Black and white and awesome all over

Hello my friends! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Whew, I literally just finished this project up this morning – I mentioned last week that I usually underestimate how long it will take to get a project done and this was one of those for sure. I’ve shown you this trim work before but it always looks so good, I can’t resist sharing it again. It gets me right there, I love it so.

And every time I replace door trim in the house I forget to share a trick or a step so this time I’m focusing more on how I take down the existing trim.

I actually started this project months ago, back when construction was still happening. I knew I wanted to replace all the door trim in the family room as a part of the renovation but I needed our handymen’s table saw to get these two doorways started:

Those two corner pieces had to be ripped down to fit. I got the side trim up and then it sat…for months. Till last week when I went on a trim/painting mission.

I decided to tackle the other two other doors in this space while I was at this – our coat closet and the basement steps. They’re more of a tiny little hallway but you can see them both from the family room so I just went for it.

There are six tools I use EVERY time I take down the existing door trim:

First up, you need a good razor to score the caulk around the current trim:

If you don’t do that the paint will peel up with the trim as you take it off. A little of this is OK because I’m always replacing it with thicker trim. But I still score every time.

Then you can use your pry bar and a hammer and start pulling the trim away from the wall:

Use the hammer to wedge it under – if your trim is hard to remove make sure to put a thin piece of wood under your pry bar so it doesn’t dent your drywall. I’ve learned that one over the years. :)

Sometimes the staples come off with the trim, sometimes they don’t. I use a flathead screwdriver to wiggle them out a bit, then a wrench or pliers to pull them out:

And finally, my latest fave – this scraper tool is the BOMB. It may even get it’s own post it rocks so very much:

You’ll usually have residual caulk on the wall and if you don’t get that off your new trim won’t go flush against the wall. I used to peel every bit off it off and then use a sander. This new tool makes super easy and quick work of getting all that off – LOVE it.

You’ll want to remove or cut down any baseboards near your doorway too – your trim will be wider so this is a must. After that you can start installing the new trim and this part goes fast, especially compared to the time it takes to remove the existing trim.

I’ve shared this process a couple times so I won’t go into detail again, but this is the model I follow, more or less:

I don’t use that thick of a “fillet” on mine – I use thinner trim called stop. It gives it a nice little detail:

After everything was up and painted (the most time consuming part for sure) I focused on adding the new base around the doors in the hallway.

When we had our hardwoods installed years back we didn’t pull up the baseboards – it was just going to take too much time and our base is really hard to remove. I usually have to end up breaking it into pieces in order to get it out. Because the thick wood was installed right up against our already wimpy baseboards they looked even wimpier after the floors were all done. :)

You can really see the difference on this corner with the old base on the left and the new on the right:

Chunky molding makes my heart SING! Wimpy molding gives me the sads. :(

After a few days of work I got it all done – four doorways completed!:

Let’s look at that before again shall we? Cause it always makes me feel accomplished:

Goodness, it feels so good to have this done! I LOVE how the crown and doorways and board and batten all look together. This builder home is looking more custom with every door:

And now the trim on the outside matches the trim on the inside of the powder room and mud room:

I took down the door to the mud room years ago to open up that space a bit. I did the same with our basement door so this is just an open doorway:

I had to match up the baseboards on this side to the walls with the board and batten, so it’s a little thicker. And I finished painting the faux chunky crown molding in this spot too:

Across that itty bitty baby hallway is the closet door – here’s a Christmas pic to give you an idea of how it looked before:

And here’s that same spot with the thicker crown and baseboards…and one more black door completed!:

I am happy to report this means ALL the doors on the main floor are now painted. And all but one in the basement is done…maybe I’ll get the upstairs done in the next few years or so. :)

To see more about painting your interior doors and the color I use go here.

Whoot!! Another BIG project knocked off my list! I’m so happy to have this part done. I’m literally finishing up small projects now (paint, decor) and I’ll be DONE with the “new” family room.

Are you a black door kind of person? I absolutely love them – I think they add some character and interest to our home. And the new molding certainly doesn’t hurt – don’t underestimate the power of new trim! It makes a huge difference!

P.S. Many of you have asked about costs for the door trim and it can range anywhere from $15 to $30 a door – depending on the pine you use. (I only use pine for this to cut down costs.) I mix the nicer, knot-free pine with some cheaper stuff for the top to bring down costs as well.

A painted fireplace

Well HELLO all! I’ve been working my butt off on the fireplace this week! I don’t have a totally finished product to show you but I’m SO excited about the direction it’s going so I wanted to share. I went a little out of my comfort zone and I love it.

Sunday I had had enough with the unfinished mess and started tackling the fireplace and built ins. I thought it would take me a couple days max – HA! I’m on day five and have a good four days of work left. I way underestimated how much needed to be done.

It’s a beast – the fireplace is massive and the built ins have a lot of surface area to paint as well. On Sunday this is how the one holding our TV components looked:

Hot mess. I’ve had guests and friends over for weeks with it looking like that and I could have cared less. All the sudden on Sunday I couldn’t take it one more minute. It’s how I roll.

And yes, I was equipped with a cherry icee. Ignore the poor plant that has become a snack for the cats.

My first order of business was to fill alllllllll the holes:

I didn’t worry about all the cracks because those were getting covered later. But I filled and sanded, then caulked the whole thing top to bottom.

THEN came the priming:

I got all that done in the first day – by the second day I had my white semi gloss paint in hand and started painting the first coat…but stopped myself. You can’t tell from the pic above because the board and batten isn’t done over there – but it was a whole lotta WHITE. I love white trim as much as anybody (well, more than anybody), but the white built ins against the white board and batten was feeling a little blah.

I had been playing with the idea of painting the whole thing out in a light gray all along. Somewhere along the line I talked myself out of it – I didn’t feel like it would look right without enough contrast. But I had that white paint in my hand and couldn’t get the idea out of my mind. I wanted this area to really pop and as it was it wasn’t happening.

I had an idea percolating in my head and looked back through some pictures I had saved to get up the guts to follow through. When I saw this photo I had bookmarked the decision was made:

(source)

GoodNESS people. That is stunning! I’m so obsessed with contrast anyway – white trim against a dark wood floor, black door against white trim…so this is right up my alley.

I was sold. The bonus was that I already had the paint – I LOVE the Peppercorn color I used on our master bedroom wall: And it looks identical to the gray in that photo!

This family room gets LOADS of light now that the wall is down. It’s glorious. I’m not worried about the room feeling dark with all the natural light and especially not with the mostly white walls throughout the whole space:

So I put a coat of the gray on – and I was a little nervous but loved it. I started installing the decorative trim and fell in love a little more:

And then with another coat I was head over heels:

Oh my goodness – it is a step out of my norm but I’m loving it.  I think doing something that feels a little uncomfortable at first is so important to do in your home as well as in life. At least once and a while. :)

It still needs another coat – the paint I had is an eggshell finish so I’m grabbing a quart of the same color in semi gloss to finish it up. After all this work I don’t want to worry about scuffs (which are a lot more noticeable on a darker paint):

The past couple of days I’ve been working on the cabinet doors – can’t wait to show you those too! And I still need to paint the inside of the cabinets but that may just happen later (cause my hands and wrists are screaming uncle):

Today I’m finishing up the doors and then I’m hoping to get started on the tile for the surround. I’ve been trying to decide on one of these for weeks:

The first and third from the left have been around the whole time – the subway and the hexagon were later additions. :)

It’s now down to the the subway:

Or the herringbone:

The herringbone has always been my favorite but I’ve been intimidated by the small cuts I’d have to do. But as I was holding it up to take this picture I realized I could just cut it down so it fits centered – I can just cut each side off evenly and installed it that way. No small cuts needed to fill in all those spots. I could do the same for the top as well so I don’t risk losing a finger. ;)

So…now that I realized that I think I’m going for the herringbone. Ugh, I’m pretty sure. They are both classic designs so it’s a hard decision.

There you go! More progress – and I went dark! After the I finish up the doors and the tile (over the next few days), then I’ll focus on the wall treatment above the fireplace and around the TV. Then I’ll give everything one final coat…and I’ll be done! I’m not stopping till I get there – but it will probably be next week. I’ve got my 20 year reunion this weekend so I’ll be taking some time out to party. :)

Could you do a color other than white on built ins or a fireplace? It’s not for everyone – but it does give it some drama and certainly makes it the centerpiece of the room. I don’t know if I could do a whole room in such a dark color but little bits of it make me giddy.

A new wall color! (Kind of)

OK! I left you last week with some tips on picking out paint, specifically paint at my favorite place, Sherwin-Williams. Now it’s time to get into the nitty gritty of how I picked out the colors for our family room and ceiling.

