And Leslie, I’m glad you mentioned the “doggy” element. I’d like to get one of those sometime in the not-too-distant future, too, since it would be good for our boys. I’ll have to keep the paint-related expectations realistic, so I don’t get frustrated with the pooch, when the day comes.

And, Mary, since you’ve seen our walls recently, thanks for posting, too! I know you’re facing in your new house, now, what I was originally - never-been-touched disgustingness. Eww, I’d rather have my problem. ‘Cept maybe in the “toilet target” areas… THOSE I’d trade.

We’re getting ready to finally paint the girls’ rooms, and we’ll definitely be painting with satin. We just painted the stairway with satin as well, for the number of dirty handprints it gets.

HOWEVER - it HAS been supremely frustrating while we’re trying to put the whole house back together to go back to rooms that were ‘completed’ almost two years ago and find that THOSE rooms need repairs. Case in point: our boys’ bedrooms were not really affected by the hurricane - only the ceilings and light fixtures took a beating… The walls were original paint that the previous owner boasted about - Behr Kid’s Room paint. Well.. Almost three years after the storm we finally got around to looking at what needed to be done in their rooms. They were in TERRIBLE shape. Yes, the walls could be wiped — but it was the little holes in the sheetrock - the scrapes and scratches and the battered outer corners that couldn’t be helped.

As for my flat finish stubbornness — I keep a plentiful supply of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers around the house… An only slightly damp eraser and a light and patient hand can clean grime and crayon and just about anything else (even Sharpie!) from flat walls without leaving buff marks.

So nice to have a mommy’s perspective on one of these articles! Keep it up. Your post rocks. (course I am biased…)