sitting room and master bath

After the doors, I figured it was about time to get on the sitting room off my bedroom.  After all the painting we did last year, I had left this room and my bedroom untouched.  I couldn't lift another paintbrush to save my life!  But... I did it.  It took me two days of painting nonstop to do the trip and all the walls.  I just finished this room so I'm not sure what kind of theme I'm going to with here.  I just know it looks one million and ten times better than it did before.  It's one of my new favorite rooms because of the brightness, the breeze through the double windows and the balcony.  I have a swatch of fabric draped over my chair there.  I can't decide for sure if that's what I want to use to reupholster the chair or not.  You will have to check back to see what I do with this room!

before

after

before

after

Our master bathroom is right off teh sitting room and our bedroom.  Months ago I took one of the many shade of gray I had samples of and decided to paint the cabinets on a whim.  Again, I did this while J was at work so he had no say in my mini makeover.  We also replaced the mirrors and changed the wall color to a nice neutral beige.  All paint colors are listed on my home page.

before

after

before

after

Exterior paint

The thing I really did not like about this house when we bought it was the weird orange-ish trim they had around all the windows and the eve of the roof.  It was ugly.  But the landscaping was so bad and over grown that it wasn't hardly noticeable until after I spent all Summer chopping bushes down and moving plants.  One of the projects I did this fall was paint the trim around the windows and I picked a different color for all the front door, back doors and balcony doors.  Hopefully next summer we will be able to repaint the stucco a different color to complete the look.  Here's the before and after:

I got excited when I bought the paint and started in before I realized I didn't have a picture of the front door. The color I chose for this project was Behr cracked pepper.

The existing porch lights got lost with all the beige going on with the house.  Here's whet they looked like before a simple coat of black spray paint.

Beautiful!!!

The chair pictured below was a $3 Goodwill find and a can of apple red glossy spray paint.  I'm going to distress the chair after Christmas to tone it down a bit but for the holidays, I love how bright it is.

In this photo, you can see the orange color of the trim surrounding the windows and on the eves.  YUCK!!!

 

All the garland I made myself from the trees in our backyard.  It took a significant amount of time but was quite easy and well worth my effort I think.  There's nothing quite like real pine garland and it smells amazing!  The urns are just stuffed with various branches and then topped with fake poinsettia stems and pine cones from the backyard as well.

Play Room Revised Part 2

Since I was able to finally add some color via the bins I repainted, I knew it was time to get some more art on the wall using the same colors.  I started by building 4 squares from left over pallet wood.  I have some scrap canvas from a project 10 years ago and used a staple gun to create a canvas.  I primed the canvas and mixed up acrylic paint in the shades I desired and coated the homemade canvases two or three times.

 Next, I pulled up Microsoft word and printed the words SING, LOVE, PLAY and READ on a few different patterns of scrapbook paper.  I used mod podge to adhere the letter in a block pattern and cut out four hearts for decoration among the letters.  TA DA!!!  Homemade art that didn't cost me anything new!

But I couldn't stop there.....  I had more bins and some picture frames that needed the yellow, turquoise and pink paint.

After I painted the frames, I bought some teeny tiny miniature clothespins from the Woodsies collection at Joanns and used some 20 gauge jewelry wire to hold the girls' artwork.

The next thing I will be doing is repainting the shelves I re-purposed from an entertainment center and the small bookshelf seen holding the toys in the above photos.  I can't wait for the final reveal after all this work!!!

50 Shades of Gray

I was just thinking, coloring was so much more fun when it was just crayola.  Here's where we are; the hold up has been paint color.  Originally, we painted the family room after we knocked down a wall and bought 5 gallons of this light gray paint.  When I poured out the paint, I was fearful because it looked white.  But, as I began painting and it dried, my beautiful light gray took on a purple hue.  Soon after that, the kids got home and they kept telling me they liked the purple room.  AGGGHHH!!!!  I had people over and they commented on the "lilac swatch" I had painted on the kitchen wall.  This "lilac" was the same light gray I was going to paint the ENTIRE downstairs!!

