Curb Appeal: The Details on the Paint

In my opinion personal touches are what make a home, well home.

We knew this house was going to need tons of them so slowly and steadily we have been making strides in that department.

Here is the mls picture from last summer, straight from the ole phone! haha

(if you read the previous post you can see all the detailed images with the before and after paint!)

Once we got the house painted we knew we would need a new color for the doors and the trim. 

We sampled about 15 different grey/green/brownish greys. 

After getting lots of opinions from neighbors, friends, passerby's we all determined the grey only drew attention to the roof.

The ugly as sin, stained as all get out roof; that in all actuality is only 7-8 years old. 

Ugh.... 

With all the other updates necessary I can't justify replacing a perfectly good roof when we Need another hvac, new oven, new carpet, and two new bathrooms.

SO for now the roof stays ugly.

Trim will be the same color as the brick, the siding, the whole shebang. 

We referred to these inspiration photo's from pinterest to help justify our decision.

(although their roof is much prettier than mine it had our colors, felt clean and fresh and who doesnt love a coastal living design??)

And this amazing back yard

loving the almost tone on tone!

(all images are from my outdoor spaces board on pinterest)

Once we determined our main paint color then we needed to determine what color for the front door

My friend lauren and I spent 3 days obsessing over the perfect blue.

Then... she said we have to look online. we just arent finding it! 

(thank you lauren for all your help!)

Low and behold, my blogging friend Amanda, over at Dixie Delights had the perfect blue door.

So before long we had a sample of Rhine River.

(I of course can't find the picture of the 11 tones of blue we tested, but trust me, it was a ton!)

Here is amanda's beautiful entry!

And if you are wondering what her paint colors are here is the board she shared on her blog. 

(once we finish this post I will gladly compile the colors we ended up with.)

So we spent the next few days working on the doors, shutters, etcetera.

The other detail work I wanted to make sure and add was some interest to our extremely boring garage. 

This is Exactly what I was envisioning, so over the remainder of the summer this is one of our little projects we have planned.

again all links are in my outdoor spaces board on pinterst.

The hardware is $20.00 at Home Depot.

(link can be found here)

And here is how ours currently looks.

Isn't it simply magical what paint can do for a place?

Curb Appeal 2.0

I don't know many people that can see and image this house the way I have. 

Don't kid yourself, this place is pure D ugly.

but... Hubby got ambitious so just a few weeks ago we rented an airless spray gun and went to town!

plenty of befores!!

 Can we take a quick moment and ohh and ahh over our new fancy upstairs air conditioner?

Basically its sad how little has been done to this home, that condensor on the left is original, yes ORIGINAL.... almost everything in this home was original previous to last summer!!!

even the electrical boxes out here had to be switched out. so we definately preserved them!!

Without much else, than "here it goes" we were off.

When I say the painting went FAST.... it went FAST>>>>>>

like here we were 20 minutes later.

 Here would be the bushes on the left we have cut back from 10 ft tall. 

just need to hire someone to remove these two bushes so we can plant something more size appropriate for this space.

we finished the back then went back with the shield to get all the angles.

After 2-3 days of the paint soaking into the brick

We went ahead and freshened up the paint on the mini fence you can see being painted above. 

Then... we spent the past 3-5 agonizing weekends hand painting everything from the first roof line from brown to cream.

Den Makeover: Paint, Lighting and

I did lots of research after we purchased the house and tried to go with colors I knew would be condusive to a home that faces North.

remember our style board?

Luckily our last home faced north, as well so it made things a hair easier. 

I knew anything with brown undertones would make the room way way dark. 

There are no windows to the right wall (west wall) and therefore I would only have very faint light from noon til about 4:30.

We ended up settling on a Valspar color.

Fairmont Penthouse Stone

Shanty 2 Chic did a great job documenting the process. 

She picked the same color!!

Mine is not quite this bright. Looks much more grey in my space, we also chose the satin finish for a higher sheen since the room is so dark. 

Here is the before of the room.

We could only go up from here right?

Clearly this room has had some serious issues and the things I thought were going to work, well... Aren't. 

This is how we sat throughout the holidays, just undecided on a paint color until we had enough friends weigh in and help us decide on Fairmont penthouse stone!

Then we tried this and I thought ah hah!!! 

Ahhh and here is the first shot of the paint color. 

Biggest issue for me here was front door shot to see a side view of a piece of furniture. 

Then we got here and I finally finally felt like this room was cozy. 

Basically it took3 months of rearranging before I deemed this some that blog worthy!

And the light. For me it's the piece de resistance for the room!

And this....

Getting the brick like washed and to this point was huge! 

Be back tomm with more details on the light and some accessories I have found over the past few weeks!

while most people deck the halls, I....

yes.. while most people are hanging their tinsle by the mantle with care I am FINALLY going to paint every room a neutral color so we can get this place sold this next spring/summer. 

Every. single. move. we. make in our home is in the mindset of putting it back on the market. 

step one is painting the den, dining area, hallway, baby girls room and the nursery all grey. 

I want anyone to be able to walk in and think this place is move in ready!!

After many hours of extensive research I am hoping to put the last paint sample on my walls tomorrow. 

Source: google.com via Jenny Beth on Pinterest

most of the other greys we have looked at and selected are way too cool.

The number one key factor in making a grey work is knowing the undertones of the color. This color has a warm undertone. Those warm tones often draw from browns (a predominant color in majority of my furniture) 

The warm tone does not mean that the room will be dark. It simply means the color will compliment the existing items we already have and easily flow thru my home.

In every room I have used Ben Moore I have been thoroughly impressed.

Can't wait to swing by my local ace hardware and pick up my sample! 

An Annie Sloan love affair

Meet my vintage kitchen table I purchased from a local antiques store. 

She was only $100.00 but perfectly matched the Restoration Hardware table I had been dreaming of. 

When we purchased the table it was a muted sage green and I was wanting more of a distressed grey look. 

This table has been with us for about 3 years.  For far far too long it sat with a coat of white, and a very very grainy distressing of glaze that I applied with a dragging brush technique to "distress."

Seen on the left of the table in the pic below. It was ugly!

Didn't take me long to fall in love with Annie Sloan chalk paint. 

I also knew the paint would be an investment so I began to save and scheme what color I would use.

The 

Here is everything painted with the base color except the bottom of the legs.

We went to visit my husband's family in Mobile, Alabama and while there my mother-in-law and I 

discovered we both have been itching to buy AS paint. 

She looked up stores in the area and the sweetest lady at Heron House helped us determine what all we needed and even walked through the steps with us. She was amazing!

Here is the table with the basecoat and beginning to use the dark stain.

Added some more stain as I got more confident. 

In this picture you can see the dark stain on the left and not on the right. 

Had I thought this through more thoroughly I would have stained in the other direction so there are no lines meeting in the middle of the table. 

Oh well. Works for me, and I will know for my next project.

And the iphone pic of the finished result. 

We have been very very pleased with how beautifully it stained.

Painting Progress

Remember this post on doing a DIY painting?

Well this is the base coat.. 

I think I have a long way to go.

Here is the view in the room.

so this houses den will make a nice playroom/movie room in the next house... 

Only took us being here three years to FINALLY get it the way we want it. 

(need to show y'all a pic with the area rug we jut got) 

Image Inspiration

So... I have this 30x40 painting... it has sat blank in my home for over 3 months now...

I am super inspired by Michelle Armas.

Attempting to use her work as inspiration for this blank canvas in my living room. 

Wish me luck!!

I mean this is just.... divine... only hope mine can have this much depth and movement as her work does.

Happy Weekend!