Showing posts with label painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label painting. Show all posts

Monday, March 2, 2015

How To Prime & Paint Solid Wood Doors {and a FREE Printable!!}



Don't forget to look for the free HOW TO Printable at the end!

When we made our big to do list, we talked about adding doors to our Master Bedroom. (Yes, we bought a house without doors to our bedroom). I laugh because it has been 3 months and Ty and I have gotten use to having entire conversations from the living room to our bedroom with no problem. We are excited to have some privacy when guests come, and to stop tip toeing around in the morning when one of us gets up before the other. Because of the archway, these doors needed to be custom so we contacted a contractor in our area and had him come out to measure and create a template for the doors. 6 weeks later they arrived at our home to be installed. Our next step is to paint the doors. We did a similar door painting project on an exterior door in our last house, but this one is much easier since we have a fresh slab of wood rather than a door caked in years of paint. Here is how we painted our solid wood doors (and how you can do it too!).

How To Paint Solid Wood Doors

1// Remove door from frame. Remove all door hardware including hinges. This will give you a clear surface to paint and keep your hardware paint-free!

2// Lay your doors flat! This is key in avoiding drip marks during the painting process and while the doors dry.


3// Gather your supplies. We found that a foam roller brush gives the smoothest finish on doors and cabinets.You will also need a primer made for bare wood if your doors did not come primed. We chose Valspar bare wood. You will also need a foam sander block. This is essential for sanding between coats of primer. Depending on the finish of your doors you will need fine or a moderate grit sanding block. We bought both just in case. These are great for other sanding projects around the house too. Lastly, you will need a tack cloth to clean off the sanding debris, and your choice of paint for the door. 


4// Time to prime. Our doors were sanded well and smooth from the beginning so we did not sand prior to our first coat of primer. If your doors are uneven or have layers of paint, you will want to thoroughly sand them prior to priming. Using our foam roller we applied one coat of primer to each door and allowed it to dry for 2 hours  per the directions on the primer can.


5// Now that the primer is dried, its time to sand. We lightly sanded each door until the surface was smooth. Using a tack cloth, we then wiped the door of all sanding debris. This part is essential to keeping debris out of your paint and off of your roller.

6// (Optional) Depending on how well your primer went on and how porous your wood surface is, you may or may not want to coat with a second layer of primer. If so, repeat steps #4 & #5. We opted to move forward with painting at this point rather than a second coat of primer.

7// With the surface clean and dry, its time to paint. We really like Sherwin Williams ProClassic paint for trim and doors in our last house, so we went with it again. We also chose a semi-gloss finish in a custom white for the door. Using our foam rollers again, we rolled one coat of paint on to the door surface and allowed it to dry for 45 minutes.

8// Repeat step #7 until you have achieved an even coat throughout. We did three coats of paint total.

9// Once paint is completely dry, flip the doors and repeat steps 4-8.

10// Rehang newly painted doors. Replace hardware and hinges. Enjoy your newly painted wood doors!  (Before & After of our newly finished doors coming soon!)

Enjoy this FREE Printable:









Monday, December 22, 2014

Tricks to Picking the Right Paint

Last time we talked paint, it was about the paint colors in our last house. In this house, the painting was a little more urgent as the current wall colors are a bit unsettling. One of my main goals in this house is to create flow by using paint colors that all mix and mesh well together. The other challenge is picking the perfect white! Believe it or not, not all whites are created equal. Every white has some sort of color undertone, and each one looks different depending on lighting (especially when candy apple green threatens every wall!) So in honor of picking paint for our new house, I want to give you my best tips on picking the right paint.



1. Buy paint samples. Don't rely on computer images or the tiny square paint chips you can get for free at the paint store. Spend the $5-$7 it costs to purchase the samples and save yourself some angst! (Another hint: I usually wait for a 30% or 40% off sale at Sherwin and then buy all of my samples at once.) 