(PLEASE excuse this photo! It's the only one I have of the new couch and paint in the family room right now.  The couch had just been delivered and I was rearranging furniture and cleaning the room since we had been camping out on the floor in this room from the power loss.)

So, for about 4 months, I have been staring at this lilac swatch while my husband finishes up the wainscoting. Right next to the swatch, I have painted the other shades of gray for comparison.  I kept going back to the color I chose for the playroom and dining room and decided that I was going to switch and do the whole downstairs in that gray instead because it's just a great color.  I mean, I even painted my craft room that color!
Well, it had been a while since I was rubbing elbows with the home depot paint center until last week.  My friend was painting her living room gray and asking about my colors.  Her gray came out blue and she asked me for some advice.  I told her she could use my swatches I'd saved.  But when she went to home depot, they had switched out ALL of their paint samples and apparently the home depot guy said he couldn't look it up in the computer.  I had to see for myself and strolled over yesterday and was delighted about a bunch of new choices but bummed my old ones were gone since I was only 98% sure "gentle rain" was THE color for my whole 1st floor.  I grabbed a few swatches, came home, changed my mind and bought two samples; natural gray and cathedral grey.  I slapped some paint on a few walls and (GASP) not only does my whole house look like gray camouflage, but the paint looks purplish... AGAIN!!!
Back to the drawing board looking at my idea board, comparing colors of the new couch I bought last week and fabric I'm about to construct Roman shades out of.  JEEZE!!!  I needed help and J wasn't helpful because he was the one that sent me back to home depot to buy two samples of purple.  Fortunately, I spoke with the girl in the home depot paint center and she said she could look up my old color.  I logged onto www.Behr.com and looked up the color "gentle rain" to check out the next shade darker.  I was shocker to discover, well sort of, that gentle rain is in the blue family.  I played around with the shades and by going just a shade cooler to the yellow family, it's my office color!  My point is this..... when hanging out at home depot and staring into their color wheel of paint, it's not so obvious which direction to go to find your desired shade.  My suggestion would be to grab a color you really like and go to behr.com and find alternating shades from their.  Yeah... it takes you a little longer and costs you an extra trip but finding the right shade of gray has been more difficult than anything else I have done around here!
At this point, I'm trying to decide between ocean pearl and koala bear.

Again, I'm sorry for the delay and lack of posts.  The wainscoting has taken FOREVER and we were greatly affected by the central Ohio storms two weeks ago.  We lost half of our roof, the top of our chimney, had water pouring in the fireplace, the ceiling began leaking in 5 spots with the rain soon after and we were without power for 4 days and 5 nights.  Throw in the super high temps and we spent most of last week keeping cool at the pool and avoiding our 98 degree living room.

****************UPDATE!!!! August 25, 2012*************************
Do NOT go with Koala Bear or Road Runner if you are looking for gray.  Turns out that both are definitely shades of beige-ish green.  I was really disheartened and went back searching for the right gray and it turns out that the right shade was in front of me all along.  The gray I used in the downstairs master bath ended up not having a blueish color and remained a neutral gray through all hours of the day with different sunlight.  So the final choice will be Dolphin Gray by Behr for the living room and kitchen.  You will see it pictured in the wainscoting post HERE.

