black ones. The final door color was not confirmed in the update, so it should be treated as an open design decision rather than a finished feature.
A realistic reading of the hoped-for completion date
Linauer mentioned further work she hoped to complete by the end of the month. That was a forecast made in the progress post, not a verified completion report. The remaining list included doors, ceiling touch-ups, foam flooring, window treatments, lighting, and closet storage.
Keeping that distinction clear prevents a common progress-update mistake: treating an author’s plan as though it were an outcome. The documented result is the completed trim, stripe touch-ups, and painted outlet plates. The later schedule and final appearance of the room are not established by this update.
What this milestone says about finishing striped walls
Finish the transition, not just the field color
Large wall areas make a room feel transformed, but the transition points determine whether the work looks complete. In this case, the transition points were the ceiling line, the trim profile, and the outlet covers. Linauer’s extra labor occurred at those boundaries, not in repainting the broad stripes.
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Design changes have labor costs
The crown-molding reversal improved the look of the room from Linauer’s perspective, yet it also exposed stripe edges that had been expected to disappear. That is the kind of hidden cost that can be missed when evaluating a trim change only by material quantity or installation time.
Paintable covers are a finish-matching option
When an outlet cover must visually blend with a painted wall, Linauer’s chosen category is a textured, paintable, full-coverage cover. Her kitchen example explains why she trusts that approach, while the lack of a controlled test means readers should regard it as a personal recommendation rather than a universal performance claim.
“Done” can be a meaningful stage even when the room is not complete
A renovation can have a genuine milestone before every planned item is installed. For this gym, completing the trim, correcting the stripe edges, and painting the outlet plates removed the unfinished details that had kept the room from feeling resolved. Flooring, doors, lighting, treatments, and storage could follow without diminishing the importance of that painting milestone.
The practical takeaway from Linauer’s update
The home gym crossed its biggest visual hurdle when the trim, stripe edges, and outlet plates were brought to a finished state. The story is less about a secret painting trick than about adapting to a design change: crown molding was rejected after one piece was installed, smaller trim was chosen, tape was avoided because it had damaged delicate stripe lines before, and every stripe top was touched up by hand.
For painted striped walls, plan the endpoint around the trim you genuinely intend to keep. For painted outlets, look for covers explicitly labeled paintable and full coverage, while treating durability claims as product- and household-specific. And when reading a renovation progress post, separate the completed work from the author’s future plans: in this case, the painting milestone was real, while the month-end gym completion remained a hope rather than a confirmed result.
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