2. Paint LARGE splotches on the walls in several areas of the room with your paint samples and stare at them for days. Every color will change throughout the day and will look different in different areas of the room. Make sure you like the paint color in every setting.

3. Create flow with your paint colors by picking paints that mesh well together. There are several ways to do this. One way is to stay within your paint card. Another is to stay within the cool color family or the warm color family. 



4. Be aware of color undertones. As I mentioned before, all whites have some sort of color undertone but so do colored paints. For example, Anonymous by Sherwin Williams has a green undertone in the right light, although it appears to be a very greige (brown -grey) color at first glance. If you have a hard time seeing undertones, look at the darkest color on the paint strip. When in doubt, ask a friend. Grays are the worst, in my opinion, for changing colors. Remember, my struggle to pick a gray in our last house. Most of them looked pink or purple when I got them on the wall, except for one: Mindful Grey. 

5. Don't be afraid to be bold. I often find myself picking a color I like and then being scared to go "that dark" or "that light." What ends up happening is a I pick a shade darker or lighter and its the wrong color - totally washing out the space. Be bold. Pick the color you like and go with it.




Still don't know where to start? Look at what you have pinned on Pinterest and write down what you like about each room. Is it the wall color or the sofa? Once you have done this with ten to fifteen rooms, you will most likely see a color trend and you can start picking paint from there. Just remember, don't rely on computer generated images for your paint colors - It will look different in your home!

Happy Painting!




Sunday, November 2, 2014

What are our Paint Colors?


To me, one of the hardest parts about moving is paint. Picking new paint, trying to match the previous owner's paint, purchasing paint, painting paint...you get the picture. One of the most helpful tricks I discovered is creating a paint schedule. This is a room by room guide to which paint is used where. Not only is this helpful to you as the home owner, but it is an added bonus for the buyer when you go to sell. No more trying to match paints or figure out what sheen you used where. It is all perfectly spelled out for you on your paint schedule.



All that to say, here is a quick break down of our paint colors for ya. 



Door: Benjamin Moore's Stratton Blue in Sherwin Williams Super Paint Satin Finish. Shutters: Sherwin Williams' Midnight Oil in Super Paint Satin Finish. If I had to do it again, I would use their highest gloss finish for both the shutters and the doors. It hides imperfections and looks fabulous from the road. Brick: Sherwin Williams Exterior Acrylic Latex Satin Finish in Dover White. Exterior Trim: Sherwin Williams Exterior Acrylic Latex Gloss Finish in Dover White.


 Entryway walls: Sherwin William's Cashmere paint in Mindful Grey, Low Lustre finish. Entryway Trim & Interior part of Front Door: Behr Premium Plus Interior/Exterior paint in Eggshell Cream, High Gloss Finish.


Living Room Walls: Sherwin William's Cashmere paint in Mindful Grey, Low Lustre finish. Living Room Trim: Behr Premium Plus Interior/Exterior paint in Eggshell Cream, High Gloss Finish. 



Dining Room Walls: Sherwin William's Cashmere paint in Mindful Grey, Low Lustre finish. Dining Room Trim: Behr Premium Plus Interior/Exterior paint in Eggshell Cream, High Gloss Finish.


Kitchen Walls: Sherwin William's Cashmere paint in Mindful Grey, Low Lustre finish Kitchen Trim: Sherwin Williams ProClassic SemiGloss Interior Oil Base Paint in "Match Cabinets" (we literally took one of our cabinet doors to Sherwin Williams and had them match the color so that the trim and the cabinets were exactly the same). This is my favorite trim paint thus far because it is the perfect white. Kitchen Ceiling: Behr Pure White in Matte Finish



Den: Sherwin William's Cashmere paint in Mindful Grey, Low Lustre finish Den Trim: Sherwin Williams ProClassic SemiGloss Interior Oil Base Paint in "Match Cabinets" 




Office/Bedroom #3 walls: Sherwin William's Cashmere paint in Mindful Grey, Low Lustre finish 


White Bathroom walls: Sherwin William's Cashmere paint in Mindful Grey, Low Lustre finish White Bathroom Trim: Sherwin Williams ProClassic SemiGloss Interior Oil Base Paint in "Match Cabinets" 


 Blue Bathroom Walls: Porter Paints Garlic Clove in Eggshell Finish Blue Bathroom Trim: Behr Premium Plus Interior/Exterior paint in Eggshell Cream, High Gloss Finish.


