We left off the little room updating project with the new, funky pendant installed and a bunch of paint swatches still sitting, uneaten on the chair while I waited for the elephant fabric to arrive.
It tuns out that the elephant fabric is more blue like the fleece blanket draped over the chair, it almost matches exactly. I held everything to the swatches on the chair and narrowed my choices down to "true turquoise" and "periwinkle," which are the center swatch and the one just to its right, here:
I love periwinkle. Love it. But my love is a little too evident in this room since the blanket and the blue elephant fabric are both periwinkle and I wanted a little something to match the polka dot fabric, which still has no set purpose in the room, yet. So I went with my initial vision for the room and dove into turquoise. I was tempted to take it two shades lighter, but decided that since I was painting the inside of a closet and the back of a bookshelf I could afford to go bold.
So I took a trip over to the Depot after work on Friday and picked up a quart of Behr premium paint color matched to Glidden's True Turquoise. While I was waiting for my paint I spotted a paint sprayer on clearance for $49. I snatched that up too with the hope that it will make the whole sealing the fence project a little more manageable this spring since I conveniently put it off until the temps dipped below 50 degrees last fall. Oops. Anyway, as soon as I got home I put my painting T-shirt over my fleece jacket (we keep the house cold), queued up an audio book on my iPhone, grabbed my trusty little cutting-in brush, and got to work.
This really is a great brush for cutting-in without tape, which is the only way we cut-in around here. Somehow the short little handle means less cramped hands and more precise lines.
It was a little shocking to see the first bit of paint go up on the wall. Remember, this is the house where the palest grays and seafoam greens don every wall. Where ceilings have an every so slight tint of blueish gray and I call them painted "with color." This, was a shock:
But when I stepped back into the room and peered into the little closet I was totally hooked. So I continued on cutting in all around the edges of the closet, along the ceiling, the door, the moldings. And then I moved on to the bookshelf, removing one loose shelf (they're nailed in place) and carefully cutting in behind all the others as best I could. I painted the wall behind the floor-to-ceiling shelves entirely by hand with the 2" brush. It reminded me of when I painted the office ceiling with a 2" brush, twice. And then since my hand was getting tired of painting with a brush, and even though I didn't feel like dirtying another brush that I'd have to clean, I pulled out a roller to finish the closet walls. It only took one coat to cover the walls well. It's my second time using the Behr premium paint that is a paint and primer in one and I'm happy with it. Benjamin Moore's Aura wins my heart over every day of the week, but Behr is a good, less expensive alternative.
It took me longer to rinse and wash the roller brush than it did for me to roll the paint on in the closet. Does anyone else wash their rollers? I get so many uses out of the Aura rollers that I just can't justify not cleaning them. Side note, if you do decide to start cleaning your rollers, after you think it's fully clean do a final rinse with vinegar; it gets the last of the paint out. Do the same with your brushes for that matter and then give them all a little rise with water to finish off.
In the morning when the paint was dry I put our baskets and books back on the shelves, packed away the wedding books that I haven't looked at since our wedding, and pulled out just a couple elephants from my collection. I really do like the way it came out, it's very fun.
This side of the room isn't visible from the hallway so I find myself popping into the little room just to take a peek at the turquoise walls. Next I'll be contemplating the elephant fabric and how I'd like to use it. I could cover the Ikea Poang chair with elephants, make curtains, etc. I'm having the curtain debate with myself in this room similar to our master: if I make floor length curtains then the small room suddenly becomes a lot smaller, or I could make short, crisp valances to top off the windows, which would take up far less valuable floor space and wouldn't be elephant overkill (if I used the elephant fabric). Decisions, decisions. What would you do?Labels: design, inside, little room, painting
