Painting!

So nice to relax after a weekend full of workin' on the house!   I got a "bug up my butt" and headed to Home Depot after work Friday and bought a gallon of paint.  When I woke up Saturday, I got out into the backyard and started painting.  It went faster than I anticipated, but it was still quite a project!   The second coat had to go on Sunday morning, but now that it's done.... ahhhhhh.   It's amazing what a coat of paint can do to spruce things up!
















The window and french door trims are painted in "Bleached Spinnaker" - sort of a light cream with a hint of sage.  The walls are a sandy shade called "Casual Khaki".   Both are a satin finish, and in the right light, there's a sheen, but not a shine.   Perfectly suits me!



What makes me a little disappointed is that I didn't get in very many steps this weekend.  I was up and down the step ladder, but that doesn't seem to count up in miles very fast!   I'm sure it will show on the scale on Weds, so I'll have to up my game on Mon and Tues.



Work in progress, the old color on the left below the window..... I can't be sure how long ago this was painted - I'm thinking it hasn't been painted since it was built?  Perhaps once but many years ago!  Because the boards are so rough, I brushed the paint on by hand.







Finished today,
and I'm happy with results!










One reason why I like "hands on" so much when it comes to doing things on the house is because of the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".  When we touch things, fix things, we leave a little piece of ourselves behind, a little piece of our soul stays with our works.

“The way to see what looks good 

and understand the reasons it looks good, 

and to be at one with this goodness as the work proceeds, 

is to cultivate an inner quietness, 

a peace of mind so that goodness can shine through.” 

― Robert M. Pirsig, 

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Kitchen Update

Finished off the upper cabinets,
I'm really pleased with the color,
and loving the trim !
(sorry, the picture got kind of dark)











Its hard to get a camera to get a picture of a true color.  But you can see by this one that the lower cabinets are much darker than the original color.


Worked extra hard today to get the lower cabinets done as well.  Insides are painted, doors are sanded, just need to get the hinges stripped, and coat the doors and rehang them.

But what I really like a lot is this shelf...
an eye popping red to match the trim
this extends just beyond the kitchen.

It sure shows off my antique kitchen
gadgets well! 

If you're thinking of painting --
don't be afraid of color!
Be Bold!

Kitchen update

I've been working on my kitchen, attempting to upgrade it to something a little more ... fun. bold.  less  boring.  Whoever painted here last used a sprayer, didn't move anything, just sprayed inside and out.  After pulling out shelves, you could see the lines where the shelf had been sitting.  *sigh*  Only people in a hurry paint like that.  

So here's an updated picture of the upper cabinets painted, the trim is "flaming red hot", and the cabinets are a warm "tempting toasted coconut".  

I know the colors are hard to tell from just pictures,  While the depth of shade is nearly the same as it was before, the old color was a beige with blue undertones, and the new color has red undertones, and feels much warmer.

In this picture, you can see the difference in the color splotch I slapped up to see how I would like it.  And with a little careful taping, I'm able to spray paint the center of the already existing knobs to match the red :)

Kitchen Paint

With a couple days off work, I decided to try out a color in my kitchen.  I follow a blog called "moon to moon" , and she wrote 

"Be bold. Don't be afraid of color."   

And my kitchen, being that its 25 years old and mostly pressboard type units attached to walls....  well, its never going to look .... what would be the word, fashionable?  elegant?  pretty?  They're plain, and the layout isn't inspiring, merely functional.  Which is ok, I'm not complaining, because it works.  But its boring!

So... I decided to use "flaming red hot" as an accent color....  the cabinets themselves will be an earth tone tan, as is most of the decor in the southwest. 

It's an interesting combination, but painting red isn't easy! It tends to leave streaks, so extra coats required to get an even tone. But that's ok, all good things take time and patience!  

Lift a glass of cheer, for its Friday!

Kitchen Changes

After living in my house for more than two years, I am finally at a point where I want, and need, to decide about the kitchen cabinets.  The baseboards and kitchen are the two things that didn't get painted before I moved in, and lately have begun to paint around the baseboards.   Funny how you don't realize how many there are until you are down on your hands and knees, getting them painted!

My kitchen is L-shaped, and yes, somewhat boring and awkward in its placement, so the color scheme can't be too far off the rest of the look of the house.  The open ceiling plan means the rooms need to flow together, as there are no good breaking points for paint colors to stop and start.  It's taken me forever to find an idea on how I want to do this.  And after hours and hours of perusing the internet, I think I've finally stumbled on to a plan.

As you can see in this picture, 
the lower cabinets are darker 
than the upper cabinets. 
I like that a lot.






Here's my kitchen as it looked before I moved in... the main back wall is now a creamy beige.  (Isn't it funny how it looks so much bigger before all your stuff is there??)

Here are the colors I'm leaning towards right now.  The darker tan on the bottom, the lighter on top.  The red is an accent color that may or may not fit in to the scheme, depending on how it looks after the cabinets are painted.  there are some very small half inch trim boards across the top of my cabinets that may look good with that red trim across it....  Gotta love experimenting!

 

 Thoughts?  Ideas?  Opinions?