The ceiling needed to be addressed first because of all the patching that needed to be done from taking down the wall. My old office had that pretty blue ceiling that I loved:

I loved that color but didn’t want to go quite so blue for such a huge room. So I decided to go a little bit lighter, and I got my inspiration from one of the paint chip booklets they had in the store:

This one is perfect when you’re looking for a white or a light neutral. It really shows the difference between all the “whites” right?:

I wanted something with a very slight blue to it so I went with Rhinestone off that sheet, but at half – so 50 percent lighter than what the chip showed.

I’m glad I went lighter because I think the full color would have been too dark for the ceiling. This is a very light blue gray color:

I think a blue tone on your ceiling will makes a room feel more airy – almost like the ceiling isn’t as noticeable because it kind of goes away.  

I think other than the color the hardest and biggest decision to make is what type of paint to use. There are a ton of options at Sherwin-Williams so it can be overwhelming if you don’t know what they all mean. Thankfully they spell it out quite well:

I talked to the manager at the store to find out more before picking out the ceiling and wall paints. Since the color we were using on the ceiling was similar to what was there before and we needed so much of it, we went the basic HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams paint in a flat sheen.

The sheen is SO important when picking out paints, especially on a ceiling. The only time you’ll want a shiny ceiling is if you have flat (non-textured) ceilings and you’re going for a more modern look. I don’t care for a shine on my ceiling at all, so it’s always flat for me. Even the slightest reflection drives me crazy. :)

The walls are a different story:

I always go with a satin or eggshell for my walls. Long ago I used to use semi gloss for bathrooms because I heard that’s what you’re supposed to do for cleaning reasons. No more. I don’t like that much reflection on all the walls so the low-shine of the eggshell is perfect for me. There is one area that I use semi gloss on though -- my trim projects like board and batten. I just like the look of it and it gives a nice contrast against the walls.

Here’s the thing -- glossy paints will show a lot of imperfections in the walls – so if you have wavy walls or lots of holes that have been filled, it’s not for you. Flat hides those imperfections well but is not easy to clean. It’s also sometimes too flat with no dimension at all, so be aware of that. My go-to is eggshell (or satin, very similar) and is still scrubbable with just enough shine that it gives it some life.

I liked the other chip sheet so well I went to another one to look for the perfect wall color. I’ve had the same color on the wall for ten years! It’s time for a change. This book is called Essentials and includes a ton of their most popular neutrals:

It was there that I fell in love with the Anew Gray color. I got a sample from the store (see my previous post on picking out paint colors!) and tried it out on a wall. At first I wasn’t sure it would be a big difference from the previous color, but after seeing it on the wall the difference was huge:

It’s a lovely stone gray color…but it was a little too stone for me. Too gray and not enough warm, you know? So I kept at it with some more samples and some colors I’ve used in other parts of the house.

First I tried Amazing Gray and Useful Gray (left to right) after the Anew Gray:

The Amazing Gray looked very similar to the Anew, so that was out. They both started to get a very slight purple tone as I compared them to the others too. The Useful was way too light. One thing I realized during this process was that I wanted to go darker than I originally thought. At first I planned on something lighter but I was drawn to the tones with more depth to them.

THEN I tried the colors I’ve already used in our home to see how I liked them. The fourth color from the left is my beloved Analytical Gray that I used on the rest of the main floor and some upstairs. The one on the end was the Agreeable Gray color that I used in the powder room.

Look how different it looks in natural light compared to that room!:

I think that’s crazy. Just goes to show you need to try your colors out – even when you’ve used them before!

I knew the second that Analytical Gray went up that it was the one. It has a bit of the gray tone but is still a warm color. And it looked great with all the light in this room! I really wanted to change things up from the rest of the main floor but when you love a color you love a color. :) 

With that decision finally made I went for it! The manager at Sherwin-Williams recommended the Harmony paint line since it has zero VOCs. I didn’t smell a thing as I was painting or after:

I used this Harmony paint in the basement as well and LOVE how well it covers.

I’m SO HAPPY to have this decision made! I love this color so much. Here’s how the corner I showed you earlier this week looks with the new wall and ceiling color:

I’m most excited about that little wall with the speaker. Last week it looked like this:

Slowly but surely I’m patching the board and batten, replacing molding and getting things touched up. Still have to paint the crown but it’s almost there!:

Painting the built ins and fireplace needs to happen too. My list is long. :)

So there you have it – the process I went through to pick out the family room paint colors. NOW to get all that board and batten trim up and caulked and painted and the rest of the walls painted…I’m getting there slow but sure!

