Ant the Paint Goes On

When I last left you fine folk, I was mudding and sanding. I finished that (except for the office) thru the week and yesterday started painting the bedroom.

As a refresher, the bedroom when I bought the house was a turquise

 

Then I painted over that with a milder Honolulu Blue, knowing that I would be tearing out walls later so just hoping to tone down the brightness, but without the use of very expensive coverage paint. It didn't work as well as I hoped, but it was better than nothing.

 

With the new walls in, and not much of the Honolulu Blue paint leftover from last year, I thought it was time to really think about the color I wanted. As usual, I thought I was going to default to an off-white. That has always been my choice. But then I though that I really wanted something that would make the room more cozy and den like. As a bedroom, it doesn't need to be bright and airy. Plus, with the bay window, it gets plenty of natural light so could support a darker color.

I went to the big box store that starts with H during lunch and studied color samples. I knew I wanted a bluish tint, but darker, with more gray. After agonizing over the samples for 10 minutes (I know, a lot of people think that is a snap decision, but for me that is a short time for something so mundane as paint or carpeting or linoleum), I decided on Oxford Blue - a steel grey with blue undertones.

I also went with the Bahr self priming paint and let me tell you, that paint choice was a great decision as it is nice and thick and covers even bare sheetrock well with only one coat (going to do two coats anyway). The flash lightened up the color a bit, but when I try to darken it by computer, it turns it more purple - which it definitely isn't.

 

As you can tell by this side-by-side, the old turquise bled thru the Honolulu Blue over time, which I had not fully realized until I looked at the picture taken last November.

Notice in the above picture the crown molding on the right hand wall is still there. This is where the story takes a turn to the obvious (if you think about my luck). I removed the molding so I could paint beneath it. In the process, areas of paint started flaking and chipping. So, I figured I would scrape those portions down, mud/sand, then it would be ready for painting when I got to it.

Yeah, uh, huh. Not so fast. that would be wallpaper that started stripping down the wall. Damn. I had forgotten when I had originally painted that it sounded like wallpaper. However, in all the walls I have taken down (exterior and  stairway), there hasn't been any wallpaper (except the mural in the living room), so I figured it was just the surface of the sheetrock was old and delaminating. Wrong answer! So, I spent some time stripping off what came off easily (the picture is from early in the process).

And, of course, that isn't sheetrock underneath but a wallboard, which probably means I will be papering over. The good news is at least the wallboard is in pretty decent shape, so I won't be replacing it. Now I need to get wallpaper stripper to get the stubborn stuff off.

Meanwhile, I had White Chocolate paint left over from when I painted the kitchen and living room last November, so I started painting the living room. The leftover paint was a cheaper Coronado, so I dind't expect it to cover nearly as well as the Bahr, and it didn't (although you can't really tell in the picture).

Then I went to the local store and got some Benjamine Moore Premium (the Valspar was so expensive it was rediculous - about $20 more per gallon than the Bahr, so I wasn't touching that stuff). Well, that was better than the Coronado, but still runny and under-coverage compared to the Bahr. That is okay, I'll just put on more coats - which will use the same amount of paint, just more effort and time. Next time I buy paint, I know what brand I am going with.

And to top off the evening, I did some polyeurathaning of the living room trim work, which I had sanded down and stained over the last couple of weeks. I'm doing that in the craft room, so it will be a while before I get to painting that room most likely.

Hpe everyone has had a more entertainning weekend than I have had so far - but at least I feel like I have been productive.

Comments

[Ruth]

Its coming along very nicely!

[Cop Car]

Bogie--Paint can be very expensive; but, to me, it gives the biggest bang for the buck. As far as polyurethane goes, it's wonderful stuff that takes a knack for getting it on correctly. I don't have the patience that it takes to do a good job with it. (Which doesn't keep me from using it, of course!)

[bogie]

CC - it isn't the cost of the paint, so much as the value. I've used the Valspar before (in the red bedroom), and found it's claims less than completely true. The Behr is so much better than the Valspar that I am not going to pay almost half again as much for it. I will go to the big box store and buy the paint that I get the best value for (IMHO)

[Cop Car]

Sorry! I didn't intend to try to compare value among brands. I think that Harter used Benjamin-Moore on Sunrise. In the re-painting that I did, I used Sears' best (whatever it was called). On this house, Mary Porter was used originally and Sherwin-Williams on re-paint. Color matching is so good these days that I have no fear in switching brands. Since Sherwin-Williams has a store about 1.5 miles from the house, it's where I've had new stain mixed up to match. Perhaps someone with a critical eye could tell the difference, but I surely cannot!

Behr certainly has a good reputation AFAIK. As far as I'm concerned, whoever puts in the sweat and the money gets to choose whatever her heart desires. *smiling* (I knew that you were awaiting permission - NOT!)