A bit of fun with metallic paint

I thought the existing hallway was too bland

Augh! What have I done? I painted an accent wall in my hall today and I can't decide if I like it or hate it. Also, since I had some leftover paint I painted some trees on the other walls. 

Why did I do this, you ask? Well, maybe days and days of icy rain and cold has finally driven me mad. After waking up to another yucky gray day here in Wisconsin, I was looking for something to do that would shake away the blah's and anxiety I've been feeling the last couple of days. Voila! A trip to Menard's to pick up basement remodeling supplies and what do I see? Funky metallic paint on sale with a rebate too! Just the kind of fun, small project I needed.

We have a long, narrow hallway leading from the main living area to the bedrooms. The walls were painted a lovely cream color. Although I love the color, there's a boring element to the whole space that I just can't put a finger on. Sure, putting up some pictures or artwork is one way to make a space more interesting but the hall is such a tight squeeze that I'd rather keep it streamlined.

I read in one of my home decorating books that painting a darker color (or a vibrant interesting color) on the end wall of a long narrow space helps visually shorten and broaden the area. On our end wall, we had a nice mirror that I had bought a long time ago at one of those strange liquidator stores.  It looked good but didn't do enough to liven up the hall.

I recently moved the mirror to our garage entryway to help lighten up that dark corner and then looked for months for a similar mirror to put back in the hall but couldn't find one. I ended up buying a simple, unframed, beveled mirror that just looks too plain for such a plain space.

When I saw the Rustoleum Metallic Accents at the store, I figured that I could kill several birds at the same time by painting the hallway's end wall with some nice metallic paint: "framing" the new mirror, visually modifying the space and giving the area a bit of interest in one fell swoop!

Even with light from the bedrooms the hall is always dark
 and if all the doors are shut it's a cave

But what color? There were several that I really liked. It had to be a color that wasn't too dark, which was too bad because the color my husband and I liked the best was reddish brown "Warm Copper."

I first chose a light green but when I got it home I noticed the silvery hints in the color weren't what I wanted. I then chose "Soft Gold" which seemed like the right choice until I got it on the walls.

I don't usually tape off walls I'm painting but it was such a narrow space I ended up taping it all off. The instructions recommended rollers instead of brushes and they are right, it looks best rolled. The paint doesn't have very good coverage and so two coats were needed. In some spots I did three.

You can see how the metallic paint
shows every inconsistency in the wall's texture

Well, I don't know if I grabbed the wrong can of paint at the store but the color is not what I was expecting. "Soft Gold" is way darker and golder than I thought it would be (I guess that's why they sell those samples) and it's so metallic. I thought I'd like that effect but up close I noticed that it shows every flaw and texture variation in the wall, which isn't good because the hall's end wall has plenty of flaws.

I should have stopped there but then I painted some trees along the length of the two side walls.  I used painting tape and a level to make sure the trunks would be straight and that they would all be approx. the same height and width. 

The metallic paint catches the light giving them an interesting ombre' effect.  Still, I should have worked out what kind of tree I wanted to paint before I started.  Instead of beautiful airy saplings, I got something that looked stenciled and stiff (and suspiciously like something that would be stitched on a colonial embroidery sampler.)

So, the lessons I learned include the following: One, buy the paint sample first and try it before you buy the big can. Second, paint is always darker and more intense when massed on a wall versus the little paint chip. Thirdly, if your wall is flawed, metallic paint is probably not a good choice.  Oh and the last lesson, the little quart jars of paint are really tippy. (I knocked over the open jar twice and spilled at least half the paint on the tarp before I had even started painting.)

The one thing I thought turned out well was painting the light switch to match the accent wall. I spray-painted the switch and then I lightly sanded, brush-painted and textured the switchplate. Oh, and I should tell you that painting the end wall in a long room really does make the room seem wider and shorter. 

