Inside Color!!

I'm so excited. We've got the painting project started in the living room and dining room. Eric (ericmg01) got here a little after 9 and is making great progress priming the crown moldings. He's really good to work with, and you know we're "talking plants" as we paint!

More later... but had to at least start a thread to share my excitement!

Awesome, can't wait to see the pics.

You got a good rainy day for an inside project :-) Can't wait to see the results... Terri

photos?!?!?

We've been too busy for photos! LOL I'll snap some tonight... might try to get the green on below the chair rail, first (we're working on pale rose-pink above the chair rail right now).

Poor Eric is regretting having included the crown molding in the project, I think. And it's going to take 2 more coats on top of the primer that he did this morning... but it's going faster now that he's worked out a system for it, you know how that goes! The first coat always takes longest.

Colors... all in a Victorian palette, so I can get a way with a bunch of different ones... Dining room will be pale rose above, mossy green below the chair rail, which will be wine-burgundy. Crown molding will be a deeper shade of rose, and next week I'll hit the baseboard with a deeper pine green.

Living room will be more monochromatic... silvery lavender on the 2 bigger walls, deeper "ash violet" on the end walls, trim a dusky plum.

:-)

Colors this, palette that...I have a friend with a very colorful house like that! It will be lovely I'm sure.
We are painting our family room downstairs. I painted it a warm beige bout fifteen years ago which I liked with the brick fireplace. It perfectly matched the cruddy mortar LOL.
What color do we pick????? No clue. So we have "Lemonade" That's the incredibly appropriate name my hubby came up with for this very pale faintly greenish yellow paint that we were given two gallons of, by the painting contractor who did our bedroom two years ago, to whom I sort of whined about my terra cotta coming out way more pink than I expected. Warning--don't try to do terra cotta and then go a shade lighter. Its PEACH PINK..
So I am going with Lemonade and this summer when we are bored we will do some creative thing with it like giant vertical stripes of glaze, or big blocks..some HGTV type effect. AH, when I've learned to glaze, then I can fix my bedroom!

I tried to convince DH that a coat of glaze would be just the thing (at least on the lower part under the chair rail when I can reach all by myself)... he said the couple of finishes I tried (which I thought added depth & texture to the color) just looked badly painted, LOL.

I love mossy green. It sounds gorgeous - I can't wait to see the photos.

I loathe dusty/silvery/ashy mauve/lavender/plums, although I used to like them just fine. When I bought this house, every single solitary room in the house was painted some variation of one of those colors. I've had my lifetime supply of those colors. LOL

Glaze is super simple, Sally, but I have a suggestion. If you're thinking about the clear/silvery glaze, do a test patch on a big piece of cardboard or something. I did that in the upstairs hallway several years ago. It was awful. It made every flaw in the wall stand out like a spotlight was on it and was kind of funky looking in general. The darker glazes were fine but not the clear one. But with the clear one, the real problem is it bleeds right through anything you paint over it. So, make sure you like it before you paint it all over a wall.

I was talking to my cousin about this Sunday. She did the same thing in her kitchen and has the same complaints about it so I guess it's not me, unless it's something genetic. LOL

badly painted--that why I have never attempted yet. I do know someone who has done tons of venetian plaster effect and swears she'd love to teach me.

Always in love with mossy greens!
Like to say I hate blue but am loving the watery greenish blues that are all over styles now. Just not with my bricks.

Critter, Love the colors, they will look great in your house. Hey, you may have enough to be considered a "Painted inside Lady" LOL
Ric, spent a little time in the laundry room today. This is a very slow going project, he's just not that into it.

I brushed the glaze on (deeper color mixed with clear glaze, 3:1) and then ragged it off with crumpled paper... I loved the effect, but DH is just into smooth... he doesn't like Venetian plaster, either, the philistine! LOL

I just used those textured/patterned rollers...super easy.

with glaze in, or slightly different paint color or...? I just saw an ad in a magazine--the 'textured' squares or whatever were very subtle.

I went with a color 2 shades lighter over the darker color. It came out awesome.

Hmm, that would help avoid the dirty wall syndrome

I seem to recognize something here - hubbies thinking we are nuts when it comes to choosing colors/techniques - but, eventually they DO come around to our way of thinking! Giving him "a look" & a "trust me" always works in our house!

I tried the look & the "trust me!" but he wouldn't go for the deep dusty rose trim. LOL

I'm sorry, and I do feel for you - after all these years DH has realized I have MUCH better taste than him...'whoda thunk?!?! LOL After I chose the colors for our last paintjob, he learned that - "yes, I realize the hallway looks like the inside of a pumpkin right now...trust me, it'll get better" actually is true! ^_^

My daughter Jen is just finishing up a basement. They divided the basement into 2 rooms one utility and the finished part is a gym and playroom. It's your basic concrete floor/ cinder block walls. They put down heavy padding and carpet. Did some drywall work to divide the utility area from the living space and closed up the open stairway with a half wall. Didn't want to spend a ton of money on it so they just painted the cinder block walls. It's coming out pretty cute. they divided the finished area into two parts using a futon and some shelves down the middle of the room to make two separate areas. They painted the walls blue and in the gym area they did black silhouettes of sports activities, golfer, soccer player, body builder and a couple more. In the area of the playroom she is painting a jungle scene with cartoon type monkeys, lions, giraffe and alligator. The whole thing is pretty cute.

