A New Door

As my kids have gotten a bit older and I am having an easier time sneaking in some home projects, slowly but surely we have begun the process of making this house ours. One of the projects that we have been working on is replacing all the interior doors. Originally, we thought we might just hire this one out, but my dad is pretty handy and my husband wants to learn so we figured we would give it a go ourselves (with a lot of help from my dad). A few months ago, they hung two doors while my dad was visiting and I finally have gotten around to painting one of them. The second one is in the basement all ready to be painted and I will hopefully get to it in the next week or two. We did not do pre-hung doors and the boys did all the cutouts for the hardware.

Luckily, all the upstairs trim is already a nice bright white, and the previous homeowners left a partial can for us that was well-labeled and I was able to determine that the trim is just a basic Semi-gloss in Sherwin-Williams Extra White (SW 7006). How easy is that? It is basically just their untinted standard white, but it's exactly what I wanted.

Unfortunately, most of our downstairs trim is not this same bright white and eventually I will likely repaint all of it.

Here is the before and after of the nursery door.

Before:

After:

The wall on which the alphabet print hangs also used to be Ravens purple (to the dismay of my Bengals-loving husband) and I recently painted the wall (two coats of primer to cover all that purple and 2 coats of paint) to match the rest of the room. The prior owners had painted all the electrical outlet covers (which I replaced), but it did make it easy to get a color match!.

I had never painted a door before and did a lot of pinterest research prior to doing it. This was my favorite resource on how to paint a six panel door. I basically used this technique except that I used a brush only for my 2 coats of paint instead a roller and then drag method. You can't just arbitrarily paint it, you really should do it in a systematic order. After filling in any imperfections with wood putty and sanding the entire door, I did 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint (only 1 coat under the hinges). Each coat was progressively easier as I got used to how best to paint a door. I used a small 4 inch roller for the flat sections for the primer coat only and then used a brush for the 2 coats of actual paint. I got to a point where I could do a coat on one side in about 45 minutes. After trying a few different size brushes I decided that I like a 2 inch Purdy XL brush best for this task.

I still have to go back and putty and paint some small areas on the trim. Because we couldn't be without a nursery door while I painted it, we put the old door back up with the old hardware as the prior owners painted over the hinges and one of them couldn't be removed from the old door. As a consequence I couldnt fix the trim until all the new hardware and door were installed.

All the hardware is now oil-rubbed bronze. It is amazing how much a simple door and some new hardware can upgrade a space.

This project has made me excited about the simple power of a new coat of paint!

 

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Master Bedroom Progress

When we moved into a new house about a year ago, I was excited to decorate and make the house our own, but I was especially excited to decorate our Master bedroom. I wish I had before pictures, but trust me, the after is much better! (Think about the before as a very country style with quilted valances to match the bed quilt, ancient mini-blinds).
The nice thing about our new home is that although some of the finishes and decorating don't suit my taste, nothing had to be done right away. The home was well taken care of, and we are only the third owners of this home. The kitchen had been redone, and bathrooms are all in good shape. With 8 month-old twins when we moved in, the last thing I wanted to be doing was a huge renovation to start out. I wanted to move in, unpack, get settled, get to know my new home and then start making some changes.

Despite being in my 30s, I have never had what I would call a "grown-up Master bedroom". In our last home, it just didn't seem wise to purchase a furniture set when we were likely to move in the near future and I wasn't sure what the size of the room in our new house would be. So we suffered through hand-me-down and mismatched furniture.
Once we moved, my first furniture purchase was for our bedroom. The furniture and round mirror are all from Ethan Allen's New Country Collection.
I actually liked the color that the previous owners had put on the walls (a very light tan), but there a few spots that need touching up. Unfortunately, although the old owners left us some cans of leftover paint, this room was not one of the rooms that they had extra paint for.

And though most of the electrical outlet socket covers in the house are painted to match the walls (which I am slowly changing over to non-painted ones), this room is not one of them. As much as I HATE those painted electrical outlet covers, when I need a paint match they are the perfect thing to bring to Sherwin Williams to have them match. Small, portable; enduring any fading that the walls have, and easy to obtain without cutting out a piece of the wall.
I have found a color that may be the correct one, but I have to test it and see and then I will go from there. I may have to cut out a small piece of wallboard to make the match and then just repair and paint over.

New bedding was in order (from Restoration Hardware) as our had worn through. Some new artwork that I created at Art.com (hint....keep your eye on the website, their coupons rotate almost daily and if you are patient you can get 40% off). What is left is new table lamps, drapes and rods. I took down the valance holders that the old owners had up, as I prefer to have floor length drapes, and roman shades have already replaced the ancient mini-blinds that were there that were not really helping me when I have to sleep during the day when I work night shifts. The Roman shades are light blocking and from Country Curtains.

I have floor length drapes picked out in a blue-gray color called "Spa" and some hardware to install them that I still need to order. I have sconces for the walls (complete with remote control operated flameless candles that I am slightly obsessed with). With new table lamps, a dressing mirror and some accessories and this room will be pretty complete. I will at some point replace closet and interior doors, but that is a project for the future. Similarly, there is hardwood underneath the carpeting in this room, and I may at some point take up the carpet, refinish the floors and put down an area rug instead.
I can't wait to decorate some of the other rooms in this house. Wallpaper stripping, here I come.
I will be sure to post some of the finished product photos.

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