I guess I'll try to live with it for a while until my husband doesn't remember me buying the paint anymore.  Then, I'll either love the new look or I'll repaint the end wall with a cream color (non-metallic) a shade or two darker than the side walls, and either paint over the trees leaving the walls bare or try another image. Something more organic in form, like willows, grass, a swirling line of leaves or maybe just a wavy line.

Feel free to let me know what you think of the wall and trees and if I should undo what I did or keep it.

Dream Deck Not So Dreamy

Our newly painted deck and the
portable chaises that are part of my deck dream

One of the reasons we bought this house was because of its deck, overlooking the woody wilderness that is our backyard. It runs the length of the house and there are two patio doors that open on to it, one from the former den (now part of the kitchen) and also one from the master bedroom, which I thought was REALLY cool.

I envisioned peaceful mornings slipping from my bed, sliding open the patio door to a chorus of birdsong and sunshine, and relaxing on a chaise before the rest of the house wakes up. (It hasn't actually worked out like that but in theory, it could.)

Supposedly the previous owners let their dog use the
deck as a potty in the winter, wrecking the stain job

The deck certainly wasn't one of the things we thought we'd have to tackle right away but it was. Turns out my youngest could easily fit through the railings, which she delighted in demonstrating to me as I hyperventilated in fear (it's a two-story drop). There was also a gate blocking access to a steep staircase but it turned out to be rotted and broke away when we tried opening it. And that wasn't the only rotted wood either; there were several floor boards that were rotted too and the paint/stain was chipped, bubbling and generally missing from action in large spots.

We referenced the state building code when
determining how close to place the new spindles

Fixing the deck railings became priority number one. Not only were they spaced incorrectly but many were also bent or otherwise damaged. We took almost all of them off, and put new spindles on. It ended up being much more time-consuming than we expected. My husband had to miter the tops of the new spindles to match the ones we kept and it was difficult connecting them while hanging off the side of the deck. Still he got it done and even the smallest tot won't be able to fit their head through.



Originally, only the inside of the deck was painted,
which looked pretty bad from the yard



We then hired a contractor to power wash it, hoping to strip the old stuff away. Instead, it put big gouges in the wood and also stripped some stain from our siding as well. Our painting contractor told us you NEVER try to strip paint from wood by power washing it. Lesson learned.

Anyhow, the deck was strangely painted only on the sides you could see from inside the house, leaving the rest of the wood exposed to the elements. According to the same painter, if the wood is gray/bleached, that means the cells are dead. Still he said that the deck wasn't in too bad of shape; we replaced the rotted boards and he re-cleaned the deck and prepped it for staining.

We chose Sherwin Williams "Monterey Tan" solid color stain because I thought it would like nice with the grayish green trunks of the trees. It took two coats to cover the previous color, "navajo red," and this time the painters painted the outside of the deck as well as the part you could see from the house.

Now we only need to fix the gate and then I can let the cats and or small nieces/nephews out on the deck without fear of losing them over the sides or their heads getting stuck between the rails and having to saw them out (don't laugh; it happened to my mom when she was little...ok, you can laugh). The painter said the stain we used will last 8 years so I marked my calendar for five years to repaint. Now on to the next crisis!

Cat Door and Other Little Things



This particular cat flap isn't very big but
our large kitty has no problem using it;
it also has a locking feature which is a nice feature



We all know that sometimes little changes make a big difference in how we live, right? Well, this year we've made a few and their impact has been mighty indeed. 

This past fall we acquired a feral kitten found by my parents. Having a cat again was nice but we had no good place to put a litter box. We had it in our kitchen and our cat would track litter all over the floor so it was gross and unsanitary.  Also, our kitty didn't like scented litter so there was a continual unpleasant smell hanging in the air.  We needed to come up with a plan. 

For less than $15 I was able to get a cat door from Amazon.com. I wasn't nervous about cutting into the door leading from the kitchen to our basement because the previous owners' dog had scratched it up pretty good.   The cat flap was easy to install and it took only one day for the cat to start using it on his own. Now instead of having a smelly cat litter box under foot it's tucked away downstairs.


