So Many Colors, So Little Time
Wow, week three snuck up on me! Let’s talk about paint. I knew I was going to want the new house painted and painting it while it’s empty is the way to do it. No heavy lifting, no paint dripping down on my duvet, and best of all - no kids touching the freshly painted walls while they dry.
I scheduled the painters to be there as soon as we closed and had the key in hand so that they would be done as soon as possible and we could start moving in. I had them start on the main floor so I could come in and start painting my baseboards and it could dry before my heavy furniture came in and covered them up. I knew that once they had something in front of them it was highly unlikely that I would ever paint it.
In an ideal world it’s best to paint your walls to go with your décor. I had some idea of how I was going to decorate each room so I picked paint colors based on a few things – the amount of light each room got, the direction the room faced, the colors of the décor, the colors of the adjoining rooms, and the wood windows and doors.
First let’s talk about light. I love brightly lit rooms with lots of natural daylight. This house has a lot of windows, but the beige walls in combination with the oak floors and woodwork just seemed to dampen it. Even getting decent “before” pictures was difficult because they all came out dark. Each paint color comes with a number called a LRV, which stands for “Light Reflectance Value.” This is the amount of light the color will reflect. Instead of boring you with a dissertation on this, here is a great blog post by Kylie Mawdsley on this:
Another factor I took into account was the direction my house faced. My living room and family room both face north, which takes advantage of the fantastic views behind the house, but is not so good for the light as northern exposures never get direct sunlight. In addition the light coming from a northern window will always be a little bit colder and bluer than the light from a south facing window, so I did take this into account when choosing the colors for those rooms. I wanted a very subtle blue gray, so I picked one with a touch of green to it so that when the blue light from the north hits the walls they aren’t frigid. Brrr!
I knew that my wood windows and doors would look best with colors that had some blue or green undertones to balance the red tones in the wood. For fun, I went all out with a darker green in my upstairs bathroom because I’m not planning to remodel it anytime soon. I wanted a paint color that would be enhanced by the wood vanity and mirror, along with all the wood trim, and since it’s a bathroom I don’t have to live in I could have more fun with a darker color. There are thousands of colors to choose from, and narrowing it down can be a bit overwhelming. I started with this blog post by Cyndy Aldred called:
What are the best paint colors out there for wood trim and flooring?
This gave me a jumping off point and from there I was able to expand on my own and find other colors I liked, checking the LRV on each one, of course.
Finally, the only room I painted white was the master bedroom. White is not as forgiving as one would think and can’t reflect light that isn’t there to begin with. However, in this room, I planned to have white bedding, giving the white walls something to relate to and there is a large window. I also chose not to paint the trim in this room because it has beautiful crown molding and with the white walls the wood trim seems to fit the aesthetic. But more on that later.
So what were my final choices? Here they are:
I came into the house the first day after the painters had been there, feeling a little apprehensive because it’s always scary to see how paint will look when it’s all over the walls, like the time I painted my dining room a soft wheat color and when I got it on the walls it was almost a sunflower yellow. Words cannot describe how happy I was when I walked in. The whole house was lighter and brighter. Painting the fireplace and baseboards made it even better.
Here you can see the lighting in my living room with the old paint color. The image was so dark I had to brighten it with photo shop just so we could see the room.
Here it is after it has been painted with Benjamin Moore Quiet Moments. I have also painted the fireplace and one of the baseboards so they could deliver my piano. I really didn’t want to climb behind the piano to paint, or worse yet have to move a piano to paint. It is sooo much brighter. The paint reflects so much light I didn’t even have to photoshop the photo to see the room. You can see the Ballet White in the arch and the hall behind it.
The rest of the rooms turned out just as bright and cheery, but I’m saving them for later posts. Can’t give away all my secrets at once!
Wood Trim - What Stays, What Goes?
So you’ve moved into a house full of wood trim. Let’s assume it’s not a historic craftsman or victorian home, one built more recently and you want to bring it into this century. Should you paint? Personally I feel like all that wood makes a house feel dark. Some people consider it a high crime to paint over solid wood. To be fair, it is hard to undo. When we looked at our house and we were making the decision whether to put in an offer, one of my biggest sticking points was all that stained wood. It’s a well built, good quality home - all brick, oak floors, solid wood doors, wood windows, oak trim, oak staircase, solid wood cabinets - but all that wood felt oppressive and a little overwhelming to me. The doors are beautiful, painting those would feel like a crime, and painting the windows seemed out of the question - raising and lowering them would just cause the paint to scrape off and peel. I had to decide if I could change it enough, without having to completely renovate it, to be happy with it - before we made an offer. I spent far too long just living with things and I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life and a small fortune on a house I had to tolerate.
I knew I had to paint the baseboards, but would that be enough, and how would it look? I went to the internet and searched for pictures of interiors with wood doors and white trim. I was pleasantly surprised, and even a little excited. I found beautiful interiors full of white trim framing wood doors and windows and the contrast is beautiful, the wood adding warmth to the room.
This is a beautiful example of how to mix white trim and wood stain. Saved from yaydecor.wordpress.com. Read Tiffany Brook’s post here for more ideas on what to do with oak trim.
Saved from freshouz.com. You can see more stained doors and with white trim on Carey Davalos’ post here.
