StarterHouse

Hellloooo!

Well, it's been a while since I've posted...we've been out of town and had a few other things pop up.  We've made a little progress with regard to the paint in the master bath...otherwise, I'm counting on Joe to knock some things off the 'honey-do' list during his vacation.  (some vacation, right?)  Seriously, he's looking forward to getting the bathrooms officially done and not hanging over his head.

So here's what we did in the master bath after we painted the stripe:

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(Glamorous work...)

 

Yes--I climbed up the ladder and did the cutting in and the rolling....oh man was I feeling a little dizzy in that corner!  Joe was holding the ladder for me.  I volunteered and it felt good to be doing some of the not-so-fun pieces of the projects. 

Anyways, after two coats of paint had dried, we realized that the paint color for the stripe was DIFFERENT than the two coats of paint on the back wall.  ummmm. 

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I tried to talk my way around it.  It was the light from the window...or, the reflection of...whatever...Then we checked the cans...sure enough, someone had entered the wrong combo of numbers and the stripe was off by one of the numbers.  Unbelievable! 

Guess which wall we re-painted?  Yep, I taped off the stripe again and quickly painted one coat of the correct color (Valspar's Cincinnatian Hotel Hannaford).  That did the trick!

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I'm so glad we did it--it made such a big difference! 

 

More updates to come:  I finished the backsplash for both bathrooms and Joe has made major progress--stay tuned!  And thanks for reading.  I had a good run with my posts and I'm hoping to get back into a regular rhythm :)

-k
 
 

Progress: New Shelves

Joe built three sets of shelves--one set for each bathroom and one for the master bedroom.  I finished painting the bedroom shelves last night and he put them up for me...sweet!  (It definitely helped that he got to use his awesome nail gun ;)

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So today I get to start picking out things to 'display'!  I'm thinking about adding a little bit more color, but I may just keep it serene and soothing like everything else in there--I've been thoroughly enjoying the new feel and it's so appropriate for a bedroom...

We're staining the other two sets of shelves for the bathrooms to match the cabinets and they are currently in the garage drying out.  Because we used the 'Joe Craven staining technique' (using a roller to apply one thick coat of stain instead of painting it on and wiping it with a rag--which would require multiple coats to achieve the deep color we want), I think it'll be another day or two before the final layer of polyurethane gets added.  Those shelves won't be done until this weekend, at the earliest.

But progress, nonetheless! 

-k :)

Stripes to Add Dimension

It seems like stripes on walls are everywhere these days...or maybe it's just because I spend all my 'fun' time online reading design blogs.  They are great for adding dimension/depth to a shallow space and for definition of a large area.   

A few of the blogs that I read regularly have made over rooms using this technique:

(The 'reading room' from The Lettered Cottage)

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(The half bath from Young House Love)

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Both used the stripes to create the illusion of a bigger space and it worked!  We are resigned to the fact that we have to paint our master bathroom (remember that renovation project we started 3 months ago?)...but with the incredibly high vaulted ceilings I've been brainstorming a way around the death trap of the 20 ft ladder. 

Also, it is a narrow space--it kind of feels like a 'galley bathroom' if there is such a term used outside of a kitchen.  I didn't want to draw attention to that point and I think if we paint each wall it will make it feel like the walls are closing in on us (even though we're using a fairly light color).  I certainly didn't want to take on painting stripes all the way up the walls...so we landed on the idea of painting the back wall that you see as you walk in the doors and then do a wide stripe in the same color all the way around the room. 

Here's a look at the stripe (we haven't done the back wall yet):

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It's funny how low the stripe looks in these pictures--It's right at about 6 feet high at the midpoint of the stripe...I was worried we'd painted it too high, but now I'm wondering if we should've gone higher. 

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So this idea could totally backfire--drawing your eye up, but then having it abruptly stop at the top of the stripe?  I'm hoping that won't be the case once we have the shelves up (another project on the verge of completion) and art, etc...I can't wait to see the finished product and share it with you :)

-k :)

ps--starting next week I'm going to set a goal to post twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays.  I am finding the writing more rewarding than I expected, but sometimes the inspiration to post isn't always there and when it is there, I'm tied up with the daily grind bliss of raising children.  I have a ton of ideas but by the time I get in front of the computer the inspiration is usually gone.  By giving myself a deadline, I'm hoping I'll put it higher on my priority list!  We'll see :)

Spackling

When Joe pulled the old middle bathroom backsplash off, it ripped a lot of the drywall off.  It had to be repaired before I painted.  Spackling is fairly simple--it's more tedious than anything:  put the spackle on, smooth with putty knife, let dry, sand, repeat...until you reach the desired smoothness.  The hardest part is keeping the kids out of the bathroom while you're trying to get it done:

Townes and Kate in their PJs...Townes could care less about the gate; Kate is coming up with her 'break in' plan.

Sanding with 150 grit paper before final coat of spackle.  

Third coat of spackle (after Joe pulled the toilet out--it just wasn't going to work with it in).

