I don't love the 80s, but I love our library!

We’re jumping back into house projects! Part of it is new year ambitions, and the other is that we just couldn’t stand another minute of the utter brown-ness of our library.

Where's my scrunchy?

Can you blame us? So, over the three-day weekend, we cracked open an ol’ can of Kilz and primed the panels. We did two good rounds on the grooves and trim, then did two rounds of rolling. A few stubborn areas got a third coat. Then we grabbed a fresh bucket of our Valspar base in Ultra White satin (our trim choice) and painted the panels. Easy enough, if stretched over several post-7 p.m. sessions once the toddler is in bed. So, slower going than we’re used to.

It's like stepping into a shower after mud wrestling. Or mucking stalls.

Even as the first coat of primer went on, we regretted waiting so long. This should’ve been tackled in our first year here. Yeah, 2014.

We decided not to tackle the built-in bookcase just yet. That would drastically slow down the project and Mike isn’t sure he’s ready to give it up to the Paint Side of the Force. We are considering wallpapering the back of it in a bright, maybe geometric print and will likely eventually paint it. On the first floor we painted all the trim, and honestly, it feels kind of generic. Since the main floor has so much more trim, not just baseboards and thresholds, we're aiming for a more strategic approach. (Or we didn't want to burnout on our first post-baby project since the fireplace).

Maybe instead of mud wrestling, it's like New Year's Day 1990? Or maybe 1994, I'm not sure when scrunchies and stirrup pants started to drift away.

The trickier part came from choosing a wall color. Ideally, we’d repeat a color already in the house. But our carpet takes on a weird green tint in certain light, so we knew that might throw off our previous choices. It’s a cozy room, so a very light, airy color didn’t feel right. Yet lighting is admittedly poor in this room, so we were concerned about going too dark. (Have I bored you yet?)

Since we had a plethora of samples and leftover paint from previous projects, I decided to select “best bets” first and throw them on the wall. If nothing else, it’d give us a direction to head toward or away from. I chose Valspar’s Polished Silver (guest room), Sherwin William’s Mindful Gray (daughter’s room), Olympic’s Steel City (foyer closet), Valspar’s Stone Mason Gray (sample from in-law project), and Valspar’s Gravity (master bathroom).

• Mindful Gray was an instant no; its brown undertones just didn’t downplay our odd carpet or improve the 80s walnut stain of the non-painted wood.
• Gravity just seemed too light and too violet-toned for the space.
• We had nearly a full gallon of Steel City leftover from the hallway doors (Lowe’s gave us the wrong size at the pint price), so that had a strong appeal. It was also a moderately bold choice that could either be fun and cheery in the room or really make you notice the carpet. I thought it was worth the risk, but Mike was more cautious. It also carried the risk of making our white-painted panels look even more cottage than they already do.

Cellphones are the worst for capturing paint swatches

So, it came down to Stone Mason Gray vs. Polished Silver. Mason is a beautiful, deep gray that our cameras just cannot capture well. It would look gorgeous against the paneling and we couldn’t see any issue with the carpet. But would it be too dark? Polished Silver was a safe option, we had an entire room of it upstairs. But was it too safe?

To make the decision, we painted bigger swatches on each wall and viewed them throughout the day and night. Just when we were both about to say Mason, we noticed that it honestly didn’t do any favors for the bookcase or remaining trim and doors. Polished Silver, however, did well in all lighting, definitely wasn’t too dark, and didn’t turn the stain muddy. We had a winner.

Polished Silver vs. Stone Mason. That little bit in between is Mindful Gray, which looks good right there. 

So, we bought the paint and I got to cutting in. So. Much. Cutting. Because of the paneling, all the windows, multiple entrances, and the bookcase, this room has a lot of edging. And because I decided not to tape off, I couldn’t be fast and a little careless like with the paneling. I did two coats of cutting before we rolled. Rolling took probably 15 minutes per coat.

Boring paint talk alert! If you're not already bored! So, we used to use Valspar Ultra (the line, not the base color name) for its supposed zero VOC (not true, depends on the colorants) and low odor. Overall, it’s fine, we know it’s not a premium paint. But that's been discontinued and the next closest option is Valspar Signature, which is nearly $10 more expensive. It’s a runnier paint, too, so we were a little skeptical. But here’s the weird thing. It’s almost a one coat paint. Except for a couple of areas where the roller was running low, it covered beautifully. Definitely better than our old Olympic One or Valspar Ultra. Probably even better than the Sherwin Williams we used in the nursery, which was an admittedly disappointing paint for the price. We almost considered just spot rolling the less-covered areas but ultimately decided to do it right and roll a full second coat.

It definitely had an odor to it, but I stopped noticing pretty quickly and never got a headache, which would sometimes happen with the Ultra and definitely with Sherwin.

As I painted, Mike kept popping in with “I loooove it!” like a really annoying person on HGTV. Hey, we’ve all been there. I’m pretty sure I said it, too. While debating paint colors, we were concerned about the room losing its cozy feel we love so much. Instead, it just felt clean and cozy! And less 80s! Yes!

Yes, the stuff on the floor is a toddler trail

We still need to replace the ugly track lighting with something funky or libraresque, and behind the red cabinet, we need to remove the ugly, non-working intercom, patch the drywall and paint, and then decide what to do with the bookcase. Then we'll likely rearrange again. But overall, it just feels so much better, and I don’t think the pictures can convey this properly.

Since the room was already in a shambles, I took time last Sunday to declutter the cabinets and we both weeded two boxes of DVDs and three boxes of books. Of course, we moved more of Anna’s books and toys into the newly found storage space. But empty space remains, so we're gonna call that a win.

Oh yes, and since we removed the ugly old blinds, we need to replace them. The sun can be brutal when it’s edging toward sunset. We went to Menard's last Saturday to grab some, but we ran out of time while looking for a worker who could cut them down to the appropriate size.

This project definitely falls into the “Should’ve Done This Sooner” category.