I actually started with a brush, in the stairway. I cut in around the stairs and the rail, and then cut in throughout the upstairs. Then, I got a little frustrated and decide to tackle the last layer of wallpaper. It was something I wasn't going to do on my own, but I just wanted to get it as done as I could. So armed with a bottle of soapy water and a scotchbrite pad, I scrubbed as much of that paper off as I could. With a lot of elbow grease and a little spackle, it's looking not too shabby.
Once that was gone, I could actually paint the entire upstairs hallway. Because it's a tiny hallway with 7 doors (closet overload up there), it was almost entirely brush painting. I was able to get on two coats pretty quickly. Or at least, it seemed quick because I was listening to a great book, The Year of the Flood. I'll be posting my review a week from Thursday at my other blog.
Then I started rolling, and after I finished upstairs, I made my way down the stairway. Once I got to the bottom, I decide that I might as well get that second coat on the walls downstairs while I had all the stuff out. It only took a couple of hours and the results were so worth it. I thought we had great coverage before, but the second coat really evened out and deepened the color.
Saturday morning, we were all ready to pull the tape! I am so happy with how this color works with the floor, the furniture, and the white moldings. I'm in LOVE with the black fireplace, but the verdict is still out for Brett. Cross your fingers for a yes!
Good lord I'm a terrible picture taker, aren't I?
This is like the PERFECT color to complement the kitchen. Seriously. Perfect. I'm so glad I saw it on Kara's blog one day and randomly asked her for the name. Thanks Kara!
And finally, my vision for my china cabinet has come together. The tan was totally throwing me off before and I still had my doubts until now. I can't wait to set it all up again.
(Side note, that is my new bag in the pic, bought as a self birthday gift. I bought it from seller ikabags on etsy and can't recommend her enough. The quality is excellent and it's so adorable and deceptively roomy. Plus with the sturdy strap I can carry my full size laptop and it feels feather light. I love it so much more than the bag I paid over twice as much for from another seller late last year. Love her!)
One of my favorite things about this color is how awesome it looks with wood. Our console table and our handrail look so much more, I don't know, there?
I love it upstairs, mostly how great it coordinates with all of our other colors up there.
But we still have some work to do. We haven't figured out the stairwell conundrum, so we have some areas that look like this.
See how high our arms reach?
Plus there are significant touch ups needed on the ceiling, and I need a second coat on the upper half of the stairway walls with the roller. And then there's all of the cutting in around the moldings. We tried the Frog tape for this project, and our verdict was basically, yes it leaks less than regular painter's tape. But we're not good enough tapers to justify it if we're going to have to touch up everywhere anyway. So after the two rolls we have are gone, we're going back to the cheap stuff and a steady hand.
But it just feels really good to have banished the flesh color from our house. I love this color so much, and it makes for such a great feeling in here!
Now, anyone interested in buying 4 gallons of it from me (that's right, I have half a gallon left for touching up)?
