Trim, Trim, Trim

Trim has taken over my world as it always seems to when I'm working on a room. It took me all day Wednesday to tape the kitchen/dining room/solarium area. I used two whole rolls of painters tape on it. (Yes Dad, I did reuse some of the tape from other parts of the kitchen.)

Thursday, I spent most of my day wiping down the trim with 'Liquid Sandpaper' (so you don't actually have to sand - thanks for the tip Uncle Lonnie!), painting a primer on ALL of the trim and then later putting on the first coat of semi-gloss, ultra pure (I don't cover well) white paint. And it is streeeeeaky, of course. I'm putting on another coat today and we'll see how it looks.

I did check into oil-based paint at the Home Depot and they basically told me I'm obviously doing something wrong if all of my prep work and priming doesn't cover well with two coats. And since I am so inept, that oil-based paint will not help my situation. (It was a good suggestion though Mom!)

A professional painter I will never be!

Its All About the Paint

At least it seems that my life is all about the paint lately. So now as you can see from the photo, I've painted that bump-out above the cabinets white on the bottom. Kevin said the right thing this morning. He did a little analyzing and determined that he likes it this way. Right thing to say! It stays!

Now on to the trim today. By trim, I mean door frames, sliding door frame, window frames, crowning molding, chair railing and baseboards. Anyone have some free time to lend a hand?

Orange or White - That is the Question

So if you've been following, we've been painting the kitchen. It's been a bit of a challenge deciding what is the ceiling and what is the wall as the room 'flows' into the living room, has a solarium and has a bunch of weird angles cut into it.

My latest dilemma is the bumped-out area over our cabinets. Right now its orange, it was white, but now I'm thinking it should be white again, at least on the bottom. This would theoretically throw more light onto the counters, because there is recessed lighting up in that bump-out. Or at least they would in Kristy's make believe world.

Ideas anyone?

The Mysteries of Paint

When I painted the first floor bathroom, which is really just a tiny powder room, I thought one quart of primer and one quart of paint would do the trick. Nope, I had to go buy another quart of paint and then another quart. Thus far taking me to just over a gallon of paint for this tiny room.

After having to run to Home Depot 3 different times, I thought I would solve this dilemma with the kitchen/dining room/solarium and just buy a gallon of primer and 2 gallons of paint. Now, it looks like we will only need 1/2 gallon of primer and one gallon of paint. I do not understand paint!

Does anyone need a gallon of orange paint for their house?

Oh WOW!

Everyone has always said to me that paint is the easiest way to completely change the look of a room without spending a lot of money. I think if you'll look at the photos of our kitchen/dining room 'in progress' you'll agree. We went from an 'Antique White' throughout both rooms on the walls, window frames, doors and ceiling to the primer coat of our new 'Iced Tea' color.

We are so pleased with the transformation this room is making. I think Kevin summed it up nicely this morning when he said that the rooms now look like us. That it looks like we're living in OUR house and not someone else's house.

There are at least two more coats of 'Iced Tea' to go before the color is smooth and even, but the change already is impressive!