living room "makeover"

While I've been off from school and work I had BIG plans for projects around the house.

• wood floors in the kitchen
• refinish the kitchen cabinets
• maybe paint the kitchen since I've always felt the color to be a little too 'juvenile'
• new white subway tile backsplash to finish off things being neutral in the gray perspective vs tan
• MAYBE check into new countertops but $$$$$$$$$$$
• new vanity for our bathroom
• paint our bathroom

What I ended up doing? Painting the living room and Brendon surprised me by painting our spare bathroom (something I also decided I wanted to do while I was off since all my other to-do's are staying to-do's for awhile).

BEFORE

This isn't even the full before. When we first moved in we put the TV on the back wall. I had never been a fan of this location since it drew so much attention to our fireplace being off center. I hate to call it wacky because I truly love our house.. but wacky af. I'm assuming it had to do with a building code blahdy blahdy blah. So the first thing we did was rotate our sectional and move the TV to it's new 'home'.

LEIA'S PAINTING NECESSITIES

These items will make your life much easier when it comes to painting a room, I guarantee it! In most cases you'll only need one coat of paint and you won't need to tape off ceiling edges or the trim.

1. Shur-Line paint edger

2. Shur-Line edger refill pack (depending on how many colors you're doing)

3. 3M ScotchBlue delicate surface tape (you don't need the bulk size but it's all Home Depot's website had - roughly $7-8 for a single roll)

4. Behr Premium Plus - All of Behr's paint is paint and primer in one now and they have different 'intensities'. Premium Plus works well for most light-medium tones but someone in the paint department will be able to advise you. I ALWAYS use satin finish. It is easily cleaned if you have a freak accident and it doesn't give off a bright glare. Eggshell finish still has the tendency to do this.

5. "Best" 3/8 in nap roller cover

6. 3 in mini roller, 3/8 in nap roller cover (make sure the nap is the same between the mini and regular roller)

7. Mini roller cover refill pack

Wahoo! Picking out paint colors! The most exciting yet daunting home improvement task. I picked Chicago Fog (hoping it'd be the perfect light taupe, but resulting in gray. Not mad about it) and Cloudy Sky (a lighter color off the same watch as our high school colored kitchen since I wanted to coordinate and come to terms that our kitchen would not be getting special treatment during my time off).

First you're going to want to prep your walls. Make sure holes are filled in properly and sanded (and then wiped down) and make sure intricate details are taped off (window ledges).

Once you start painting, you'll first want to pick a starting place and paintbrush the corner and begin cutting in with your paint edger. I recommend to run your edger along the bottom/top (depending ceiling/trim) edge of the paint to lessen the chance of there being a visible edge. In addition to this I recommend doing small sections and alternate between edging and rolling. This ensures you're always working with a wet edge.

If you've never used an edger before it takes a minute to get the feel for it. It's important not to load it down with paint; it will leak all around the edges and most likely get paint where you were hoping not to.

While I've always used 3/8 in nap because of the amount of paint that can be applied with one roll depending on the smoothness of your walls you'll want to use something smaller, like 1/4 in nap. This is something someone in the paint department could advise you on. Regardless of which size roller you're using one of the most important things is to never 'stretch' your paint. Don't press harder and harder in an attempt to get every last drop out of your roller before refilling. 

AFTER: PHASE 1

Ooooh yes, I'm liking where this is going!

AFTER: PHASE 2

There are still homey things that need to be done with this space. I have a multitude of photos that will be creating a gallery wall above the fireplace and we have our eye on a gorgeous new entertainment center. The sectional doesn't work in this space but we haven't narrowed down it's replacement yet.

Also, if you know me you know that this is one of the most simple paint jobs I've done in this house and one that any one of you could pull off with ease. If you need help, I'm here for ya!

Good, Better, Behr.

Leia