Wednesday, January 28, 2009

I have the bug... but no money :(

I want to paint... Lots of color everywhere. Last night Sher showed me some of the stuff that she's done, and then with Motherboard talking about all the painting that she's done, I can't help it, I want to paint.

But have you seen what it takes for us to be able to paint? Let me share my last experience in that area. It was at our last house. We had been in the house for 6 years, and I finally (after much convincing) talked Steve into painting a wall red.

Here's the before picture...But in order to paint that wall the correct red, and do the correct faux type paint, we had to find just the right red and glaze. So here's our sample board. And yes I know some of those are absolutely hideous, you should have seen the ones that we painted over on the bottom there with the color we actually chose.And ta da! This is what we came up with. I tried to get a close-up of the tecture, but none of the pictures actually turned out to where you could see it very well. We did a base coat in a color called French Red, (it is a Kwal color). And then glazed over it with a burgundy glaze. We rolled the paint on, and then painted the glaze on with X's and then ragged some of the excess off. We could have left it with the glaze painted on with the X's and would have looked great, and ragging off the excess just added a little more texture.Here it is with the furniture in.
Honestly, I don't think the pictures do it that much justice. And when the people who bought our house moved in and added a mirror and some pictures on the two walls, it looked even better. We never did because we put our house up for sell about two months after we did this - and it sold and we moved out that same week. I know, the years of begging and I only got to enjoy it for two months.
But this house... which at this point I would swear is our final house, if I could, but I am practical enough to know that things happen. I am just itching to do it. SO, I am taking action. I am tightening the belt. No more frivolous spending until I can afford paint. I am pinching my pennies and I am going to finish my living room. We already have a plan for in there, we've talked about it for MONTHs before Steve quit his job, and so I am going to make it happen. And I am putting it out there into cyberspace because that way it will right? And when I do have my money put together, Sher and Motherboard are going to paint with me right? That is if Steve will let me...

6 comments:

Heather - said...

I'm so excited for you. As you know, I begged and begged and begged James to let me paint our old house, and it never happened. Our next house, though, will be painted.
I can't wait to see what you do, and I loved the red wall by the way (BTW...if I were cool, I would have typed BTW)

Elisa said...

I will totally help you paint!

(I got a great, amazing brand for $22 a gallon...)

We could knock that living room of yours out in a day! When do you want me to come over?

Christine said...

Andrea: The red wall looks great. All the swatches had to have been expensive. If you want lots of color CHEAP ... say for the children's rooms, try shopping the GOOF paint at your local paint and/or hardware stores. They usually sell it for $5.00 gallon/$2.00 quart. I even got the barn red paint for my living room wall that way.

Judy said...

With our painting experience... it's the time more than the money! I even offered to do all the painting myself...
Good luck with that!

Lhone said...

I heard a talk once that someone was talking about their military lifestyle, and she would decorate her house IMMEDIATELY so that she could enjoy it the full 2 years they were in that house. We aren't that quick, but I am a total believer in getting pictures up on the walls, and getting it homey so you can establish it as a home, not just a house.

Cynthia Hatch said...

Somehow we have to get the men to realize that painting and decorating stamps the home ours. We put a little of us in it and can then sit back and enjoy our space. I don't get to paint but have been very excited at some of the decorations and plants that I have put in. It is starting to feel like my home, my space. Good luck!