Hello there!! First of all, WOW, you Squeezies have some beeeeautiful Christmas trees!! There are 445 linked up so far – and you have till next Thursday to include yours. That has to be the prettiest post I’ve ever seen. :)
I’ve been working on some BIG changes in our den over the past week, and I couldn’t resist showing you the progress!
I mentioned last week that, in the middle of Christmas decor madness, I decided to finally take on the painting of our den. I know. I am a special kind of crazy. Fruit loop. Cuckoo!
When we built our house, we never had an overhead light installed in the den (bangs head against wall), so it’s always been darker in that room. I decided to go with that cozy feeling, and painted the walls a pretty brick red long ago:
It was cozy, but wow…it was just so dark. I know – it’s brick red Sarah, what do you expect?! So…when I found the inspiration for this room in the form of beautiful new fabrics, I knew I was ready for a change:
UGH…I. love. them. Beautiful!
Because I was going to have to prime the whole room to start the redo, I kept putting it off. And off. And then off some more. And then off for a couple more months. And then again. For about eight months. Or so. :)
But then the crazy hit and I just had to do it NOW. In December. Yes, my husband is a saint.
I started with some supplies, thanks to True Value:
I normally use an old sheet as a drop cloth, but I got to splurge a little bit and got an actual plastic tarp. Awww yeah…that’s the good stuff.
Thanks True Value -- double thump on the chest at ya! Yo.
I chose to prime because I was covering a dark color. Since I’m using white on most of the walls, it was absolutely necessary. I don’t usually prime if I’m painting a new color over another color – even though the experts say I should. :) But when covering a dark color with a light color, it’s necessary. (You will thank me.)
It took me three hours to prime this room – it was NOT the most fun I’ve ever had, let me just tell you. Keep in mind I had to prime the ceiling as well, so that added to the FUN. :)
I only did one coat of Kilz primer, and probably should have done two. But if you don’t know by now – I am incredibly impatient. I’m like a five year old, seriously. I just want to see the final result SO BAD.
I used Dutch Boy paints for the first time on the farmhouse table I found as my new desk. I used it again for the white on the walls -- that awesome pour spout had me at hello:
Oh…I LOVE it. You may notice I use semi gloss for the white over the primer – I know the thought of a gloss on your walls gives many of you the heebs. But I’m adding molding to that part of the wall, and semi gloss over everything makes it look more custom, more authentic. It does in my little opinion – I use it with almost all of my molding projects. (To see what I mean, click here or here.)
I also went ahead and got a new Purdy brush, because I am now obsessed with Purdy brushes:
I was SO excited because I found the coolest painting tool I’ve ever seen while at True Value – a big, huge, honkin’ paint roller:
It rocked my world!! I was so excited about this baby – thoughts of finishing up the room in 45 minutes were swimming through my head.
But…I quickly realized I didn’t have a paint tray large enough to fit the honkin’ roller, and that was a big problem. I headed back to True Value and they had just sold their last one (made specifically for that roller) just hours before.
Curses!! Shakes fists in air!
I got an extra large tray and it just didn’t work – I couldn’t get the paint on evenly enough. So it was back to the regular roller -- but I will use the honkin’ roller one day…oh yes. I will. :)
What did work was this simple little paint brush comb:
I used the comb on the brush on the left after priming and painting. The one on the right…well, it’s pretty obvious I didn’t:
Can you believe it? The one on the right has been used more than two times, but still – you can see the difference it’s going to make. I won’t be without it from now on!
So, after one coat of primer on the whole room, and two coats of semi gloss white around the bottom 2/3 of the room, this is where we stand now:
Holy LIGHT Batman!! :) Yahooo…I love it!!
You know what’s weird? At first, after I painted over the brick red, the room seemed smaller than before. You know how everyone says dark walls make a room smaller? Sometimes I disagree – they also make the walls recede and kind of disappear in a way.
The white is without a doubt BRIGHTER. I know – duh. But it had me thinking – could I live with an all white room? Initially, I loved the crisp, clean, bright feeling so much, I thought maybe I could.
But with time, I know I need some warmth and a little bit of contrast – both of those will come with a color above the white, the beautiful fabric I showed you, and some art I can’t WAIT to show you.
I haven’t started any of that yet, but I can see it in my head and it looks ahhhmazing! ;)
So…what do you think? There some absolutely gorgeous all white rooms out there – stunning! Could you do all white, or do you crave some color like me? This room almost made me a convert…almost. ;)
*I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.*
Thank you to my sponsor!:
