Painting For The 3rd Time

Operation Get-Ready-For-Boston's-Birthday-Party: foyer painting.  

We are in full birthday-party-prepparing operation mode around these parts.  We decided that there were a few things that we'd like to accomplish before we celebrate Boston's 2nd birthday party at our house (again).  Since we've been bums for most of the year (we haven't done anything major to our house this whole year!) we decided to get off our keisters and get-some-things-done-darn-it.  Procrastination at it's best.  Procrastination kicks our rear ends into gear, though.  So we welcome it when it wants to come and see us and get us moving.

All year I've been wanting to re-paint our foyer, dining room and hallways that lead to our living room and half bathroom.  But just the thought of it made me and Jer queasy.  This wasn't our first rodeo with these areas of the house and we knew what a pain it would be and how much work it would take to get it done.  

There was priming, painting, changing paint colors, taping off, caulking and painting trim to do.  Lots of tedious and time consuming work that we just didn't have living with a needy toddler that requires our constant attention.  

But by the end of spring and early summer we decided to bite the bullet and do it.  After I picked out the paint color (what I thought was the one I loved) we started clearing out and prepping the areas we were going to paint.  And once we put B down for bed it was time to paint.  But not before I took my "before" photos of the awful brown that we painted 3 years ago.  

Yeah, we've been living with this horrid color for 3 years too long.  Oh and did you notice someones tail that made its appearance into the picture?  :)  Yeah that scraggly looking thing is a poodles tail.  

And so it began.  

Our first paint color was Alpaca by Sherwin Williams.  I've loved this gray color every time I have used it so I thought it would be perfect again for this project.  Like when we used it for our living room last year and when I updated a curbside shelf. Welp, I was wrong.  Not this time.  Big fat negative.  It was wayyy too light.  It was almost white looking.  I wanted the room to be lighter but not that light.

See?  Way too light.  I needed it a tad bit darker.  

So after much much work, I decided that I definitely was not happy with the color.  So I broke the news to Jer.  He took it well, but kept asking me....."are you sure you don't like it and are you sure you want to paint it a different color?!"  Ha.  That's his way of letting me know, he's not a fan of my decision.

Sooo, I went back to the paint store and got 2 more samples.  And decided on Requisite Gray.  And fell in love the moment we started applying it.  Jer was happy.

I always cut in (it's not Jer's forte, he's horrible at it) and Jer finished it off with his roller brush.  Team work, baby.

Ahhh, much better.

The dining room was super easy.  Easy to cut in and easy to roll on.  Once we took everything off the walls it got painted quickly.

I love everything about the white and gray look in there.  The dining room color is Alpaca.  So it's a shade lighter than the foyer and hallways.  But it makes the dining room stand out from the rest of the area, which was our goal anyway.

To prove that we are bums.  We installed that wainscoting, ohhh, about 3-4 years ago and STILL have not caulked and painted it.  Don't judge.  :)

So....here we are finally caulking and painting it.

Dining room almost done!

The hallways and foyer are completely done.  You can see little light spots on the wall that needed to dry from touch ups right before I shot this picture.


During the day time, it looks so clean.

The before and after the next day.

Here's what the entry looks like in the day time.

As of this week, we are doing the last few touches on the crown and wainscoting in the dining room and then I'll reveal the whole shebang and how it all looks put together.

Until then, we are preparing and completing a few other (5 to be exact!) projects before the big party!  Consider the Cooks busy with a capital B!