BruceHartman.net

I prepped the wall to the right and behind the refrigerator last night and when I got home from work this evening I started on what will be the end of the red. I’m very nearly out of paint and will have to buy at least a half gallon more tomorrow to finish the space above the counter and behind the stove. I think I’l be able to get the better portion of one more coat with what I have left.

The wall I’m working on now had been the same creamy bland color as the rest of the kitchen prior to the two coats I’ve painted so far tonight. It’s incredible how much light that one wall reflected before and how dark the room is now. I expected it, so it’s not entirely surprising. I guessed I would need to do something about the lighting in there anyway, and my suspicions have been confirmed. I might talk to my brother about putting in some low voltage task lighting under the cabinets. In the least I’ll replace the ceiling fan over the dining room table as well as the main fixture in the working portion of the kitchen.

Update (11:03 PM): Lowe’s doesn’t mix half gallons. It’s possible I could have gotten by with a quart, but if I needed another, I’d have spent as much as if I had bought a gallon originally. Meanwhile, I’ve finished the portions I started earlier this evening and I’ve done the edge touch-ups on the walls I painted over the last two weeks–which means I can finally remove the tape tomorrow. Yipee!

Daitech Coatings

I went to target today and found the white waffle weave shower curtain I saw online. It looks great in the bathroom. Removing the other shower curtain was a smart move. It looks so clean and crisp in there right now.

All that’s left now is to put in a towel bar and the shelf Ginny suggested. Meanwhile, here’s the progress on the red in the kitchen.

And here’s the latest on the living room.

I’m off to get a haircut this afternoon… finally. And I’m almost looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. I sure could use a break from all this work.

Heh.

Last night my plan for today was to do little more than caulk the bathroom and do some heavy duty resting, but that all went out the window around 10 AM. The paint department at Lowe’s beckoned to me and I somehow bought 2 gallons of Posh Red for the living room/kitchen.

That’s just shy of an entire gallon. There’s maybe a pint and a half left over. Yeah, red is a pain the ass to paint, but once it’s done it’s going to look incredible. I’m pretty certain I will take it all the way around into the kitchen to the right.

Notice the splotch at the top center of the picture. That’s the sample of what Ginny and I thought was a light tan/taupe sort of color. It’s absolutely horrible.

I took my Pantone book to Lowe’s to get samples of the two colors I picked yesterday and they said they only do samples of their in house colors. Doesn’t that defeat the one of the prime reasons to do samples in the first place? Maybe I’m just thick, but it’s an extremely stupid policy. I’ll go somewhere else and have it done and spend my money there. Somebody has to do that sort of thing.

Ginny and I found the perfect red for the wrap around wall from the living room into the kitchen. The other two colors we got really excited about (a taupe-like color for the rest of the living room, and an olive for the fireplace wall) are being tossed out in favor of something else. The really nice thing is Lowe’s (I imagine other places do the same) will mix a 3 oz. sample bottle of any paint color you want for $3.00 so that you can actually see it in action before committing to gallons of the stuff. It’s a wise investment when planning which colors you’ll end up using.

The taupe looked great at Lowe’s, but when I put it up on the wall next to the red, it showed too much of its pink undertones. Bleh, I want manly colors… pink is not going to do it. The olive was just way too dark and would make the room look like Christmas all year long.

So, I’ve spent a few minutes this afternoon diving through my Pantone swatch book to find a couple of other colors to try. I’ve settled for 427U and 5855U. I’ll have the guy Ginny and I have nicknamed “Apricot Poodle” mix me up a couple of samples tomorrow and see if they fare any better.

Ginny is nearly finished with the bathroom. The blue is spectacular. I put the mirror and light fixture back up and will hang the shower curtain rod tonight or tomorrow. She has done an amazing job in there. I don’t have a problem painting large expanses (like my living room), but I’d be like a bull in a china shop in that tiny room.