Wainscoting

I have been looking forward to this project for as long as I can remember! The first time we visited this house, I went home and began brainstorming ideas on how I would change it and what I would do differently; this was an idea that came to mind. I wanted tall beautiful wainscoting up the walls of the stairway and throughout the main living area to break up the height of the cathedral ceilings and accent the wall of windows in the living room. Finally, J cut up the wood and my secret ingredient to make this project extra special arrived after moths of picking and choosing and wheeling and dealing. Ahhh.... and here it is so far:

Isn't it wonderful?!?! Okay, here's how I did it. This project was VERY easy. I was dreading having to buy wallpaper glue and imagined the wallpaper dripping and not sticking but NO. It was easy as pie. What was hard was picking out the anaglypta. And forget using that word at Home Depot or Lowes. They thought I was sneezing and spasming at the same time. Say paintable wallpaper and they will direct you to some hideous crap. However, walk into Sherwin Williams and they still think you're sneezing but they can dig out an old dusty book and you can knock yourself out with choices. I checked their only anaglypta book out and for two weeks, searched the internet for the best look and best price. Here is the exact anaglypta I went with: http://www.creativewallcovering.com/pc/2ana-rd80029/anaglypta/Egon+Textured+Vinyl+Anaglypta+Paintable+Wallpaper.html
 I did buy it from Sherwin Williams because I couldn't beat their prices anywhere, not ebay, amazon, etc... I also looked everywhere specifically for an anaglypta border but couldn't find any that were wider than 4 or 5 inches. Our border is 6" so I just bought some striped anaglypta and cut the pattern at 6". I also learned a lot about paint-able wallpaper during the past few months so let me save you some trouble when you see the following words:

•   Anaglypta- it's actually been around forever! It was used in the Victorian period because it's pretty, decorative and can be cleaned easily. It's made of paper, feels like foam, should be used on smooth surfaces and relatively cheap. Expect to pay at least $40 a double roll. 
• Supaglypta- it's a little more ridged than anaglypta. It's better for rough surfaces like ceilings because it's more durable and feels kind of like poster board. It too has been around forever and costs about the same as the anaglypta. In fact, Supaglypta can be interchangeable with anaglypta. 
• Lincrusta- this is the mother of anaglypta. It was invented first in 1877 and used because it's super sanitary and can be washed easily. It's way more durable and actually hardens the longer it's on your walls, becoming more durable with time. It's main component is linseed oil and wood. It too is highly decorative and very beautiful but it will break your bank at $300+ a roll!!! 

 So there you have it! That's phase one of my future staircase and walls. J will be back painting this weekend to do the trim and molding and I can't wait to slap the main color on the walls!

Home Office Part 1

I'm pretty sure that's the last time I attempt to decorate three rooms at once. My craft room is still a disaster, the playroom is mostly boxes but I got my home office done; well almost done. Turns out the filing cabinet I had for in there was way too big! I'm going to redo the existing credenza we have and I need two more picture frames and she will be done. We did all the trim white and I've got nice blinds on the windows now. Keep checking back for more pictures of the final product!

BEFORE:




AFTER:
Here's proof I have eight years of schooling and invested thousands of dollars


This is a wall of memorabilia from athletes I have treated




The main reason these rooms are taking me forever is because I'm missing essential items like frames and storage solutions. I spent part of the thrift shopping looking for fun odds and ends for all three rooms. I did come with a few goodies for projects later. I can't wait to share here soon!

Painting Moulding

We spent tonight prepping the playroom for paint. Moulding/trim paint that is. I've had a few questions about the trim so, before I get into my little art project for the room, let me try and answer all those questions in one post. First, the trim in our home is solid oak. Because it is more expensive, being a strong wood, compared to polymer or poplar, we didn't want to spend the extra money replacing it all with solid wood painted white or something cheaper and more affordable like the polymer. It has a lacquer on it and it's NOT painted.
We started in E's room because we had never taken on a project like this before and figured most won't see the children's' rooms. We bought a heavy duty sprayer from home depot with a warranty. We always do the extended warranties and again, I"m glad we did. By the time we had reached H's room, the sprayer quit working properly, even after troubleshooting. Basically, the machine wasn't built to last as long as we needed it to. Not even a full two rooms!
J talked to his friend, a contractor, and he brought by his commercial spray machine for us to borrow. It sprays much wider compared to the one bought at home depot and the quality of the spray is over all much better. What we have discovered through trial and error is that there must be two coats of a product called gripper on the trim before we paint it. We do not sand and we do not try and strip the lacquer off of it. The gripper provides a special grip for the paint and makes it durable for normal wear and tear and it won't crack, peel, or smudge later. You MUST wait a long time in between coats though. It will become tacky if you don't and it's important to put a light coat on and then heavier coat the nest time.
We have only been using the Behr Ultra Premium paint with primer and we chose the ultra white in a semi-gloss. I've talked to other contractors who say they use a muted white but I feel like it looks dirty so I really like the BRIGHT white myself. We will be replacing the carpets next year but still, we didn't want to get paint all over it. I shared a tip earlier, while doing E's room, about using vertical blinds and cardboard to slide under the trim and carpet. This is what we did and then we covered the floors and glass part of the windows with plastic. We removed all the doors and hardware and sprayed these separately in our unfinished basement. We also taped plastic on the backside of the door to create what looked like a scene out of Dexter.


