So, what did we do today? Oh, all sorts of things!
1. We cleaned and checked out of the apartment.
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| American Gothic, anyone? |
2. Went to the furniture mart to pick up the queen mattress set for the guestroom. One of these days I'll have to post an ode to our Harbor Freight foldable trailer, aka Frankentrailer. We took the boat bunks off it the other day, folded it up so we could both park in the garage. This morning we rolled it out, unfolded it, and slapped some plywood on the frame to provide a barrier between road spray and the mattress and box. It worked slick as could be. Came home with the mattress set, then carried them upstairs to the blue room and put it all together.
We still need to buy sheets and bedspread, but now our guests can sleep on an actual bed rather than the couch, as per the old house. And they'll have a real room, not the open living area.
3. Then we commenced painting in the master bathroom. Second coated the shower room and did the first coat on the tub and sink area.
Remember, we removed the wallpaper from the toilet room, which was no small feat, as apparently there was some indecision on the builder/original owner's part regarding whether to paint or wallpaper and some slap-happy gluing. We used Kilz Premium for primer on the walls and trim, caulked around the trim and shower, and then painted the walls with Valspar Kitchen & Bath in Gravity. Kitchen and bath paint is supposed to be more moisture and mold resistant, but it was only available in soft gloss ... which shows every mistake. So any mistake done in spackling, sanding, or priming shows up loud and clear. So, I think if we ever repaint, we're going to go the satin route, so it's still wipeable but not quite so shiny.
We love this color and how much it transforms the look and feel of the place. Cutting in, the color looked like it might be a bit too dark, but once we had it fully on the walls, we were pretty happy. It coordinates nicely with the bedroom's deeper gray-blue Cozy Corner. We still have a lot to do, but it's getting closer. Right now we're showering in the upstairs bath aka Lighthouse Room.
So what else do we have planned?
- Paint the trim
- Paint cabinets
- Tear up the carpet and install slate floors, possibly with radiant heat
- Wood frame the mirror (Mike's project)
- Border the tub tile with wood trim to match the mirror frame (Mike's idea - coordinates with the frame and covers the rough edge we currently have)
- Paint the cabinets
- Swap out mirror lights
- Orb spray non-faucet hardware
- Remove, super clean shower door, and re-install
- Clean/re-stain grout
The cabinets will probably wait until spring or summer, but we do want to do the shower door sooner than later, because we are rather grossed out by it. We're hoping we can pop it out, take it outside and just napalm it with cleaning and scraping. Mike is wondering if we can remove the glass and orb spray it to update the look of the chrome. I don't know how well it'll withstand continuous water exposure, but I'm willing to give it a try. With this house and DIY stuff, our attitude is "let's give this method a try, and if we ruin it, THEN we can replace it." For a $6 can of spray, we're willing to try it out before shelling over $$$ for a new shower door. They ain't cheap, folks.
4. We also put Woody and Old Blue (the boats) on their proper bunks, so now they can winter in the sun room off ice cold, concrete floor. The sails and spars went into the garage, where the previous owners have conveniently built a shelf the entire length of the right side. Can I get a heck yeah?
HECK YEAH!
As much as part of me wanted to either conquer bedroom touch ups or the first bathroom trim coat tonight, we both hit our wall and decided to make supper and relax to a movie (while I did this post, what don'tlookatmelikethat!). I'm hoping to do a little bit tomorrow and eat away at it during evenings next week.
So, what do you want to do with your house?
Benjamin Moore's Aura bathroom paint is wonderful. It's also matte, which I was initially very wary of, but which actually looks and feels great, and holds up well. I've just done my third bathroom in it. In our first house I started with Olympic, flirted with Valspar, switched to Natura for a couple of rooms and have settled happily on BM regal. Every sooften I buy a quart of Valspar for something small and dirty and I always regret it.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't tried BM yet, though we've heard good things about it. We had planned to use its Advanced line on cabinets, if/when we decide to paint them, since we've read numerous places that cabinet makers use it. The master cabinets are getting painted, but we're waiting to see how the new floors change the room, to see if we need to go light or do a deeper gray. The price of BM stuff around here is double that of Olympic, so it's hard to spend the money when we have so much to do. We did read to stay away from Menard's Dutch Boy line, mixed reviews on Behr (Home Depot), and we had a bunch of Lowes gift cards and I liked the supposed zero VOC aspect of Olympic.
DeleteYeah, we've regretted doing semi-gloss (even though all those DIY/home advice websites we looked at said to do semi) and figure years from now when we want to re-paint, we'll go eggshell (we had matte in our first house and hated how it smudged and showed every time someone brushed against the wall). We have eggshell in the bedroom and like it.
I'm curious, what don't you like about the Valspar? We're done with it, but I'd like to know your experience? We've been wondering if we are just lousy painters!