Before I organized our supplies, it was just in a big pile
in the cabinet and we couldn't find anything
without making a mess

Another small change that has really helped was finally organizing our bathrooms. I bought a different colored set of washcloths for each family member and cleared out any old personal hygiene products. I grouped the remaining supplies and put them in various see-through containers with labels.

Wal-mart sells sets of multi-sized clear plastic containers for a few bucks so we used those and those $1 shoe boxes for most of the stuff.  Our most expensive container was maybe $5 (not including a lovely pot I bought from a pottery studio which currently holds my hair bands). 

I also found small pots and vases at Goodwill that work great for holding toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair brushes, hairbands, etc. 

I figure it took a couple of days of shopping and scavenging to gather my containers and a day to clear out and group our supplies.  Doing this has really helped streamline getting people out of the house each day. It's also cut down on us buying duplicate products because now we can see what we have (for example I found 10 tubes of antihistamine lotion and 13 little tubes of toothpaste that you get at the dentist).

Teddy Bear helping me file

I was so pumped about organizing our bathroom vanities that I decided to tackle our office too.  We had filled up our existing file cabinet and were just cramming additional files wherever I could find a spot. I found a large heavy-duty file cabinet on Craig's List for $10 (they are several hundred dollars new) and have been filing and tossing papers like a mad woman ever since. I've also cleared out our office supplies the same way I did the bathrooms-tossing out as much as I could and putting the rest in labeled clear-plastic containers. I was shocked at how many binders and half-filled notebooks we had lying around the house.  This was a bigger project so I broke it down into several couple-hour sessions.  I didn't want to get overwhelmed and give up.

For years we've been living in confusion and clutter.  With these few small changes, which didn't take much time or money, I feel a bit more carefree and our house isn't as crazy as it used to be. 

Unexpected Projects Throw Cheeseheads into Chaos

Our rotting pergola: looks like a bat condo, doesn't it?

 Aargh! Very frustrated today. Found out the cupola on top of our garage is rotted out and needs to be removed or replaced. Also found out that at least half and maybe all of our gutters are also rotted and need replacing asap because they are damaged our soffits. I can already tell we are going to blow this year's home remodel budget sky high!

It's funny because I've just been reading about entropy (how the universe becomes less ordered) in a book on quantum physics that I've been using as a sleep aid. It takes mere minutes to knock me right out when there's talk about how to measure different amounts of infinity or a discussion on the different types of multiverses. I am only able to get through a few pages at a time before shutting down so this one book should last me for months.

Sorry, back to the entropy happening in my home. So, I'm not too freaked out about the cupola. After all, I'm trying to give the house a more modern look and getting rid of that will help. I don't think it has a real function but I hesitate to take it down 'cuz I just know there are bats in there. Maybe I'll hire someone to do it who has already gotten their rabies shots. (This is the same reason I haven't taken down the shutters yet. I get that bats are really good for insect control but they seriously freak me out!)

The rusty holes indicate the gutters need replacing

As for the gutters, if they all need to come down, I could have something other than white trim, which would be nice. Except I'd still want the white soffits for bringing light into our home. So, I guess I can stick with white trim. Painting a house in three colors is more expensive than painting in two, which I don't quite get. After all, it'd be the same amount of paint, right? It's just frustrating because I want to get the house painted as soon as possible and now this will have to be taken care of before we paint. Why can't things ever be simple?
I have to remember that it's not all doom and gloom. After all, I did manage to convince my spouse that putting concrete under our deck is a worthwhile idea. Right now it's just brambles, weeds, centipedes and dirt. The patio door is currently unusable due to all the dirt in its tracks. I suspect that all that dirt getting splashed up on our cedar siding is not good for it either.

Here's an interesting aside. I had painters come out to quote the painting job and all told me that our cedar siding is in really good shape. They said that the cedar and oak used in newer homes isn't as good as the wood used in the past and doesn't hold up to the elements as well. I wonder if this is true...

