Day Three: Paint Covers Everything
Feb32013
I love paint. Nothing changes a room faster than a change of color, plus it tends to hide mistakes beautifully. Of course in the case of this office, we’re talking about raw drywall and an old wood floor covered with mastic from some truly terrible linoleum, now mercifully gone, a blue-green ceiling, a cheap cherry-woodish desk and an ancient bureau that came with the house.
At two AM this morning I was putting the second coat of Porter Paint Cloud White on the walls and woodwork. It’s actually Signature paint, but the people at Lowe’s will match any manufacurter’s color so good for them. So one coat of primer plus two coats of Cloud White and it looked like a room instead of a hallway.
I love paint. But I especially love spray paint. I would spray paint everything if I could, but it’s expensive and I have never managed to get one of those refillable spray painters to work, so I have to save spray paint for small projects like the cheapo desk I bought at Home Depot on a whim. It went together easily and it’s remarkable solid for $149, but it was stained wood, and at $149, we’re not talking amazing wood grain. Which was okay because I wanted it black so one can of spray paint later, I have a black desk. Then there was the old bureau the sellers left in the house:
The price is right: free. And it fits almost perfectly against the window wall. But ugly. So more of that great spray paint (I’m in love with Rustoleum Ultra) and I have the start on a decent storage unit. That’s it to the right. Really, I love paint. 
Okay, it’s still chaos. But one more day and I’ll be able to set up my printers and scanner and computers and be able to FIND things again. After that, it’s just figuring out how to put everything somewhere.
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28 Comments to 'Day Three: Paint Covers Everything'
On February 3, 2013 at 6:21 pm g and t said...
Thumb’s up! (since I can’t be lazy and click on “like.”
On February 4, 2013 at 3:06 pm g and t said...
)
On February 3, 2013 at 6:59 pm Skye said...
I love paint, too, and have mostly gotten over my “don’t paint wooden furniture” issue. If it’s a priceless antique, don’t paint it. Anything else is fair game. Especially free furniture!
Are you able to use VOC-free paint, or are you swimming in fumes?
On February 3, 2013 at 7:56 pm joelle said...
I absolutely love remodeling shows on tv, so I’m excited to see how everything turns out! [read: also very glad the excitement is at your house and not mine. : )]
On February 3, 2013 at 8:24 pm Mary Stella said...
You’re making great progress!
I love picking out wall colors for rooms. When I first moved to Florida, I was just happy to paint over the paneling so I picked a shade that wasn’t quite bright white and brought in color with the window treatments, art work, rugs, and so on. My next big remodel project (I do one every couple of years as budget allows.) will be to rip out the paneling in the living room/dining room area, install new insulation, upgrade wiring, replace any studs or other woodwork that need it and finish with sheetrock. Then I’ll paint. I’m not sure what color(s) I’ll choose, but I’m not going back to whiteish this time.
My small kitchen is a beautiful blue that picks up blue flecks in the quartz counters. The bathroom I redid is a sea aqua. My bedroom is pure periwinkle. Last summer I painted the porch floor a twilight blue which looks nice against the lavender color that is the outside of my home.
Did I mention I love color?
On February 3, 2013 at 8:56 pm JulieB said...
Mary Stella, not only do you love colors, you love colors _I_ love.
On February 4, 2013 at 2:47 pm inkgrrl said...
Ditto! Sounds gorgeous!
On February 4, 2013 at 11:59 am Jessie said...
Do you love all colors or just shades of blue (blue kitchen, sea aqua, periwinkle, twilight blue)? I predict teal for the dining room or chinese blue.
On February 4, 2013 at 10:44 pm Jenny said...
Houzz has an entire article on blue:
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/6639224/list?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u227&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery23
On February 3, 2013 at 10:49 pm Robin S. said...
Hurray for paint! The family here doesn’t know it yet, but I’m done with white. I’m thinking raspberry for the livingroom this time. And Lemon Chiffon for the kitchen.
Love looking at your pics!
On February 3, 2013 at 11:42 pm Micki said...
(-: I’m going to have to get over my fear of paint. It looks so fresh and marvellous!
On February 4, 2013 at 1:28 am Judy, Judy, Judy said...
I like picking out paint. I’m not so fond of the actual painting, though.
On February 4, 2013 at 5:38 pm Deborah Blake said...
LOL. I’m with you
On February 4, 2013 at 2:48 pm inkgrrl said...
YAY for a painted office!! And furniture in there and everything!!
On February 4, 2013 at 3:03 pm Sure Thing said...
Did your teaching inform your love of paint or did your love of paint inform your creative teaching?
That aside, I love what I can do with a children’s 12-colour watercolour set and a few different brushes, and coloured paper. People are surprised at the shades of colour I can get just by mixing on a white plate as my palette. Paint is great.
Also, a lot of the neutral bases that paint makers use look really good as final colour. Did that to my bedroom. Used the “desert sand” base and my room is calm without needing to be subdued, cool without blue and warm with being garish. Love.
