Finished Project!

I *finally* finished painting the doors.  I had to combat a week of rain (well, not really combat but wait out).  I think they look awesome, even if you don't. Ha!

Finished project:
Purchased:
paint: 1 gallon Behr outdoor Luscious
primer: 1 quart outdoor tinted primer

Already owned:
tape
paintbrush
roller
tray

All in all, the project didn't take long in actual work time - I did one coat of primer and six coats of paint.  When I did paint, I did two coats in succession - so it was 3 actual times of painting.

Here is the finished product

Not too shabby, eh?

I think I'd like to change the door hardware to black or a silver color.  What say you?

Doors Update

Slowly but surely, the doors are coming together.  So far I've got 1 coat of primer and 4 coats of color on them. I'm hoping that after another 2 coats the doors will be at the correct shade.

Up close and personal with the front door:

As I'm driving away from the side door....

So, up close its LIKE WOAH, but from a distance it's pretty eleganski (elegant for you non-polish speakers ;) )

I'm Painting the Roses Red...

Or, in my case, the doors!

After convincing the paint guy that yes, I did want red, yes, its ok that I have to prime, and yes, its ok that it would take several coats, I finally left the orange store with a gallon of Luscious and a quart of tinted primer.

Here goes nothing...

Goodbye bland wood door...

And hellllloooooo red!

Oh my...am i sure this won't wind up fuchsia?!?

First I sanded the doors - was quick and easy.  I might make it easier than its supposed to be...I'm pretty lazy with the sanding.  Then came the tinted primer.  My doors turned pink!

Hmmm, maybe I should stick with pink.

Since I was doing two doors, I had a good system set up.  First I sanded and primed the front door.  While that was drying, I sanded and primed the side door.  Then I cleaned up my roller, brush and tray.  By the time I was done with that, the front door was ready for the first coat of color.

Then I moved on to the side door for the first coat of red back there.  Since this didn't take as much time as the first bits, I got to take a break between painting...rather than watching the paint dry I played on the internet, checked my reader, and talked to my sister.  By the way - did you see her post today? HILARIOUS

Second coat time!  So quick and easy.  The one thing I have trouble with second coats is that sometimes it's hard to see exactly where you've already painted.  But, I muddled through and tried not to have drips...but its inevitable for me. Got the two coats done, then cleaned up my brush, roller and tray for the day.  I imagine I will have two more coats tomorrow, but I didn't want you waiting so anxiously for my choice.

Front door after primer and two coats of color.

View from the outside - it pops nicely I think.

Side door - eventually I'll get my new storm door up. Nice, yes?

Now, to clear up how I made my decision.  I really liked the dark blue.  And dark blue won in the poll.  But I was worried that it just wouldn't POP enough from the street.  I wasn't sold on the dark red that I had the sample of though - it seemed just too dark.  My decision then had me thinking about the shutters that I want to eventually get.  I wouldn't want super bright red shutters for the windows - so either I do the dark blue or dark red for the door and do matchy-matchy shutters, or pick a brighter red and do black shutters.  

I'm so entirely drawn to really bright doors - bright red, bright yellow, etc.  So, I went with a new option entirely and choose my Luscious color (the trend of picking paint colors with appetizing names continues).

So, what do you think? The man at the orange store promises me that after several coats and drying time, it will go from fuchsia to the red.  I sure hope so....More painting tomorrow!

Quick hit!

I'm *planning* on painting doors tomorrow!  Stay tuned for the unveiling of the color choice.

To recap: Dark blue won the vote count, followed by the dark red color.

PS: Has anyone ever installed a doorbell?  For some crazy reason I don't have one. I've never been in a house that didn't....

Painting Party

Directly after closing on the house (and after a celebratory glass of sparkly) my mom and I went out to Home Depot so I could continue to drag myself further into debt and by supplies of the painting kind.  I walked out with $500+ in supplies and ready to take on the house the next day. 

I'm lucky enough to have great friends who are willing to do manual labor for only pizza and beer as payment.  Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, I had over a dozen helpers tackling the painting with me.  My sister and her friend who love nothing better than painting and wine, were able to whip out the living room and kitchen in just a couple hours. And they did an amazing job of not getting paint anywhere.  They were also lucky enoguh to have two out of the only three rooms in the house that didn't have textured walls.