After the last coat of spackle dried, I sanded it with 220 grit paper and got it pretty smoothed out.  Here's a picture after two coats of paint.  You can see a little area that didn't get completely smooth, but it'll be covered by the toilet.

 

Dresser Repurposed

We inherited a green four drawer dresser from my parents that we thought would work in Townes' room.  We painted it dark blue and added safari animals (from the cake decorating section at Michaels) as knobs.  It looked cute and worked while he still had a toddler bed in his room:

(Right after a bath over a year ago...)

For Christmas this year, Joe built Townes his first 'real' bed and we just didn't have room for the dresser anymore.  Plus, the new bed will eventually have large storage drawers underneath that we're hoping to use for his clothes and other random storage needs. 

(We need to 're-do' his entire room with the new bed in there now...it's on the list :)

Anyways...I had originally put the dresser in Kate's closet to use for inherited clothes that won't fit her for a while, or for whatever else was in the closet that I didn't want collecting dust on the floor.  But then I wondered if it might work in our dining room..maybe for table linens, etc?  So I did the ol' body measurement (the dresser came about to my hip bone) and it seemed to be tall enough.  I wanted it to be about the same height as our tall dining room table (it might look silly, otherwise).  Sure enough, the dining room table was about hip height ;) 

(In Kate's closet...great storage, but it mostly sat empty.)

I brought the dresser down one morning after Joe went to work.  Sometimes (okay, most times) it's best to try these kinds of things out to make sure it's a good idea before broaching the subject with your husband.  I put it in the corner behind the kid's 'snack table'.  It didn't look half bad!  So I figured I'd change out the drawer pulls and distress it a little and hope it would magically be charming in the living room.  But then I decided to paint it a light creamy color and then distress it, so the blue paint would show through a bit.  

Joe was fine with the idea, so while Townes was at school, Kate and I went and bought the paint.  A quart of Valspar's Ivory Lace in eggshell.

First, I sanded the old dresser to make sure the paint would go on evenly:

(I just grabbed some partially used sanding disks that Joe had sitting out on the tool bench...)

Here is the first coat:

Third coat (yes, third coat!  I guess I should've primed it first...I was just winging it!):

 

 

Then I took some random grit sandpaper that I found in Joe's stash and started distressing the corners and where there were already 'dings':

 

You're probably wondering why the little safari cake toppers are still on the drawers...remember when Joe gave me a lesson on using the power drill when we did the curtain tutorial?  Well, I remembered enough to get the thing to go in reverse, but not enough to figure out how to change it to the correct drill bit.  So annoying!!  Especially once he showed me how to do it the second time around...it was pretty simple.

Okay, so after three coats of paint and some light distressing, I layered on two coats of polyurethane:

Then we removed the safari animals and moved it all up to the dining room.  Here's where we are...need to order new drawer pulls and decide how to decorate around it (and on top?).  With two toddlers, I'll have to come up with something safe and not tempting for them to want to pull it down.  

So far, I've just put their paper, coloring books and crayons for easy access.  I'll post an update once it's finalized!

Master Bedroom Paint: Take Two

Over the next year and a half I tried to fall in love with our new look.  Painting the walls had certainly helped define the space and made it feel cozier--bringing the very tall walls "in" a little.  But alas, my heart was with a different color scheme.  And Joe finally caved and told me I could at least get some estimates of what local crews would charge us to repaint (YES!).  I did some research and discovered that it was surprisingly reasonable to hire paint crews for the day.  Joe agreed and it was "ON" as he likes to say. 

Now I had to pick my new perfect color.  I knew this really would be the last time we'd paint these walls...I had to get it right and the pressure was on (not like heart surgeon pressure, but you know what I mean).

I really like the idea of gray walls..I'm a big fan of gray clothes--I think it flatters everyone's skin tone.  Our main floor walls are taupey/tans and while I didn't want anything as dramatic as our Home Depot Orange, I wanted to stay at least a little 'out of the taupe box"..without it being so crazy that we'd be expected to repaint before putting it on the market. 

Since our carpets are kind of a dull gray, I decided to find a grayish tone of green or blue for some contrast.  I bought two samples (Behr's Contemplation and Pewter Tray) from Home Depot and painted white poster board samples for us to check out.  I kept them in the bedroom for a few days to see them in different lights throughout the day.  I had my front runner, but needed a second opinion.  I brought my large samples along with me and the kids for a day at my parent's house.  My mom was on the same page as me and pointed out that "Contemplation" would be too green up on the tall walls.  The whole soothing/calming effect green would've turned Bright! Cheery! Happy! Green!  So I chose Pewter Tray.  Gray enough, but with blue/green undertones.  I scheduled the painters, bought the paint and crossed my fingers. 

Three crew members (including the owner) arrived on Friday morning and worked non-stop from 10-7 putting two coats of Pewter Tray in our master bedroom (in Behr's Premium Plus Ultra that has the primer built right in, so it covered the orange really well).  They also painted the ceiling of our second floor (it's an open floor plan, so each room shares the same ceiling)--a project we'd been dreading for years.  (The crew was awesome--Reids LLC if you're in need of painters in Northern Virginia.)

