Before After
It looks terrific! I am very excited. First of all, many thanks to my amazing mother-in-law who gave up her entire day to come help me paint. She did most of the cutting-in while I used the roller. We make a great team, and it was fun! She's willing to come out and help the next time I paint a room so apparently I did not scare her away. I am also very grateful to my husband, who not only paid for this project (Christmas gift) but took time away from his bar prep to look after our puppy and his mom's dog while we painted. So thanks a million, you two!
Moving on to other things...the Benjamin Moore Regal Select paint is excellent, and definitely worth the extra $15/gallon I spent on it as compared to ben, their bargain line. Yep, it ain't cheap, but it was worth the extra bucks. I am glad I bought it instead of spending the extra money on the Natura line. Regal Select all the way! It provided great coverage in two coats, went on smoothly and easily, and there was absolutely no spatter. Wait, let me say that again: the GIANT novice over here painted an entire bedroom and there was no spatter. Drying time was a couple of hours, which worked out great: we put on the first coat, went out for lunch, and by the time we got back it was time to put on the second coat. Plus, it's low VOC (yay), and the odor was very mild and did not bother us at all. It was only noticeable once you left the room and then came back again. Of the two gallons I purchased I still have about 3/4 of a gallon left to use for something smaller....guest bathroom, maybe? I am officially sold on this paint. That is going to make painting the rest of this house more expensive...but that's why it's getting done in stages.
The color is lovely as well. I agonized over colors, and was originally going to go with the darker Prescott Green, but am glad I opted for the lighter Hollingsworth Green instead. It's so pretty! In natural light it's a soft grey-green; in artificial light it is brighter and a little minty, but not obnoxiously so, which is what I was worried about. It looks really nice with the hardwood floor, as well, which I hadn't really thought about ahead of time but was a lovely surprise once I took up the drop cloth. Nick really likes it too, and not just the polite "appease the wifey" likes it. I can tell the difference...usually.
But what about the Frog Tape? The what tape, you ask? It's a painter's tape that claims to be better than the standard blue painter's tape sold in stores. I saw it for the first time at my local Benjamin Moore store, next to their blue tape. They (the BM folks) had a little display set up where they had placed three types of tape on a backing (Frog Tape and two different kinds of standard painters tape), painted over them and then pulled the paint off. Of the three, only the Frog Tape had absolutely no bleed-through of the paint. It piqued my interest but I wasn't about to spend the extra money without being reasonably certain it was worth it. I did some online research, and by and large folks say it really works. So I bought a roll and used it to mark off the crown molding, baseboards, windows and doors (closet and main). I haven't painted a room since I was about 16, so I figured I needed all the help I could get. Followed the directions in laying the tape on in short strips (so as not to stretch it), carefully overlapped the strips, and burnished all the edges. As soon as the second coat was done, we gently pulled it off....and...?
Perfect edges. Every. Single. Last. One. No bleeding through of paint. Anywhere in the entire room. I didn't think that was possible. This stuff is the real deal! And it's Danielle-proof, which is better than idiot-proof, since I am a smart girl so can find all sorts of creative ways to mess these sorts of things up. I can't even draw a straight line, much less paint one. But if you're willing to spend the time to carefully lay it down, it works perfectly. Totally worth a couple of extra bucks. My mother-in-law was impressed too, and felt like it made the painting much easier and stress-free. Plus, it's bright green with a giant frog on the package, which was almost enough to make my buy it anyway. True story.
Not the best picture, but does demonstrate
the nice clean lines we got with the Frog Tape
the nice clean lines we got with the Frog Tape
So....yep! Room is painted. Next up is repainting the trim, because as mentioned in my last post, the previous owners painted the very top of the baseboard and the very bottom of the crown molding pink. You can now only see it if you look closely, but I know it's there and it's bothering me. Plus the baseboard has some yellowing on it. We think they left some white semigloss behind. It'll have to wait until this paint cures anyway, though, so I think that's three weeks? Then comes the furniture! My in-laws have generously donated a beautiful bed frame that just needs some TLC (and a mattress), as well as a side table and a chest of drawers I will be repainting in the coming months. By the time the weather is nice enough around here for anyone to want to visit, we should have an actual room in which they can stay!
No comments:
Post a Comment