I think these look like they were once painted blue

Anyhow, with a concrete patio under the deck turning it into usable space, I think I'll use a solid stain on the underside of the deck and paint it sky blue 'cuz I heard somewhere that the practice deters wasps from building nests (probably not true but I'm willing to give it a try).

As a festive touch, I bought some colorful LED outdoor string lights to put up. The package says LED lights don't attract bugs like regular lights do but to be safe I went with a multi-colored set instead of white, which I would have preferred. I might get some good deals at the end of the summer on furniture and, voila! a festive party space!

I'm hoping the patio will also help control our centipede problem. Seriously, spiders aren't even half as creepy as those hairy, fast-moving beasties! And they get everywhere! I even found one clinging to the inside of my bath robe as I was just about to put it on! (Which one of us would have been more grossed out?)



Once this is paved, I will walk out my patio door,
sit under the pretty lights with a sangria in hand
and listen to the crickets sing

 Since we are going to be busy trying to get the basement ready for our guests this summer, we've decided to hire out the patio job. I've already got all the quotes I wanted. I thought a poured concrete patio would be more expensive than pavers but the opposite has turned out to be true. From the quotes I've received, pavers were going to be twice as much as the concrete. I love the look of pavers but I don't have any issues with the look of poured concrete either.

Stamped concrete looks nice but was about also more expensive than the poured concrete. Also, I've noticed that colored concrete looks awful once it starts losing its color. I'm all about less maintenance, so for us, the poured concrete seems like the best option.

One contractor told me that he uses straight six bag mix and that it is different than six bag mix because it contains no fly ash. I looked online to see if that was true but didn't find any useful information. I also didn't find out why fly ash is bad. Is it worth a $1000 difference in price? I don't think so.

Anyhow, although stressing about the added repairs we have to complete this summer, I am happy that I was able to talk hubby into the concrete patio. Yay!

More Mural

A quick update on the mural I was working on.  I outlined it in a cream-colored paint which turned out kind of neat.  However, it didn't really have the impact I was hoping for when you walk in to the house. It is just too delicate compared to our dark, chunky furniture.

After discussing it with the kids, I think I'm going to redo it in a rust color with some dark olive green shading. I plan to keep it just the outline and not fill it in. I also have to finish the bottom of it (I couldn't decide if I wanted roots or grass or nothing)

I like the light color very much and am thinking of either doing this in my bedroom or in the hallway.  I think it'd look awesome in the hallway, but the hallway is currently a cream color and so even bright white wouldn't have much contrast.  Hmmmm...

(My original post about starting this mural)

Finally starting the living room mural

The original living/dining room space
in all its wallpapered glory

It's been a busy week.  I decided to take the opportunity of returning winter weather to get moving on some inside projects.  I spent the week getting quotes: quotes for basement waterproofing (I'll do a separate post about that nightmare in a day or so), quotes for a patio under our deck, and quotes for exterior painting.  Best of all, I finally got up the nerve to start on a mural in the living room.

You might ask why I was scared to paint a mural.  After all, if it sucks I can just paint over it again, right?  And yet, fear of this project has had me procrastinating for six months, at least.  As usual, I managed to take a simple issue, spurn all the obvious solutions and instead decide on the most time-consuming and least conventional approach. 

After the wallpaper was removed, we took out
the angled built-in and boarded up the closet

The original layout of our house had a combined living room and dining room.  After reading book after book of how silly it is to have formal entertainment areas that don't get used more than a couple times a year, I decided that we should embrace the new model of living and put the dining room to better use. 