On February 4, 2013 at 10:46 pm Jenny said...
The art degree helped with basic color theory but really, I think if you just go with the colors you love, you’ll be all right. Especially if most of the house is white as a background. All my yarn and Mexican folk art and posters need a neutral background.
On February 11, 2013 at 3:14 am PG said...
I’m selling a tiny apartment in NYC soon. We painted the living room white (originally both it and the bedroom were an awful, kind of dirty-looking pinkish beige) with one contrast wall of bronzey orange. The kitchen was delightful, though — the original color was yellow and we kept it that way. Need to paint the contrast wall white to make it sellable, alas, but I’m hoping the real estate agent can be convinced that the yellow kitchen should stay.
On February 4, 2013 at 4:07 pm Leigh said...
I love paint too. It can calm or energize and highlight or hide. Nothing better than a roller in my hand, and an afternoon free of interruptions.
On February 4, 2013 at 4:42 pm Louise said...
“How to put everything somewhere.” I smiled when I read that and immediately though of IKEA. I love IKEA, they have a solution for everything.
On February 4, 2013 at 5:42 pm Deborah Blake said...
It’s all coming together! I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it is done–I can tell it is going to be lovely. But I’m having fun watching the process too.
The only upside of the Great Appliance Meltdown of 2012/2013 (washer,dryer & dishwasher all went within a week and a half of each other, and the dishwasher flooded under the Pergo-style laminate floor, giving a whole new meaning to the term “floating flooring”) is that I get to replace the kitchen floor. Okay, I’m not thrilled about the necessity, the effort it is going to take (I’m doing it with a friend I’m paying to help…just like when I PUT THE FIRST ONE DOWN ONLY TEN YEARS AGO), or the cost…but I am having fun shopping for new vinyl flooring squares.
On February 4, 2013 at 8:42 pm Kelly S said...
Frog tape is I assume an alternative to duct tape?
On February 4, 2013 at 10:47 pm Jenny said...
It’s green paint tape. Good stuff.
On February 4, 2013 at 10:20 pm Robena Grant said...
Rats! I could have sworn I’d responded to this blog post. Anyway, I love your fresh office . I can smell the paint from here. Tell me something though, if you spray paint wooden furniture, do you sand it down first, or just spray? I need to redo the top of my desk. Dark varnished wood, so I’m figuring I need to sand that first. Yes?
On February 4, 2013 at 10:32 pm Robin S. said...
Oh, yeah. Sometimes the paint won’t stick to the varnish and it just beads up. One friend painted w/o sanding and 10 days later it all peeled off. There is, however, a primer that adheres to pretty much anything. This is supposed to be pretty good http://www.ugl.com/maintenanceRepairSpecialties/maintenanceAndRepair/ecolok.php
I haven’t used it. I was trying to find something that would stick to the tile in my bathroom (chocolate w/ pink trim) but the project never got off the ground. Good luck!
On February 4, 2013 at 10:49 pm Jenny said...
It’s a good idea to sand first. I didn’t. The desk was cheap which means there wasn’t a fine finish on it. And I just wanted the ugly old bureau done so I could put away the stuff that’s clogging the kitchen. So far, so good, but I used Rustoleum Ultra so that may be a factor. Something else I painted without sanding is looking pretty bad. You just need to roughen the surface so the paint has something to grab onto.
On February 4, 2013 at 11:18 pm toni said...
I love paint, too. I have several pieces of old furniture, none of it worth much, but they each have something interesting about them that I think would look great if they were painted. I have this small (really small) side table, with a curved front face (which includes one drawer and one door, both curved), and a funky sort of art deco period chest that was cheap, but I like the lines and the feet. (I may actually modpodge a really old map of New Orleans on that, but do black feet and a black top, with the original curved handles painted black.)
I want to try that gorgeous chalk paint technique as seen on a ton of pinterest photos (lots of them pop up on No Minimalist Here — really terrific site for lots and lots of cottage type ideas). I don’t have the right piece for it, yet, but I hope to, soon.
It’s going to be at least six more months before we’re done with the construction and are able to move in, so I’m kinda in that limbo stage, where I don’t have a lot of stuff finalized yet (finish wise, wall color wise), but the place is mostly open concept, so not many walls. Several of them are old (100+ year old) brick, so the few that are left are probably going to be white, just so I can put pops of color via art up and not overwhelm anyone walking in.
On February 5, 2013 at 9:23 am Jenny said...
It sounds so wonderful. And you know, I’m finding that once I’ve moved in, a lot of my choices change.
Of course you’re going to have about ten times the square footage I have so you have room to try everything, which is also great.
On February 5, 2013 at 10:30 pm toni said...
That’s what worries me — those changing choices. I’m kinda sure about… er…. okay, maybe one room. And only because that room sort of forces the issue (has to be a sleeper sofa for guests). I’m such a ferret when it comes to design. I love this, no that no this other oh look shiny!
But it has been fun. Scary, but great fun.