You definitely want to wear a mask and goggles because, even though you have sealed everything off, paint dust gets EVERYWHERE!! I am still cleaning up paint dust. It get in, on and around the barrier you create and it's a mess no matter what you do. I couldn't imagine having the kids here for this. It's on everything and is such a mess!! But, we are only paying for paint and although it is taking time, we are saving lots of money. And, I like doing this kind of stuff a lot!!
I would recommend renting a commercial grade sprayer if you attempt this project at home. I'm sure you could remove the trim first and spray it somewhere else. You would have to be very cautions not to break it while removing it or damaging it though. Then, you have all the finishing nails to buy and making sure it's level and filling holes. It's really up to you and what you want to attempt. I'm not a professional, I'm just a girl who takes on big projects and figures out what works best!
If you have any more questions, feel free to contact me. We only get better at it the more we do it. I'm really excited to get the living rooms done here soon because I am so happy with the outcome thus far!

Worse than Waiting on Paint to Dry... Prepping for Paint

I decided that getting a room ready to paint is far worse than sitting back and waiting on it to dry. I mean, I can at least get a blog post updated or sleep while it dries! I was half way through cutting in all the trim in the kids' bathroom today when I felt like the YouTube sensation "David and the Dentist" when he said, "Is this gonna be forever?". That's when I threw my brush down and devised a trick much quicker and cleaner than blue painter's tape and an angled bristle brush. Now, I'm no painter and this is just my method and it's kind of like a "duh" tip.
I noticed that after putting that stupid painter's tape down, sometimes it would fall off the ceiling and sometimes it would separate from the trim and sometimes, paint gets behind the tape or peels up when I pull it off. VERY ANNOYING after going to the trouble to tape it off in the first place!
See here where I've pulled back the tape and it looks like crap?

I went and got my trusty, cheap, 2" foam brush and went to work using the technique I'm about to describe after I cussed out and removed the tape I spent a few hours putting on this morning.
First, dip your foam brush in the paint, only putting about 1/4" of the brush in the paint like so:

Then, starting about 1/4" above the trim, smear on a straight line.

Redip your brush in the paint to 1/4" again and hold it perpendicular to the line of paint you just smeared on.

Now, gently push your brush up and down in a small "v" pattern to create a straight line.

When you do this, the paint will be a little thicker right at the edge you are creating. (I will explain why this is so awesome later.) Next, Swipe your brush parallel to the trim to smooth out the paint. And ta-da, you have your first coat on and you are ready to fill in the walls with the roller!

Now, I said this will save you time and that there's an awesome part coming. Here's the awesome part! When you return to do your second coat, you can zip right through cutting the edges in because you won't need to go all the way to the edge. You can get really close, but it's already a little thicker so you don't have to follow the line exactly. Just get close enough to blend the second coat with the edge of the first coat and you literally zoom through the second coat of edging! I was able to finish two coats on the girls' bathroom and finish it entirely in one day. And you guessed it, I'm just waiting for paint to dry right now!