Bedroom #1 Walls: Benjamin Moore's Sea Salt in Sherwin Williams Cashmere in Low Lustre Paint


Bedroom #2 Walls: Benjamin Moore's Stratton Blue in Sherwin Williams Super Paint Exterior Paint in a Satin Finish. (I would not recommend using exterior pain on your interior walls, but I painted on a whim and was too lazy to go get more paint!)



Check out our Sloan Road Condo Tour here. Check out our home by the creek tour here. 

Monday, September 23, 2013

Prepping the Brick Exterior for Paint

We are preparing to take on our biggest project yet: 
Painting the Entire Exterior of the House!


Although you can't tell from the picture, the exterior brick paint is in desperate need of a refresh. 
We chose to brighten up the house with Sherwin Williams Dover White. It was SO intimidating picking out a color for the ENTIRE exterior. When we went to get the couch for our living room, I LOVED the color of the seller's home and I asked her what it was: DOVER WHITE. I was sold!

Lucky for us, the house is already painted so we get to skip the major priming.
 The house does need a thorough cleaning prior to painting, so we used a bottle of Simple Green disinfectant and sprayed it on with our garden hose.


We let the brick drive for 24 hours, and the painting began.























Right now, we are two coats down and painting the grout lines with a brush. That's a lot of cracks to fill!
We will then do a quick rolling of the house for the third and final coat. And then its onto the trim!


Here is what we have learned about painting brick...
 It is HARD WORK!
and 
 If you have brick with deeper grout lines, invest in a sprayer and spray the paint on.
It is messier but way more effective. If we painted our brick again, we would use a sprayer.

I can't wait to see the finished product!



Monday, September 2, 2013

Painting Reveal


The time has finally come to reveal Mindful Gray in all its glory. 
After painfully agonizing over which color to choose, we picked one and ran with it. The back room, entryway, hallway, living, dining, and master all got doused with this terrific and perfectly grey, Gray. The more we painted, the more we fell in love with the color. The best part about it: the color looks different in every room, giving each room its own feel while simultaneously giving the house a cohesive look.

We got into a rhythm pretty quickly, one of use would cut in on the bottom trim while the other did the ceiling trim. Whoever finished their area first, or just got tired of trim-work would start rolling the walls. 


or not...


By the time we got to the last room we needed some help. So my sweet friend Elizabeth helped us finish the task!


Time for the big reveal.....drumroll please......

LIVING ROOM: Before

Living Room: After

DINING ROOM: Before

DINING ROOM: After

BACK ROOM: Before

BACK ROOM: After

Master Bedroom: Before

Master Bedroom: After

Amazing what a little paint can do!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Painting Preview


Feeling gray? Unable to make a color choice? Questioning your ability to make any decisions at all? This is how I felt by the time we selected paint colors for the interior of the house. I had no idea how difficult it would be to pick colors for the interior rooms. Picking a color for a solitary room like a bedroom is one thing, but picking a color scheme for the entire house was quite a challenge. I wanted to stick with the gray color palate: Collonade Gray, Mindful Gray, Morning Mist, & Accessible Beige all made the final cut. Deciding among the four was the most difficult. We ended up coming back to one of our first selections: MINDFUL GRAY by Sherwin Williams. We decided to paint the living room, entryway, hall, and dining room this cool and relaxing color. By the time we finished the living room, we were loving it! I feel like I am in whole new home wrapped in this luxurious gray! We will have more pictures of the finished product up soon! So excited to share all the painting we have been doing. It is amazing to see how a can of paint can completely change the look of a home.





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