we have a white ceiling in the office! finally, no more looking at sheet-rock and mud lines! Woot!
Category Archives: Paint
DIY Wallpaper (if you can’t afford the real thing!)
Here’s what I have so far. Doesn’t look too bad. I started with just one shape and then started adding more shapes around it. The more I look at it, the more I wish it was a little, busier. BTW, Excuse the mess on the table. I have yet to move the book shelves and paint behind them, but that will come if I decide this is what I want to keep.
I used left over paint that I found in the garage from one of Jason and I’s many spontaneous paint purchases. I believe it’s Sleeping Beauty Pink from Home Depot if I’m not mistaken, I’ll have to look. And yes, I really did this free hand. I cleaned out an old Elmer’s School Glue bottle and put pink paint in it to make the dripping effect. THAT was fun!
Next up, the shelving that I put up this weekend (and maybe some organization for those bookshelves…).
Captain Paint
The painting is coming along slowly. I think the fumes are starting to go to our heads…
operation paint has begun!
On Friday I stopped by Lowes and picked up a 5 gallon bucket of Valspar by Martha Stewart Zen Garden Sand in satin. It was time to get rid of the girl scout khakis that was haunting the entire house! Jason got almost the whole downstairs done with one coat by the time I got home from work on Saturday. On Sunday we spend the whole day painting the trim, patching holes, painting harder to reach places. We only have one coat of paint on and it looks like we are going to need three coats to make it perfect. We haven’t even made it up the stairs yet!
We did find a cool vintage Pyrex casserole dish hiding above the kitchen cabinets while we were painting. Very cool!
Paint Frustration + Tape
Filed under Paint
Here’s what our dining room looks like right this moment. We spent all week taping with the new Frog Green Tape and then spent two hours painting the first coat by hand. This morning I started on the second coat but ran out half way through. A quick trip to Lowe’s and I had another quart in my hands. EXCEPT that the gum chewing guy behind the counter at the paint department, who looked at me 3 times and never came over to help me so I had to PRESS the help button while LOOKING AT HIM, gave me the WRONG brand of paint. I didn’t realize until I got home. Shouldn’t be a problem I thought. WRONG. This paint was thinner. It dripped. A LOT.
So now I have half my trim in a nice dark grey with real life drip texture. So now I have to wait for it to dry, sand it down and REPAINT parts of the trim. Not what I really wanted to do. After that frustrating realization, I started removing the Frog tape from the walls because most of the trim was done. Apparently the way the Frog tape works properly is if you DON’T REMOVE IT.
Instead of coming off cleanly, it started PEELING paint from the trim. UGH! SOOOO Frustrating, I tell you. All that hard work and the tape you paid an ARM and a LEG for takes the paint off with it. Not only that, but it didn’t BLOCK paint from seeping through. I meticulously went through and sealed all the edges to make sure it worked properly, and this is what I get ::
That’s A LOT of leakage and it’s only in one tiny spot. I found that EVERYWHERE while removing the tape. Here’s a view of all the paint the tape took off upon removal ::
See the bottom trim? All the WHITE on the top? That WAS grey, but that pile of green tape took it off with it.
Conclusion #1 :: I am no longer wasting my time taping up the walls and trim. It’s much easier to paint the edges by hand with care than have my hard work ripped off by the tape. Plus the tape takes just as long, if not longer to apply than the paint.
Conclusion #2 :: When getting more of a certain color, take the paint can with you, not just the swatch and paint numbers. AND check it before you leave. Plus, don’t let anyone who is chewing gum help you.
Grey + Grey = ♥
Filed under Paint
I love this cover of UK’s Living Etc from October 2009. I am so in love with it, that I have decided to make it my color scheme for my dining room. Yes, my dining room will be grey on grey. On Sunday Jason and I picked up a few paint samples from Lowes and tried out the greys on the wall. I chose a lighter grey for the walls, Chimney Sweep, a Laura Ashley color. Knight’s Armor, an Olympic paint, was chosen for the trim. I haven’t yet decided on the ceiling color yet. Perhaps an even lighter shade of grey?
The colors online seem really close to one another, but they are a little more different in real life. I started taping the walls on Wednesday. I plan on painting the trim first, then the walls. I picked a high gloss for the trim and a satin for the walls. High drama.
Painters Joy
Filed under Paint
I love paint. It’s the first thing I do when I move into a new space. Usually I grab the fun and vibrant colors that strike my fancy and go to town. We’ve had pink rooms, red rooms, green rooms, blue rooms, you name it, we probably painted something that color!
With this new house I had a lot of time to think about what my design aesthetic really is. What design photos really speak to me as an individual? So instead of going straight out and buying the first color I saw, I took home paint swatches. Well I always take home paint swatches, but this time do you know what I did with those paint samples? STUCK THEM ON THE WALL. Seriously, this is the first time I’ve ever done that. Really. I’m a very “Gotta have it NOW!” person, so this taking time to deliberate is a good healthy step for me. Jason thinks it’s a good step too (because he didn’t have to paint after a trip to Lowes!).
Did it help? No. I need more visual inspiration than that. So I have now discovered Benjamin Moore’s paint samples (only in select colors) and that if you go to LOWES they will make you a 1/2 pint sample of ANY color your heart desires. Genius!
The house is currently covered in BLAH tones of color. A nice safe beige (yuck) and some hideous burgundy and greens. Usually I like color on my walls somewhere, but this time I’m starting out with a blank canvas. I want everything to be a nice white/very light grey as a spring board. Then, as I decorate and furnish each room, I can add color as I want. Or not.