It’s ready. I mean, I still have to freshen the trim in all of the rooms, I need a towel rack, the hall closet desperately needs some work, the bedroom window is cracked, there’s no lighting in the living room…
But it’s ready for me to move in. The painting is done. It took all day yesterday to prepare the living room walls and put on two coats of the base color. I was actually quite concerned after the base coat went on: it was this very feminine peach color (photo right). Not at all what I was hoping for. True, it did warm the room so drastically compared to the cold gray/blue the prior owners chose. But peach?
I thought about running back to Home Depot first thing Sunday morning to get some new color scheme, but I thought I might as well give the color wash that Tiffany and I decided would work well (Tiffany is a coworker at Microsoft who actually has some style).
I was also worried about the color wash technique because it required three different shades of paint. The extra $20 for another gallon made no difference.
I was worried it would take forever to apply three different colors to the wall. I was also worried about how quickly the glaze dries. The whole idea of the color wash is to blend the two darker colors, while at the same time re-exposing the lighter base coat. The glaze dries so quickly, I had portions of the rag and sponge techniques that came out odd because I paused in the middle. The color wash was so much more complicated.
Or so I thought. It was actually easier and faster than the rag and sponge techniques. And the results are so beautiful. I love it. I love it I love it I love it.
I also managed to freshen up both closets. I put in black-and-white vinyl tiles on top of the scratched and the ugly dark gray/blue paint some prior fool of an owner had laid down over
the hardwood floors. Actually, at some point there was carpet. Carpet without any padding underneath it. The tacks were still in the floor of the closet.
I also painted over the medium blue/gray paint in one of the two closets. In the process, I ripped out four pieces of wood that had probably been used for drawers or shelving some long time ago. Of course, when I ripped out the last piece of wood, I ripped out a good chunk of the plaster on the wall as well. I used up almost all of my joint compound filling that gaping hole.