We’re Getting There

May 1, 2012 by 3 Comments

Can anyone jog my memory and let me know how long I’ve been thinking about the hallway?  This whole thing started on a whim because I was bored at work, you know. There is a good possibility we are going on a month of pondering over it and actually working on it.  At least I can officially say with great confidence that the hallway is now orange! Mission Accomplished! Let’s take a moment and bring ourselves back to the original mustard yellow hallway.

Doesn’t the paint color just give off no other vibe other than “ew”?  That’s all I ever thought about it. I don’t know how I lived with it for two and a half years. I don’t know how I live with it in the kitchen. Oh, I know – because there is no part of me that is ready to tackle ANY sort of kitchen project.  That’s how.  But that is beside the point.  It’s now my pleasure to introduce to you our orange walls.

Hallway

Woot woot!  Three coats of paint later, we are done!  Can I just say how much I love it?  Love, love, love. If I could roll around on walls, I would. That’s how much I love it. There is no way you can’t be happy while standing in the hallway. Personally, I think that is perfect since the hallway can kind of be dreadful at 6:30 in the morning because it means you have to get ready for work.  Being in an orange hallway definitely brightens up the morning outlook. That alone makes the paint debacle all worth it.  I did end up going back to Lowe’s and requesting the paint in primer in one for the next two coats.  That made all of the difference in the world. I got really lucky with the staff at Lowe’s that day, because they credited back when I paid for the quart towards my gallon.  What dolls!

Now since the paint process is complete, it is time  to get the stripes going. After measuring the height of the wall, I had to sit down and do math. Math is not my strong suit, by any means. The wall height is 92 inches, and I want to make 8 inch stripes.  Or at least I think I do.  Make a 2 inch border on the top and bottom, you’ve got 88 inches to work with. Divide that by 8, and you’ve got 11 stripes. Sounds right, right? Erm…

Hallway

I started taping out a guide to see if I could live with it. The tape that is going vertically is where the cream color will be. Too close  together? Tape not in the right place? Should I stop doing these things when Andrew is at work and I’m unsupervised? So many questions!  It’s safe to say that I got annoyed quick and walked away and got back on my computer, where I now type this post.

For the sake of the tape, I’ll pick back up the project tomorrow and hope for a better outlook because I’m not really convinced that 8 inch stripes are the way to go.  It may look too busy.  What do you think?

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The Paint On The Wall

April 24, 2012 by 2 Comments

Ooooh, we are finally making some progress in the hallway!  Happy happy joy joy!  Once we finally picked out the paint color, it was just a matter of getting started. I think I dragged my feet a little knowing that we had to repaint the ceiling since it looked fairly disgusting.  There is nothing I hate more than having to paint a ceiling. No matter what you do, you are bound to get paint in your hair, and a crick in your neck. Then you remember how clean and crisp a new white ceiling will look, and then it’s okay again.

Once we finally got over moaning and groaning over ceiling paint, we got to rolling. By the first 12 x 12 patch of fresh paint, Andrew and I were giddy to be seeing the difference between old dingy paint and bright new paint. We used Zinsser’s ceiling paint which paints on pink and dries white, that way you don’t miss a spot. This was brilliant, since we were really hoping to get away with just doing one coat of paint. With this paint, we were able to do that. No spots were missed!

Once the ceiling was done, we obviously took a donut break. The best pat on the back for a job well done. About an hour later, it was time to get started on the walls. Andrew had errands to run, so luckily – my sister was willing to help start on the walls.  (Bartering my Swiffer for the day might have sealed the deal.) Thank god I had a happy helper in the orange paint endeavour, because I underestimated how much of a pain in the butt this project would be.

We have a lot of trim. Let the record show that.

But that’s beside the point. When it comes to the purchase of the actual paint, I had a coupon for Lowe’s so I headed on over there to have them color match my Sherwin Williams color. I requested they mix it with the Olympic Paint and Primer in one, that way I could avoid any headaches. I collect my paint and go on my merry way.