My friends and I retreated upstairs and worked on the bumpy rooms and hallway.  Because the rooms were so heavily textured, it took a lot of elbow grease and paint to get the walls completely covered.  As more reinforcements came, we went outside to the garage to sand and prime the kitchen cabinets.  Can you imagine - painting 5 rooms, one hallway and kitchen cabinets all in a weekend?  People scoffed that I wouldn't be able to do it, but, with our powers combined...

Megan was in charge of the green room - and she did an excellent job as usual. Thanks Megs!

Loretta worked hard at sanding and scraping - and was only slightly terrifyng as she got her hands on power tools.

Pat and Demie were troopers - sand Reckas-Jacksons, SAND!

Evidence of hard work...

Loretta, laughing maniacally and Rita, blacked out to protect the innocent

Many thanks go out to all my friends and family who helped:
My parents for providing equipment, food and labor.
My sister Kris and her girlfriend for their excellent work on the first floor.
And my friends - Megan, Justin, Baron, Loretta, Pat, Demie, Rita, Katy

And if I'm forgetting anyone...I'm sorry.  It's been since October and I have no photographic evidence you were there.  But I am ever so grateful.

Choosing Paint Colors

As long as we're talking about paint, I should tell you about how I picked paint colors in the rest of my house.  I have nary a white room.

Living Room:
I choose a light, goldish color here to compliment my purple furniture (yes, I'm that girl) and my gold curtains.  What can I say, I'm a pretty pretty princess.

Before:

After: I think the color is called Summer Harvest by Behr.

That's a nice color, good choice Deb.

Kitchen and Dining Room:

Here's where I got a little crazy.  I went with this turquoise color that is bright, fun, and a little over the top.  With the brown cabinets it was dark and bleh.  But once I painted the kitchen cabinets white, BAM.  It went from blah to FANTASTIC (at least in my opinion - which, btw, is the only one that counts since it's my house). HA!  Not that you can't tell me your opinion, because you can. But, as I am the Queen (or pretty pretty princess) of the castle, I have final vote.

Before:

After: the color is (I believe) called Jamaican Sea by Behr

Now that's a bright blue!

Don't these curtains (they're actually tea towels!) just complete the look?

Master Bedroom:
First, it is only called the master because it's where I sleep.  It's not like the master bedrooms you see on HGTV that have like, 3243 sq ft with vaulted ceilings, sitting areas, walk in closets, and attached baths. It's just a bedroom.  But it's my bedroom and after a lot of thinking, I finally decided to go with a blueish-gray/grayish-blue. (BTW - do you say gray or grey?).  The color is called Shale Gray by Behr.

So soothing!

Guest Bedroom:
I knew I wanted to go green in here.  The room is at the front of the house and in the spring/summer/fall the giant leafy maple tree is right in front, which casts great shadows in the room.  The green makes it feel like you're in the woods. Love it!

You can practically smell the woods...

Computer Room (aka THE BABY'S ROOM):
I originally went with a color called Daffodil Yellow.  Doesn't that sound so pretty? Don't be fooled though, by daffodil yellow, Behr really meant, highlighter yellow or gatorade yellow. It was fluroscent enough to not need lights on any time.  Holy Moly. 

GAHHHHHH!!!!!

I finally couldn't stand it any longer and repainted it this time with a yellow/green color called Key Lime Pie by Behr. Not only does it sound delish, it LOOKS delish.

Greatly Improved

Upper Bath: 
I knew right away I wanted to put bead board up and that I really wanted to work with a coral color.  This turned out to be one of my favorite rooms.  If it was entirely coral, it would've been overwhelming, but with the bead board and white trim, it's fantastic.  Then with the black and white accessories...my fave!  I'm still working on replacing the sink...that calls for more plumbing skills than I currently have.  The actual name of the color is Tangerine Dream by Behr.

No, it's not your eyes, my photo taking skillz sometimes leave a lot to be desired.

So, what say you dear readers? Love some, hate some? Love them all? Think I'm nuts and should use neutrals more? What colors have you painted in your houses? Or would paint, if you could?

Poll Time!

I *love* the look of painted doors.  I'm a color girl, and it is very distressing to have a white and grey house, with blah colored doors.

So, please take a look at my sample colors and then vote at the poll at the top of the page.

Dark Blue, Light Blue, Red...something different?

ETA: It is an exterior door - my house colors are white and pale grey and my storm doors are white. I thought painting the exterior would give it a good punch of color.