Oh, that sounds wonderful! even more colorful than my dining room...

:-)

Don't blame all the guys! Some of us have a good "feel" for colors and texture. I have often thought of doing our great room in asymmetrical bands of color to enhance it's "great" effect, and compliment the array of plants, but it is still monochrome. Maybe, someday, if I have some ambition and can covince Holly that "we can make it go away" if she trully hates it. Ric

Ric- before I realized you were writing, I was thinking, of course Holly better get in here and defend her creative hubby!!

ahhhh, when we added bead board wainscoting effect down here around the big brick fireplace, by the forest green/ tan/ burgundy sofa, my hubby appeared from the storage area with half a gallon of Baby's Room Sunny Yellow and said How 'bout just using this up?
Um, NO!

And I hated that sofa the minute I got it in the basement, but it is for kid and pet abuse so it stays for now. They really should have warning labels on swatches, like Is Incredibly Dated and Will Instantly Look Dingy In Your Poorly Lit Basement.

lol Sally...then they wouldn't sell as many

One word - slipcovers. LOL

Sally, you can get that squares effect by sponging, which might be easier than brushing and rolling. You just tape off your squares after painting your basecoat, dab the sponge (get the kind they sell for sponging, it works better) in the second color, dab it on some newspapers or paper towels until you've removed the excess paint and then dab it on the squares. The sponge will be almost dry.

Working with just a small amount of paint on the sponge works much better than one that's loaded with paint. You have a lot more control over the color - you can always dab again to make it darker if you want.

We got a new sofa for Christmas and I'm really disappointed in the fabric. It pills and I have to shave it with one of those pill remover doodads periodically. I've never had to shave my furniture before. LOL It wasn't a cheap sofa and I probably should call the furniture store and complain.

Sally did you see the guy on HGTV that paints upholstered furniture? I personally thought most of what he did was ugly. But if you start from ugly, who knows. Adding color to a natural muslin slip cover might be fun. I would think you may need fabric paint or just enough water based paint to stain the color into the fabric. Ric

Start from ugly and it can't get worse!
I'll get a muslin slipcover, sponge paint squares on my walls and keep going on the slip cover.

So when's Critter gonna show something??

When I've got something finished! Eric is now employed, and so he had to leave early today for orientation. I'm waiting for a call back from another painter to do the crown molding. I finished up the second coat on the end walls in the living room but ran out of steam before I got to the green (below the chair rail) in the dining room. I do love the colors that are up so far, though, and Jim likes the rose pink better after the second coat, which made it a little less pink-pink and a little more taupe.

Isn't that always the way! You find a good worker and he's gone. Bummer. Ah, we've got great weather to open the windows and air out your fumes tho.

I'll be painting tonight. Daughter Jen is getting quite a deal today on cheap labor. She is getting a gardener, painter, chauffeur,babysitter and dog keeper all in one Mother. Oh, almost forgot the mulch delivery Ric is making. All this for the cheap, cheap price of a few Grandbaby kisses. LOL I'm headed up to Jen's today and will be staying over till tomorrow afternoon for a work fest. I'll take a few pic of the jungle mural I'm helping with.

Grandbaby kisses are priceless! Sounds like you've got a busy day ahead of you. I'm looking forward to photos of that mural!

Mmmm grandbaby kisses - best medicine on the market

Here they are. Jen has patterns that she transfers to the walls with carbon paper. Then goes over them with a marker. She needs to do two coats, some highlighting and then back over the lines to make them nice and crisp.

Three of the walls are just painted concrete block, it's a basement room with a cement floor and was completely unfinished.

None of the murals are completely done yet. None of them are more than the first coat. But you can get an idea of what they will look like.

Last one, Critter really looking forward to seeing your pics. Won't you even post a few teasers?

What adorable paintings on the basement cement walls! They add so much interest and color too! It will look wonderful once it is completed!

Hey Critter, what about some "before" and "after" pictures?

This message was edited Apr 20, 2009 12:30 PM

So cute!

I LOVE them!!

Thanks, it's turning into a very nice living space. Their one splurge was some nice carpet with a very heavy padding. They are spending quite a bit of time down there as part of the room is a gym and they both workout. As well as a fun spot for the kids, they put a futon for seating and overnight guests.

Holly, those are adorable. Is your daughter familiar with the Tatuage designs? No need to color and you just rub them onto the wall with a tongue depressor. I don't know how well they'd work on a wall that isn't smooth, though.

They really look like handpainted designs. One of the local shops has used them and they're really pretty. Note they'll send you a free sample if you ask for one.

http://www.tatouagedesigns.com/