I got excited. I knew that not only could I live with my wood doors and windows, but they would be a beautiful contrast to my white trim and cabinets. Did I mention that my husband insisted that since I didn’t get to build my dream house I should have the white shaker cabinets and quartz countertops I’d been dreaming of in the new house? Yes, he did - and not only will I have the perfect house someday but I have the perfect man. And that was it. I made my decision and the rest is history… and a little work on my part.
I started with the fireplace, you can see that on my projects page, or read about in last week’s blog post. This week I’ll give you a sneak peek at the staircase. I decided to paint the balusters, risers, and stringers white, but leave the handrail, treads, and newel oak. My staircase is on one end of the living room, and between that and the fireplace this room is becoming one of my favorites.
This project is a little tedious and I used a lot of painter’s tape to make sure that I didn’t get paint on the things that are supposed to stay wood. Again I used Zinsser Cover Stain oil-based primer and then painted it with Behr Oil-base Semi-gloss Enamel in Benjamin Moore’s Decorator’s White. Some day I hope to get that horrid carpet off the stairs but that will have to wait a little since there aren’t beautiful wood treads going all the way across. It won’t be an easy or cheap fix. Here’s the (mostly) finished product. The lighting is a little different and I pushed pause on the railing upstairs so I could focus on painting the trim on the main floor. I wish I’d finished it and taken a picture before we filled the living room with furniture. It makes the room just a little brighter and updates the space.
To Paint or not to Paint
It all began five years ago when we bought three acres on the edge of town. We were going to build our dream house and live there till we die. No more stupid layouts, no more tiny closets - or worse lack of closets, no more dark rooms, tiny dining rooms, ugly tile, steep staircases, basement laundry rooms, nasty carpet, 7 ft. ceilings, backpacks in my living room… and best of all, no more packing or moving. Ever. Again.
I spent 29 years collecting ideas - things I liked, things I didn’t, things that worked, and things that didn’t. I clipped pictures from magazines and as technology advanced, saved more ideas in folders on my computer. Eventually I discovered Pinterest - what a glorious invention - and I started pinning and pinning, also saving ideas on Houzz, and I read blogs. I designed it myself, inside and out, refining it over the years. I learned about construction, how to draft, and I drew up the plans. I put it in my TapGlance app and arranged the furniture and hung curtains so I could walk through it in 3D and admire it. I lived in it virtually for years, tweaking it here and there. I finally had the plans for the perfect house. We planted trees, we had a contractor, we had sewer, we were getting ready to put in a driveway.
But things don’t always work out exactly like we plan, do they? Instead of getting to build my dream house, we bought a house. I won’t bore everyone with the details. It’s a beautiful house, with a great layout, and I only had to sacrifice a few things - my mudroom separate from the laundry room, a main floor guest room, an office for my husband in the house, 9’ ceilings, and my walk-in pantry. Instead my mudroom is in the laundry room, my guest room is upstairs, we built Karry’s office in the heated detached garage, and I’ll just turn an extra half-bath in the laundry room into an extra pantry. In exchange I got the open layout, main floor laundry room, walk-in closets, master bathroom, and fenced in yard I’ve never had. And bonus - an awesome yard with mature trees and all the landscaping already done for me.
What’s the catch, you say? Wood. And shiny brass. Everywhere. This house was built in 1992 and is firmly stuck in the 90’s. Wood-stained trim, wood-stained doors and windows, oak fireplace mantels, oak banisters and balusters, oak floors, and oak kitchen cabinets, 90’s style. My dreams of light, open spaces with 9’ foot ceilings, white windows, white trim and doors, white french doors, white fireplace surrounds, a white staircase, and light wood floors, dashed. I’m now immersed in wood and 8’ popcorn ceilings.
Before we moved in the first thing I did was paint. I guess I should say I hired someone to paint. After painting our last house so we could sell it, I vowed never to pick up another paintbrush - or roller. I got rid of the beige walls and brightened up the interior - I’ll save paint colors for another post. I then planned out what to paint white and what to leave wood. Then I broke my vow never to pick up another paintbrush and painted the fireplace. I could feel my father-in-law turning over in his grave with every brush stroke. I could also feel the judgment coming from my husband and other family members when I announced that I was going to paint over a solid oak fireplace mantel. I called a friend who had done the same thing for some emotional support and went for it.
Said friend also mentioned that she wished she had used oil-based paint instead of latex because she was painting over wood stain and she had trouble with scuffing and peeling. I took her advice and started with Zinsser Cover Stain oil-based primer. This gave me a base coat for the paint to stick to without having to sand it first. Then I painted it with Behr Oil-base Semi-gloss Enamel in Benjamin Moore’s Decorator’s White. Home Depot carries it. I had to buy it in quart size because of restrictions in the state where I live. Behr is always my go-to paint just because it has great coverage and I don’t have to paint a second coat. It costs more per gallon, but I spend less in the end. I sometimes have to do a few touch ups, but never a full second coat, even when covering red paint with a light color. The oil-based paint takes about a week to cure, but it hardens into a nice hard finish that is easy to clean.
Before
After
The white mantel against the brick of the fireplace really pops, and completely changes the room. It’s like someone turned on the lights. My husband and mom both admitted it was the right thing to do. Unfortunately I can’t ask my father-in-law for his opinion.