I have ADD, a new home, paint samples, and a color fan. Oh, the fun I shall have...
When moving into a new home, for most people, either painting or wallpapering is part of the equation. That's even when someone isn't buying a "fixer-upper" or anything with the words "sweat equity" in the MLS description.
I knew that I wanted to repaint all the walls. I also knew that, due to budgetary constraints, I'd only be able to repaint the living room and library right away. My mom, a frustrated designer if ever there was one, sent me all kinds of paint samples, color chips, and brochures from various paint companies. She even came up to help me paint the downstairs rooms, and left behind two fullsize color fans. I've now got the resources to look at all kinds of colors, combinations thereof, even make larger versions of said samples to stick up on my walls for a few days and see if I really like the colors.
My bedroom has a large watercolor painting. It's a desert scene, and was painted by one of my former landlords (an artist in central California). It's beautiful - very rich colors in the stormy sky. This particular painting was painted for a gallery showing, but the artist decided that it wasn't one of her best. Possibly because you can see some water drippage in the sky. I liked this one best, though, and so I bought it for myself. I want to try and pick colors that will work with this painting, but not necessarily colors that are *in* this painting. I do like the stormy blues and the midweight peach colors of some of the sandstone layers - maybe one of those? I don't know. All I know is, the walls need to be patch plastered (and probably primed) and then painted. I am willing to bet that the walls haven't been painted since the contractor added the texturing to the walls. Mom told me about this stuff called Gardz that, apparently, will bond that texturing to the drywall so that it won't scrape or flake off quite so easily. Looks like I'll need to get a few gallons of that (bedroom, master bath, office, kitchen, downstairs bath.)
The office needs to be painted, but it can wait. I may just paint it white with a bright stripe of color up near the top, though. The walls in here haven't seen nearly as much wear and tear as the ones in the bedroom. There are a few gouges and furrows - possibly caused by furniture. Nothing a little patch plaster won't set to rights.
The master bath needs to be repainted. The previous owner painted it the same as they painted the living room - something called "Toasted almond" that was a kind of slightly burnt green-yellow-beige. (It was not a delightsome color. I've seen worse...but it wasn't all that spectacular.) I picked up a gallon of white, eggshell finish, with mildecide in the paint. That ingredient is added specifically to certain paints intended for use in kitchens and bathrooms, to help retard growth of molds in, on, or just under the paint. The bathroom needs repainted - and perhaps it needs some sealant on the walls, as well. I'm willing to bet that the walls weren't treated by the builder for heavy moisture. (Probably used plain old drywall, too - maybe the drywall needs to be ripped out and redone? Gah. I don't even want to think about that bit right now.) I've got a week "off" between Dec 29 and Jan 2, so I'll paint the bathroom that week. It will mean no showering, to allow the paint maximum time to cure...but, hey, it's a week off. I won't be going anywhere, I've got nobody to impress. And worse comes to worse, I can wash my hair bent over the kitchen sink and take sponge baths.
The kitchen also needs to be repainted (or possibly just "painted".) I may need assistance for that, especially the bit where I'd need to move the washer/dryer and the refrigerator and the range. Right now I'm thinking plain white, eggshell finish, with mildecide. Sure it's plain...but I can add a stripe of color if I want to. And, like I said, those walls probably haven't been painted since the builder put the texturing on the drywall. I'd like to repaint the living room and entryway at some point - or maybe just add a superlight grey glaze to the current blue paint job. It's a blue that changes color just slightly, from light blue to slight mint green to something in between...but it's just a wee bit on the bright side. I think I'd like to tone it down just a little, little bit.
Meanwhile, does anyone know of a way to seal a smell behind a layer of paint? The library, downstairs, was apparently the "smoking room" for the previous owner. The man was a chain smoker. They repainted, had the now-removed aluminum blinds cleaned, and put down brand new carpet when they decided to sell. It wasn't noticeable on the walkthroughs; but now that I've kept that room shut for a while, I can smell the smoke whenever I walk in there to get a book. I've left blocks of cinnamon-permeated soap on the shelves with my towels and bedding. I don't know if it's possible to get rid of that smell without replacing all the drywall; but I'm considering that, if that's all it would take. (I have a family member who's hung drywall several times before, and will come and help if I feed them. I can be cavalier about this...to a degree.) I don't want to just mask the smell with air fresheners, though - the smoke smell would still end up permeating my books. I'm not so sensitive, and the smell's not so strong, that it makes me ill; and I have sat in there for several hours reading a book (before the really cold snap set in.) But if I can get rid of that smell...I'd like to do so.
I went out grocery shopping today. We're supposed to have snow tonight and tomorrow (90 per cent chance, the weatherpeople say) so I stocked up on the ingredients for homemade pizza, chili, and chicken bake - three warm dishes that will mean constant heat coming from the kitchen. I also got several brownie mixes, one box of gingerbread mix, some more bagels, cider mix, and - in a moment of weakness - four boxes of Hot Pockets sausage/egg/cheese breakfast thingamajigs. All hail grocery store club card specials!!! Today was pretty warm, which is probably Nature's way of getting people to lower their defences so she can really get them with the next cold snap tonight. There was still ice on the roads, so I had to modify my usual driving route a bit (no, don't want to try to drive down a short but steep hill and then attempt to stop right at the bottom, thanks ever so, I think I'll go the less exciting route...) People were driving a bit faster, particularly on the highway that runs through town; but they weren't up to "usual" speeds, just driving faster than 20 mph. The store had quite a few people in, though. Seems many folks had the same idea I did: get all your shopping done, and hunker down for the freeze. While coming back, I looked over my poor pitiful cyclamen again. They look like the last frost really bitchslapped them: they're drooped significantly. Mrs. West says that they're not done for, though - just catching their breath, so to speak. I'm hoping for a slumbering-lungfish-type revival in January...unless we continue to have lots and lots of snow, in which case my house is now easy to identify: it's the one with flowerboxes full of dead plants.