How many samples have you put on the wall before deciding on the ONE? I’m pretty sure I read that one of you has 18 on the wall right now? You’ve got me beat. ;)

*The $200 Sherwin-Williams paint giveaway is now closed.

*I partnered with Sherwin-Williams for this project but all thoughts are my own.

Picking out paint colors

SO. Paint is one of the EASIEST and most dramatic changes you can make to a space – I think we all know that. If you don’t…just trust me. The thing is, it’s easy for DIYers like myself to be all, “It’s just paint.” I know many of you worry about picking out paint colors and I get it. Painting is not usually a quick job and depending on the size of the room can definitely be an investment.

And there’s nothing worse than finally getting up the courage to take on a paint project and then hating it when it’s all done. Been there.

I’ve teamed up with Sherwin-Williams to share tips on picking out paint colors – this comes at a perfect time for me because as the family room reno finished up I had to make decisions on the new wall and ceiling colors. The walls have been painted the same color in there for ten years – I painted them the day we closed on the house!

I have a few tips when it comes to picking out paint colors – they’ve worked pretty well for me over the years and I hope they will prevent any of you from wasting time and money.

First up, start with inspiration. It’s SO hard to decorate a room when you pick out the paint color first. Unless it’s a neutral that goes with anything – it’s always best to start with something you love that will be in the room. It can be artwork, a rug, pillows…whatever.

I’ve gone with more neutral tones in our family room over the years so I know I want something that will work with the pillows and rug, but not match it perfectly:

Also, our current color matches the sectional exactly (we didn’t have it back then) – so it’s just too much tan for me. Make sure to think about the larger pieces like rugs and furniture when considering a new color.

Next up…and this is earth-shattering here folks. Go to the paint store.

First of all, because it’s fun. :) Make sure you have some time too:

To some that is an overwhelming sight. To me, it’s glorious. I visited my local Sherwin-Williams store to walk you around.

The paint chips pictured above will give you varying shades of a similar tone – but they are not the same color lightened or darkened so keep that in mind. They are just in the same family, from light to dark. Usually I’ll fall in love with a darker tone on the chip and realize it’s too dramatic for what I need and will move up to a lighter tone.

They also have single color chips as well:

I prefer these for some reason – the chips are huge, love that. This the section is where I found my beloved Peppercorn for the master bedroom wall (sometimes that dark color can be an accent!):

I’m looking into a gray for the family room, but I want it to be a warm gray, not cold. That’s where it gets harder. I have to pull the colors out and compare them to each other. That’s when you see the true undertones:

You have to be careful with grays in particular. Some go pinkish. Some purple. See the one on top? It looks like it has that purple undertone for sure. That may be what you want, but just keep it in mind. I find it’s easier to see all those tones when the chips are laid out next to each other.

So you may have found THE perfect color online, maybe on a blog? ;) But so many things affect how the color will look in your own home. Remember first and foremost that the color you see on the computer will look different in your own home. Screen colors differ and the light will be different in your home as well.

Sherwin-Williams has a handy dandy light box that shows you how different your colors will look in different artificial lights. Look at the difference between the two!:

 

I really wish I had known this when I painted our laundry room a brilliant, bright yellow years ago. ;) The fluorescent lights we have in there made the walls positively glow.

Finally, take your colors home! The light box is wonderful, but you need to see that paint chip up on your wall. Even better – get a sample pot and try it out before you buy. When I was in the decorating biz we would strongly encourage clients to get a couple poster boards, paint them, then hang them on the walls and live with them for a few days in the different lights. It definitely helps and will go a long way to preventing wasted time and money.

I’m a self-professed Sherwin-Williams nut so it’s the only place I buy my paint now. I love the paint and their service. And if you sign up with their Paint Perks program (say that three times fast), you’ll save every day on paints, stains and supplies and get notices for all their sales and promotions:

I stock up for future projects whenever they have a 40 percent off sale – you won’t want to miss one! This program also creates a log of all of your paint colors for up to ten years – and if you don’t have a blog to document every paint color you definitely need that. :) You can go here to sign up (it’s free!) and get a $10 off coupon.

Next week I’ll share more about the paint colors I’ve picked out for our NEW family room! I’m so very excited!

For now, Sherwin-Williams is offering one of you $200 in credit to their store – SO much paint goodness! (This giveaway is now closed.) 

Have you ever had a paint color go wrong? My biggie was my office years back…I was going for a brick red and it was full out orange. Awful.

I partnered with Sherwin-Williams for this project but all thoughts are my own.