Friday, June 26, 2009

Painting



When we put in the new carpeting in the bedrooms it looked great with the light tan walls in most of the house. One bedroom, which we use as an office, was painted blue. The blue looked fine with the old carpeting, but the new carpeting is a shade of brown. With the blue walls, not so great. So we decided we needed to paint that bedroom a different color.



It took me a couple of months to work my way up to wanting to paint again, but I finally felt ready to tackle this last bedroom. Off we went to Lowes, a scrap of carpet in hand. We found a “beach umbrella” colored yellow and a creamy brown that looked great with the carpeting. Our plan was to paint one wall brown, and the other three walls yellow. Good plan we thought, until I started painting. That yellow more like a yield-sign than a beach umbrella! Way too dark, way too shiny, way too everything! I painted one wall in hopes that the color would improve but finally we decided we couldn’t live with such a brilliant shade of yellow.



Back to Lowes we went again. This time we went about three shades lighter. Much, much better!



I painted two walls yellow and one wall brown. The brown wall was a bit of a challenge. They said one quart was enough paint, and it was, but just barely. It took Lee helping me scrap the very last bits out of the can before everything was covered. I think we should have mentioned how heavily textured the walls were. It takes more paint to cover textured walls.



I’ve become a better painter with all the practice I’ve had painting this house. I kind of like it for some reason. It’s a task that has a definite beginning and end, and it’s not something you have to do over and over again, like house-cleaning! But Lee is a really excellent painter. He says he’s painted hundreds of walls over the years. He doesn’t need to tape woodwork; he can paint the edges free-hand. I’m very impressed by his talents in this area (as in so many others)!



Because we have painted over fairly dark blue walls with two very different colors, even with taping, there are places along the edges where the blue shows through. Lee has to paint those edges. Then we can move the furniture over and I can paint the last wall. I think then I will need another project. I wonder what it will be?


3 comments:

  1. Hi Lynn,

    Just saw your comment on Gail's "leave your garden" post and came over to see your blog. I'm in NW Austin, small yards, no deer (so far) and no end to house renovations. The above photos made me laugh - we seem to have the same doors and right now I'm dithering over paint swatches in 2 bathrooms and 2 bedrooms. You've made actual decisions - you're doing great!

    Home Slice is our fave when we're in South Austin. Pizza choices are so personal, aren't they? I remember moving to Austin from IL in 1999 and being amazed at what other people loved and hated.

    Up here we like Realle's (on N Research) and Saccone's (on 620 near Volente Rd).

    Now back to Gail's - read her excellent post and didn't even leave a comment.

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

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  2. Annie I probably would have been better off if we had tried a couple of different samples before we painted an entire wall. Oh well! It looks nice now. Next is our guest bathroom...going for a LIGHT shade of green in there! I think my husband is going to paint it though; he's much faster than me when there is so much trim.

    Realle's and Saccone's eh? We'll have to try them sometime!

    I'll have to go check out your blog now!

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  3. Yes, I am behind in the blogs as I am in so many other things since I have been away. Ok well you can call it a lifes lesson, but yes that yellow was sort of explosive looking I fear. A mellower yellow seems better for the soul. As to the quality of my painting skills - don't even ask!!!

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