Cut to being at home and trying to paint. Good lord the coverage is awful. First I assume it’s just Olympic paint since it was the first time I’ve ever used it. We’re generally a Behr family, but having the coupon to Lowe’s did make me stray. After getting halfway through the hallway, my sister and I can’t help but think it looks awful. Especially since you can see the yellow through the orange. So terrible. I grabbed the can of paint to read it and see if I was missing something, and it became VERY clear that I didn’t have the paint and primer in one. Apparently homeboy at Lowe’s wasn’t being all too much attention and neither was I.  No wonder the coverage was so bad. The paint didn’t even cover where I had sampled other colors!

Samples

Not ideal.  At all.

Even with one coat of orange paint, the hallway still looks very yellow.  But, I do think that after another coat (or two) that the orange will prevail and I will love it.  One night after work, I’ll head back on over to Lowe’s to get more paint.  I don’t know if I can get the paint and primer in one now, just because the base to mix the paint will be different.  I’d hate to do anything to alter the color, and prolong this very painty process.   Looking forward to getting the next coat on, that’s for sure.

Minus cutting around all of the trim.  Ugh.  WHY ARE THEIR THREE DOORS IN SUCH A LITTLE SPACE?

I guess I’m not done ranting about that.

Cheers,

J and A

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Hallway Plans!

April 18, 2012 by 4 Comments

I’m still on the kick where I really want to re-do the hallway.  Andrew was hoping I would forget, but not this girl!  I had a few things that I was hoping to have changed before the big update though. First on the agenda was the not too pretty electrical panel that is hanging out in the hallway. I was convinced (or desperately hoping) that the panel was void and served no purpose. But, I had our trusty electrician come out and take a look at it.   It’s live.  Not only is it live, it’s still in service. I was deflated, but it’s nothing that a picture frame can’t cover. After that,  we discussed moving the light fixture over a few inches.  That we could totally do! Yay. No beam or air duct in the way. But…then it was brought to my attention that it would be almost impossible to match the texture if we patch over the original hole. Deflated again. Realistically though, we don’t really want to take on a huge project just to paint the hallway and change the light fixture. That seems a little crazy.

Let’s review the original plan of paint color and light fixture.

That paint color was way too light, and that light fixture (ALTHOUGH GORGEOUS!) won’t be bright enough with just one bulb.   So the hunt continues for a light fixture but at least I did find a new paint color!

The heavens were upon me when I found this color on the Sherwin Williams paint deck I have.  I ran on over to Lowe’s and had it matched, and sampled.  It looks gorgeous!  Or at least the 4×4 square of it I painted looks gorgeous!

Now that I do at least have a paint color, let’s stream line this runaway train.

  1. Paint ceiling.
  2. Find light fixture with two bulbs and less than 16 inches in diameter that doesn’t hang too low.
  3. Sand walls and fill holes.
  4. Paint orange.
  5. Stripe one wall with light orange color.
  6. Clean and spray paint air vent in ceiling.
  7. Repaint the trim.
  8. Paint frame for artwork that will hang over electrical panel.
  9. Hang said artwork.
  10. Repaint doors leading from the hallway.
  11. Put everything back.

On Fab.com yesterday, they had a sale with prints of Eames chair designs.  Andrew loves the Eames style of furniture.  If it’s somewhat modular and looks Danish, he’s all about it.  We even had just watched the documentary on Charles and Ray Eames the week prior.  I was so jazzed to see the molded plywood chair design in print that I clicked it into my shopping cart right away.   Best part?  The print is orange!  The second best part?  I had a $45 dollar credit!   I didn’t even have to pay for it.  Woooo!

Fab.com/Etsy.com

We cannot wait until that shows up on our doorstep.   :-)

Now with having a better game plan, and knowing we don’t have to worry about the electrical stuff  - I’ll be getting started on the hallway endeavour come Friday.   Oddly enough, I’m getting a facial on Friday.  Nothing says relaxation that paint rollers and sand paper.   I’ll be opening up my doors just to cover them in dust.  Oh well.  It’s for a good cause.

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