I figured it was the prime location for an office but there was a problem.  As I've mentioned before we are slobs, and paper in particular is our Achilles' heel.   I'm a realist.  Half-walls or open-concept just isn't going to work for us.  The home magazines love to show disorganized slobs like me that if you buy cute, coordinating storage items, you can beat the clutter and let people into your house without first madly shoving office supplies into your bedroom closet.  But I know how my family works.  And it just wouldn't happen like that, even with the cute, coordinating bins and trays.   If I wanted an office in the front room, it would have to be enclosed.  I asked friends and family what they thought we should do.  Everyone hated the idea of enclosing space for an office; they said it would make the remaining space in the living room feel cramped. 

Looking pretty blah after the doors were in and handles added.

So, how to get our much-needed office without having crap laying all over the living room?  My husband wanted to buy a free-standing unit, which would have been a simple solution.  My father, who is a big believer in custom woodwork (lots and lots of woodwork) suggested a wall-length wood cabinet.  It would have looked nice and we could have coordinated it with our kitchen cabinets and again, a pretty simple solution.  But no!  I don't know why I didn't like those ideas but I wanted something, I don't know, airier...something that wouldn't suck up what little sunlight we get in the living room...something different.

 After some brainstorming, we decided to build a wall-length closet that could hold all of the office/school/computer junk that litters our home: file cabinets, papers, software, printer, books, etc.   We put in four sets of flat-front bi-folds that I painted the same color as the walls.  The idea was to make it kind of invisible, like some wall-length storage units I'd seen in the remodeling books.  However, once they were in, the strong vertical lines of the doors stood out despite the paint.  It all looked kind of stark and ugly.  Now what?  I couldn't ask my husband to rip it all out; that would put him over the edge. 

Sorry...can't remember where I found this
gorgeous designer wallpaper;
I think it was in a home remodeling magazine

After some more brainstorming, I decided that a mural might be the answer.  Something simple yet delivering some kick.  At some point I had seen some designer wallpaper that was simple yet stunning: silhouettes of saplings all along a wall.  I figured painting something similar might work but how would we do it?  Hiring someone to paint a mural for us was going to cost about $500. I have a bit of artistic skill (and I don't have $500) so I figured I'd give it a shot myself. After all, my sister has no fear about painting pictures on her walls and everyone always likes how they turn out.  And I've even painted a mural before: a jungle scene for a friend who's daughter wanted vines, monkeys and parrots on her bedroom wall.  (It turned out okay despite the monkeys looking like ugly aliens.)  So, I shouldn't be nervous, right?  But I was.  Just thinking about doing the mural on my nicely-painted doors started my stomach knotting. 

So, six months later, I finally was ready.  I had called all the local rental places and found one that had an overhead projector I could rent for $20 or so.  (An LCD projector would have been easier to use but was $150/day to rent.  Yikes!)  I had also searched the 'net for the right image:  a tree, maybe an oak, that had a bit of an asian feel but not too much.  I couldn't find one I liked, although I found  a woman on http://www.etsy.com/ who had gorgeous stencils that I hope to find a use for down the road).   I ended up drawing my own, which I thought turned out pretty good. 

I projected the image on the doors and traced the outline in pencil

I picked up the projector this morning.  I had forgotten that overhead projectors use transparencies.  They wanted $30 for transparency paper at the office supply store, which is ridiculous.   Luckily, I remembered that I had some salvaged plexiglas in our basement that I could use instead of transparency paper.  Using a dry erase marker, I copied my drawing onto the plexiglas then used the projector to cast the enlarged image on the wall.  After I fiddled with it a bit to get it how and where I wanted it, I took a pencil and traced in onto the wall.   A few minutes after I finished, my oldest child walked in and told me it was off-kilter and straightened it for me.  Augh!  My pencil marks were so dark it took me forever to get them erased!

Anyhow, the hard part is done.  Now I just need to paint it.  It's supposed to rain and snow next week so I can do it then without feeling guilty about not being outside working in the yard.  I'll post a photo when I'm done.  I hope it doesn't end up looking goofy.

This was an easy way to paint handles: I took cardboard and folded it,
then punched holes and screwed down the handles, which made them stand up,
making it easy to paint all sides at once.