Here's a reminder of where we started:

And here it is in Pewter Tray:

I think we can all agree that this is sooo much better.  The 20 foot walls definitely look a little more blue than I expected, but once new window treatments are up, they'll end up looking more like the gray I wanted.  We also decided to try out a new furniture arrangement by moving the bed to the far back corner facing the door.  We had tried the bed in the corner right after the first paint job (aka Home Depot Orange), but for some reason it didn't feel right.  When we moved it this time, though, it immediately worked for us both.  It's so much more open and a much better use of space (no more hiding dirty clothes on the far side of the bed!).

I think we'll keep the breezy white bedding, but want to add a graphic throw at the foot of the bed and maybe even paint something on the white lamp shades (I know, getting crazy in here!).  Also, the white sheers are nice, but I want to add more texture and color..I am also thinking of raising the curtain rod up to make the back wall feel taller.    

What do you think?

Master bedroom paint-This is my haven?

So our master bedroom is about 13x16 with a sloping twenty foot ceiling that leads to an open loft.  It's a pretty common layout for a townhouse.  When we moved in four years ago, most of the walls still had the flat contractor's white paint...which was dirty, dingy and scuffed.  I really wanted to paint the room, but with the ceiling as high as it is and my waffling about what color to choose, oh, and giving birth to two kids within 16 months, it kind of got put on the back burner.  We also finished the basement (and by 'we', I mean Joe) and upgraded the kitchen.  Is it just me, or do bedrooms always seem to get the sloppy seconds (and thirds!) when it comes to decorating? 

As I started to come out of my 'new mommy fog' (which hasn't completely cleared, thankyouverymuch), and as I spent day in and day out in this house, the decorating wheels started to move a little faster.  I am a complete novice/beginner when it comes to decorating.  The most Joe or I had done was paint in our past apartments...and that we didn't even get right!  (What was all that business about choosing a warm vs cool color..blah blah blah ;) 

Anyways, I was in Michael's for something one night and a painting of a tree jumped out at me--I was really drawn to the tree's leaves that were changing before falling off during autumn.  I really loved the colors--and I've always been drawn to trees in artwork.  So I bought it plus its sister (after waiting a week for another coupon!).  I thought they could work as my jumping off point for inspiration in our the master bedroom:

I bought samples of a variety of 'cool' colors to compliment the muted greens/pale blues in the paintings, but none of them seemed right (perhaps because the painting was done with warm colors?  I'm starting to get the gist ;).  I kept leaning more towards the fiery red/orange of the trees...but an entire room in that color?  I wasn't sure.  We planned to paint while Joe's mom was visiting from TX.  When she arrived, I showed her the paintings and explained my dilemma.  She totally agreed with the deep orange/red color and helped me narrow down the one we wanted.  I can't remember the name of the chip we settled on, but it was kind of a terra cotta/burnt orange/southwesterny color that screamed "warm and cozy".  Joe and I were going to do the painting while grandma watched the kiddos.

Sounds like things were just swiming along, doesn't it?  Well, Joe and I went to buy the paint.  It was a Lowe's Valspar color and Home Depot happened to be running one of those $5 off per gallon deals that they periodically hold.  Joe wasn't going to let us pass up on that savings opportunity.  We took our Valspar paint chip and found another Home Depot Behr color that looked very close (the paint technician tried to convince me to color match from our Valspar paint chip, but I wasn't convinced that it would be any better than the new color we'd chosen...should've listened to her!). 

They mixed our FIVE gallons of paint (holy crap) and when they loaded them up on the counter and I spotted the wet paint dot on top of the can, my heart sank--It looked very similar to the Home Depot logo..yes, that orange!  I knew at that moment that we'd made a mistake, but there was no turning back.  We were paying for these five gallons of paint and our room was going to be Home Depot Orange.  I tried to convince myself that it would dry darker, it was the bad lighting, etc etc, but deep down, I knew!

The next morning we started painting.  Painting 20ft ceilings is no small feat!  We worked great as a team and made good time.  It was scary watching him balance himself up on the ladder:

The color wasn't as bad as I thought and we both started to think we'd made the right call, after all.

But that first night, with everything done and in its place, my heart sank.  Had we really just worked our butts off and spent over $100 to be stuck with this bright orange color?  Where was my warm, southwestern, terra cotta?  This felt like a bad 1970s dream.  Not exactly a peaceful master bedroom haven (what was I thinking to begin with!?).  Joe announced while standing on his tip-toes painting the second coat in the uppermost corner, that this would be "the LAST" time he was painting this room. So there we were--stuck in our Home Depot bedroom:

(These pictures don't do it justice--it almost looks nice here!  We were never able to capture this color with the shades and curtains up...and at night, with the side table lamps on, oooh, the horror!)

The funniest thing about the whole process was that the inspiration paintings ended up downstairs in the kitchen above the fireplace.  They just seemed to fit in with the colors and vibe of the kitchen: