And (finally) on to the bedroom remodel: Part 1-paint

I have little use for loft beds and futons anymore, so as soon as Jen moved out this summer we started the big, long-planned, remodeling project for the downstairs bedroom.

Inspiration picture from an old Pier I ad.

Random pins

The overall goals are to get a queen sized bed down there (just in case some married couple wants to visit someday), to get rid of a mountain of daughter-related-no-longer-used clutter, and to have an accessible place to store toys.  (Sorry crawl space, your accessibility status has been rejected.)  I'm hoping the overall vibe turns out to be somewhere in the "summer cottage" realm.

First, we dismantled Nick's bunk and stored it for future use by some grandchildren.  It has some sentimental value and is super sturdy, so I hated to get rid of it.  The black futon, on the other hand, has no sentimental value and little comfort value so I sold that the same day.

The set from the downstairs room is more comfortable and matches Nick's room, so upstairs it went.

Next, I started in that now empty corner and removed the old wallpaper border.

And then moving around the room (and moving boxes, etc. as I went) painted everything the new color.  There are definitely some side effects from only having a north window in that room.  In low light it looks pretty green and in better light it's more blue-ish.  Fortunately, I like them both and think they'll go well with the planned red accents.  I'm also going to be painting a wardrobe some shade of off-white and probably a diy headboard to match, to lighten things up down there.

If I weren't a bum, I'd take out that brown carpet.  That will have to be a project for another day though as I'm pretty sure it would push Dad over the DIY edge.  Instead I'm going to focus on finding some cute rugs that will be usable now and later.

The next project was to do a cheap-o mom version of that cute gingham wall.  I could definitely have found wallpaper, but at $90 (ish) a roll, it was definitely out of my budget, even for one wall.  Instead, I found instructions online for a paint effect and despite the pinterest fail warnings, have decided to go ahead with it.  I thought it seemed safest to go with a more subtle plan, so I scuttled the idea of doing white over the base color and have just gone with a lighter shade of the base.  So far, the cost is a quart of glaze, a small foam roller, and some frog tape.

Nick (patient helper that is is) manned the laser level while I taped last night.

This was taken on June 23 - probably the most sun this room will ever see.

And this morning, I painted the first set of stripes.

Not too much drama.  In fact, I could leave it as is.

It was very easy to paint and the delicate surface frog tape (yellow) worked very well.  The only issue I had was pulling the tape off that metal cover above and left of the outlet.  It's covering a cable tv connection from years ago.  I suppose I should have primed the cover first, because that paint pulled off in one neat sheet.  On the up side, look how nicely the pattern is camouflaging the electrical box cover!  It's hardly invisible, but I am pretty happy with it.

As soon as Nick gets home, I'll tape the vertical stripes and post the grand reveal!

UPDATE WITH FINAL PICTURES:

Surprisingly, the vertical stripes were way more trouble than the horizontal.  Wouldn't you think gravity would be our friend here?

Viola!  Isn't it wonderful?

NOTES:

• I made a largish sample of the paint colors gingham before I started in on a whole wall.  Since the initial mix of 2:1 glaze to paint turned out to be more opaque than I wanted, I went against manufacturer instructions and added more to make it 3:1.  I have no idea if that will make a difference, but figure I can either learn to love checks instead of gingham, OR I can just take a slightly darker bit of paint and hand paint the intersecting squares to emphasize the gingham effect.  My high capacity for tedium will be helpful, should I go this route. ;-)
• My biggest fear going in was the possibility of running out of paint mid-gingham and trying to match my Frankenstein mix of white, blue, and glaze.  For the record though, it's hardly using any at all and I'll probably have about 3 cups left over.