What Do You Think Of The New Master Bedroom ?

I've already blogged about my "To Do List" while I was a temporary bachelor.  But as yet, I was unable to share photos of the main project on that list: painting our master bedroom.

Karen hasn't really been after me to get the room painted, but we've been in the home for over three years now and have lived with a green wall speckled with gold-leaf like foil spots, off-set with white walls filled with holes from nails and screws.

Bottom line: It was time for a change.

So herewith are the pictures, before and after as best as I could manage.  I can post them tonight and then will wait a few days to post the blog and link to Facebook (since Karen gets home tomorrow evening and I want her to see it first).

The BEFORE Pictures

 

Bay window (plain white before)

Northeast corner (green with gold speckles before)



Northwest corner (white before)



Southwest corner (white before)
(You can see our small patch of test color choices)

The green and gold wall
(AFTER covering with two coats of white paint)

The AFTER Pictures

 

Northeast corner AFTER

Northwest corner AFTER

Southwest corner AFTER

Southeast corner AFTER
(I was unable to get the same angled
picture of the bay window after the
painting because of the sunlight)

I do not have pictures of the new room set-up, but the bed is now framed by the bay window, where it was against the green and gold speckled (flaky) wall before.  The new layout is much more open and feels like we have a LOT more space (we even have a reading chair in the room now!)  If you want to see it, come on by!  I'd be happy to show it off (especially the perfect tape lines between walls!)  :)


Song Of The Day:
I truly love my sweet wife and have missed her while she has been gone this past week. It was easier to paint with her and the kiddos gone, but I thought of her (and her anticipated reaction) while I spent many hours painting, taping, re-painting, touching up, and then rearranging the room.
To my Pretty Lady, it is true that I would do "Anything For You" (even though Gloria Estefan's song by the same name is more about lost love, the title certainly applies here!)

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What's The Best Part Of Painting ?

As I reflect on my 13+ years as a homeowner (3 different houses during that time), I have come to the realization that I have done a LOT of interior painting.  I am certainly not the only person who can make this claim, but when I think about the sheer volume of space I have painted it literally makes my arms, shoulders, and back begin to ache.

In our first house, all of the walls were once painted an off-white color, to help mask the smoke smell from the previous tenants.  Our master bedroom was painted a nice red color (two of the walls anyway) and the boys' bedroom was painted with various "Little People" animals of all colors.  I was quite proud of that room, even though some of the animals never got completely finished.  Then the red room was re-painted white so we could sell the house.

This is one small section of the
"Princess Room" for the girls

In our second home, I painted a princess room for the girls (large and small bricks/blocks that made the walls look like a castle) complete with multi colored flags and scenes off in the distance.  The boys' room was painted in Bronco Orange and Blue, with hand stamps (theirs of course) of the opposite color in two-thirds of the room.  The master bedroom and bathroom area was the most time consuming, as it included multiple walls painted to look like standard red bricks.  This effect required multiple coats of paint before and after various taping steps.  The other walls were painted green.  The main level of the home, including its HUGE walls connected to the vaulted ceiling, was painted in a dark green and light tan pattern (alternating walls).  All three bedrooms were painted an eggshell color when we decided to sell the home.  I also painted the interior of the garage, including the ceiling, a flat white color (two coats since it was the bare sheet rock I was painting).

In our current home, the office is painted in a blue and tan beach-like theme.  Spencer's bedroom is painted in a mosaic-like pattern, with three alternating colors: green, blue, and teal.  My sister-in-law painted the "toy room" a nice pink and dark brown pattern, but I did help with taping and edges so I'm counting it.  The garage has been 95% painted (a few new sections of sheet rock and part of the ceiling are untouched ... yet) again in an plain white shade.  And then I recently completed the master bedroom painting (pictures of which you will see in tomorrow's blog post).  And there is more to come as soon as we decide what to do with our main level (the open floor plan makes it hard to know where to start or stop with different colors).

This is a tape-ball from the most recent
"master bedroom" project I finished.

Through all of this, one thing remains constant.  The BEST part of painting is a joy I selfishly reserve for myself.  After all, I am the one who cleaned the walls, applied the tape, painted base layers of primer, etc. and then did all the touch up around the corners, edges, and hard to reach places.

So what's the BEST part?!

Removing the tape!

This is the big reveal and it is always gratifying!


Song Of The Day:
When I think about all this painting I realize there are "Too Many Walls" that have taken my attention over the years.  Luckily this song by Cathy Dennis puts a positive sounding spin on the presence of lots of walls.  Yeah, it's a cheesy tie in but you think of a better spot to use this great 80's song!  :)

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Wait, What Time Is It ?

At the top of my To Do list for this weekend and coming week was painting our master bedroom.  We chose two colors: a nice purple and a tan/brown color.  But as I've mentioned before, projects usually have several steps and painting is no different.

One wall in our bedroom had been painted when we bought the house.  And the previous owners had done something with gold, silver, and bronze mixed foil-like etching on that wall.  So I had to scrape and scratch and wipe off those flecks of color before I could put a base coat of white paint BEFORE I could paint the new color.  And then there are always the tasks of removing pictures and furniture, patching holes and taping edges ... so many edges.

You can see the "flecks" of foil-like stuff on that green wall.

I was very industrious yesterday and got ALL of the above done, except painting the new color on that wall.  It was a late night, but I was energized by the progress and woke up early this morning to jump right into painting the first color around the room.  And that's when I goofed.

And here is that wall all "white"
(you can also see a portion of the tan/brown)

You see, church starts at 11:00am.  I know this.  It's that way every week (this year anyway).  But somehow, in my head, I had it that I needed to be to church at 1:00pm!  So as it got closer to 11:00am I was happily painting some of the last touch up areas and thought "I'm doing great!  Way ahead of schedule for what I planned.  I'll be to church early.  Life is good."

At approximately 11:23am reality set in.  I don't know what set it off but I realized I was LATE.  Fortunately I was at a good stopping point, but it was still a frantic rush to shave, shower, clean off paint brushes, and skedaddle on over to the building in time for Sunday School.

Sigh.  I just hate it when that happens.  Oh well.  :)


Song Of The Day:
If only for the line "get me to the church on time" I had no choice but to use David Bowie's "Modern Love" as the song today.  Classic tune.  Totally fits today.

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