It was a painting party this past weekend. The drywallers were finished a week and a half ago, then one week ago today the primer guys were in and out within 24 hours. Such a thing was possible only because of the fan-fucking-tastic weather lately. I think we had nary a rain cloud for ten whole days, so the drywall hanging/mudding/painting went really well.
(Product placement not intentional)
(I spent the weekend before last on my hands and knees for two days vaccuming the drywall dust off the floor with the shop vac. I like to work in a grid pattern, visible below. So anal it swings back to awesome.)
We spent every night last week at the store, contemplating paint colours and finishes and paint brands (Pricey Benjamin Moore? Affordable Glidden? Middle-of-the-road Behr? Does it really matter?) . By Wednesday we were at each others throats, completely at odds on what we each expected the house to feel like once decorated.
A very poor depiction of the colour scheme, next to a sample of our oak spice hardwood and beige limestone. Everything is blurry and washed out.
By Thursday we had made amends, purchased $300 worth of paint (Glidden, for the record. We walked into Home Depot and they were having a 30% off sale so that decided it), and unloaded it into the house in anticipation of Friday. A girlfriend and I started the ball rolling with the downstairs ceiling on Friday afternoon.
We left mid afternoon to check out some countertops and cabinet stains on the other side of town. On the way out the door we looked back on our progress & I'm not gonna lie, it was a bleak situation...the paint on the ceiling was splotchy and the coverage was so faint we figured we would need at least three shitty coats of paint everywhere. I was feeling extra guilty because I was convinced my choice of the cheap paint was to blame, and all the poor suckers we had roped into helping us were going to pay the price in blood, sweat, and self-doubt. But it turns out this was was only true for the ceiling paint. All the wall colours went on beautifully. Check out the assortment:
"Caramel" for the living room (far right), "Burlap" for the master bedroom (far left), "Tawny Port" for the downstairs bathroom (top) and "Smokey Blue" for the upstairs bathroom (bottom).
(That is my husband, doing a little late-night-paint scraping. The pictures herein are all taken at night without the colour-distorting flash so they are fuzzy and tend to be yellow-hued due to the worklight in the background. Sorries all around.)
Here are some pictures of the place wrapped in colour and adorned by the high efficiency fireplace (installed Saturday, only three days late!). I think we'll do a slate surround, which will hide the open area above & around the insert.
The front entry and stairwell are the same colour (yellow beige called "artists studio"), which is lighter than the caramel colour in the living room & dining room & kitchen. In the photo by the stairs, the contrast is more noticeable where they meet at the corner. The fireplace is currently painted the caramel colour, but we have plans to build a mantel piece of wood and slate.
Entry:
Artist's Studio on left, Caramel on right
"Topaz" RSF fireplace
The bedroom is a browner, darker colour called burlap (which is deceivingly yellow in this picture). Soon, when I remember to take pictures during the day, I'll post pictures of the colours in the sunlight. The upstairs family bath is a grey blue colour, also difficult to capture. This is actually the second incarnation, as the first colour looked like this in the can but turned out to be navy blue once it dried. I'm so happy we got a second can of paint in a lighter, greyer colour for that room.
Both spare bedrooms were painted a neutral (boring) off-white colour but in the skinny room (the future office), we did paint a single accent wall the deep wine colour, which is also showcased in the jewel of the house - the downstairs bathroom:
With my mom and uncle helping all weekend, and various friends/co-workers helping on Saturday we managed to get the whole house done (2 coats except for the blasted ceiling downstairs, which required three). I'm amazed and so grateful for their help. Next up: Laying hardwood floors. Notice in the pictures we've already started to acclimate the boxes of oak to the temperature in the house. Maybe this weekend??
No comments:
Post a Comment