Scraping, scraping
and more scraping.
That's pretty much the current kitchen update. We have to strip down all of the cabinet drawers, doors, and framework to prep it for a new coat of paint. There are 4 layers on everything, currently, and at least the bottom 2 are heavily leaded. So I'm stuck in a little room in the hot basement with plenty of noxious fumes, wearing a particute respirator. Except for the respirator, it all reminds me of working on my undergraduate senior thesis, actually.
Yesterday, I spent another hour and a half at Home Depot looking at paint colors. I'm sure I'm making this much more difficult than it needs to be, because I'm planning the entire downstair's colors at once, but I want them to coordinate. That's 3-5 colors per room that need to look good together and set the appropriate mood for each of the rooms. I know, I'm a freak. I made some good progress yesterday, though, and when I brought my suggestions to B., he didn't puke. Actually, he seemed to be in agreement, which is good. He mainly complains if I verge on pastels, but it's hard to find a light, bright color that isn't a pastel.
Anyhow, back to stripping. If anyone is interested, I really recommend Citristrip to remove paint and varnish. It claims to be more environmentally friendly for its lack of methylene chloride, but it doesn't compromise on effectiveness. It's made much lighter work on removing these layers of paint.
2 Comments:
I want to see paint colors!!
*LOL* Okay. I should totally be scraping right now, but this is more fun.
Trim for all three rooms An off-white that goes well with both warm and cool colors.
Dining room main color
Living room main color It's light green, but you can't tell from the web picture.
Kitchen:
Cabinets (in a high gloss) This looks nearly white on the color card, but it's a super light grey-blue.
Wall, upper
Wall, lower
Possible accent #1
Possible accent #2
Possible accent #3
The accent colors are still in the works, but they'll be the main color of the backsplash and possibly also a pinstrip around the inside of the cabinet doors. I really like the idea of a good orangey color, because it brings out the highlights in the wood floor. I'm hesitant, though, because I don't want it to be a "fad" color that looks dated when we sell the house, and it's hard to find a "timeless" orange. I would have never thought that the purple would go with the orange-red of the dining room, but they look good together.
I still need to find the other colors for the living and dining rooms. I'd like to stencil some scrollwork along the top of the dining room walls, probably in a lighter shade of the same color. And the living room will have an accent wall around the fireplace, probably in a darker green. The ceilings of all of these rooms will be very light shades of the main colors, probably. I'm afraid of staying monochromatic, though, so maybe I'll throw in some vibrant accents.
Doesn't seem like all of this should have taken as long as it has. I've been thinking about it for several months, though, in terms of what color each room "feels" and how I'm going to tie them in together. My goal is to evoke definite moods in each of the rooms, to go with what we think those rooms should/will be used for, and to create a series of moods that gently evolve as one walks through the house.
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