A New Coat of Paint! {Bathroom Makeover: Phase 4}

As much as I complain about painting, it really does make such a difference in a room-- and so quickly, too! I haven't posted about the bathroom in a while, but I did go ahead and paint it green (Valspar "Churchill Hotel Olive). Huge, HUGE difference! The darker wall color makes our large bathroom feel much more cozy. And it just looks so good against the black vanity and the white trim. I am happy! I still need to make some wall decor for over the toilet, and I need to paint the trim, but it's getting there! Slowly but surely!

I did want to share a quick tip about painting around a toilet. I've tried it all, but this is my favorite solution! I always see people recommending plastic wrap, but that's a pain in the butt to deal with. I find it much easier to take the lid off of the tank, then slide a kitchen trash bag over the thing. Then use a brush to paint back behind the tank as far as you can. This was by far the easiest way to paint around the toilet!

I also decided to do something different about the towel rack. We used to just have this one towel rack, mounted on a board next to the shower. And the board was anchored to the wall using six long screws that had been spackled over and then painted. Super fun to remove! I actually wasn't sure I'd be able to get it off, but it finally cooperated. And I totally hurt myself in the process, wrenching the darn thing from the wall. Good times!

After spackling and painting over where the board had been, I had a blank slate to work with! I had purchased some basic brushed-nickel wall hooks from the store for a few bucks each, which I carefully installed at even intervals along the wall. Above them, I attached small chalkboards (available for $1 at most craft stores-- I painted the wooden edges white) using 3M picture hanging strips. Tada! Now that wall is full, and we have a much more practical solution for hanging the kids' towels and towels for any houseguests we have. Bonus: nobody's towels will get mixed up! So everyone is safe from catching cooties. Whew! :)

And that's all for today... It's a beautiful early fall day in New England, and it's time to get outdoors! Hope everyone has an amazing weekend!

Refinishing a Bathroom Vanity {Bathroom Makeover, Phase 1}

We have this great hall bathroom upstairs. It's close to the kids' bedrooms and our guest room, and it's HUGE! It's the best bathroom in the entire house. Except I never painted it. Or did anything to it, really, except hang an old shower curtain that we already owned. So it's been calling to me for a while now... And then I was at the store the other day, and picked up a can of this:

(Yes. Another Rust-oleum product. I'm in a spray-painting phase, what can I say?)

Anyway, it seemed like the right stuff to paint our vanity with. Just like in the kitchen, we had that weird wood-on-wood thing going on. It bothered me. I wanted more contrast. My first thought would have been to paint it white, but then the countertop would have looked weird (it's not-quite-white). I decided that black would look really cool. Plus, the room is big and bright enough that I wasn't worried about it feeling smaller. So, black it was!

Since I was going to be spray painting, I needed to tape everything off and cover the area with newspaper. Spray paint is messy!

Then I sprayed to my heart's content (3 cans' worth, by the way. Thank goodness for the hardware store across the street!). I had the bathroom fan running and the window wide open, and it was still BAD! I had to take frequent breaks for fresh air, because I was getting a little light-headed. The room was filled with a cloud of lacquer spray paint! The fumes were crazy! Mommy was woozy!

That being said, it looked really good. I did the drawer fronts and cabinet door, too. I was very pleased with the finish!

Once they had been dry for about 5 hours, I very carefully removed the tape and newspaper, and reinstalled the door and drawers. And that's when the REAL cleanup began... I realized that there was a thin layer of black dust EVERYWHERE! haha! It was really noticeable when I lifted up the newspapers, and the floors underneath were noticeably cleaner and brighter. Oops! It was just dust, and it came up easily with my microfiber mop and some damp rags, but it is something to consider. If you're going to spray-paint your vanity, do that first! You've been warned! Also, move any linens out of the bathroom completely. My rugs and towels are in the washer as I type... :)

Anyway... isn't it pretty? I am in love with how it turned out, and now I'm feeling inspired to work on the rest! I have a vision now! Stay tuned! :)

Adventures in Baseboard Heaters...

So, we live in an old house. Have I mentioned that? haha!! Prior to us buying it, it was a rental property for many years. Most recently, it was used as a group home for developmentally challenged kids and teens. With that many young people in the house, it certainly took some abuse! Even now, there is graffiti inside some of the closets (mostly stuff like "AG + BD 4EVERRR"). Ahh, young love... :) But one thing is certain: our baseboard heater covers have definitely seen better days.

I need to clarify for some of my friends, since baseboard heaters were a foreign concept for me before moving here. Our house has a boiler down in the basement, fueled by heating oil. The boiler heats up the water, which is then sent off through copper pipes to different parts of the house. The pipes run along the interior walls and heat up the house. They are covered with these metal baseboard heater covers. And now you know!

Anyway... back to my beat-up baseboard covers... Once you start fixing up wooden baseboards and window frames, it just makes the baseboard heater covers look THAT much worse. This is the endless cycle of home improvement, my friends! I actually finished one coat of paint on the window frame, and made a rash decision to take one of the covers apart. Mostly just to see if I could. It wasn't hard! There were little screws at each end, which needed to be removed:

Then the end caps slid right off. I lifted the flat front panel straight up, and it popped right off. Easy peasy!

I also discovered this gigantic hole in the wall. Mouse hole? Right through the metal?? Who knows. Actually, it looks more like the pipe used to actually run through the wall that way, and was later rerouted through the floor. Regardless of the cause, it is still a big hole in the wall! I stuffed it full of insulation, then shoved some steel wool in there for good measure. I am a pro at this by now. Though any mouse that ever gets in is doomed to Death by Cat. Charlie is one mean mouser!

While I had the cover off, I vacuumed it out really good. Dust on the metal fins makes heating less efficient. And I need every ounce of efficiency I can get!

So, then it was time to paint. This particular section wasn't too bad. If there had been more rust, I would have sanded it down with a palm sander, then applied a rust-blocking primer paint. But this section was just scratched, dented, and the wrong color (all the trim in the house is WHITE, and the baseboard heaters are ECRU. ECRU, I tell you! Faux pas!!). I went to the store with the intention of buying white "Appliance Paint." Yeah... they only had Black and Biscuit (Ecru!). I ended up with this instead, which the store employee assured me would work for this project:

Painting was easy! I took the loose pieces outside and sprayed them there. And then I masked everything off very carefully to spray the part along the wall. It went on very smoothly, and the final coat was white and shiny and MUCH cleaner-looking!

The problem? I think that the glossy finish really emphasizes the dings and dents, and that's no good! Replacing all the baseboard covers in the house is costly, so that's not going to happen. But I think I am going to repaint this one using appliance paint (when I find it) for a slightly less glossy finish. I will update when I do! For now, though, this is definitely an improvement... I just need to perfect it before I move on to the other sections! :)

Fixing Up Old Window Frames

While our house has newer windows throughout (thankfully!) some of the window frames aren't in the best shape. I think it's because they might have actually re-used the original materials. And, while that's very cool, it also means that there's something else I need to worry about when messing with them: lead paint!

Anyway, one of the window frames at the front of the house was ESPECIALLY bad. Check it out!

While I'd normally get my paint scraper and get all that flaking paint off, I didn't think that was the brightest idea-- especially since I could see layers and layers of old paint underneath. I didn't need to be disturbing any lead paint, especially with little kids and pets in the house! Instead, I got my handy caulking gun out (I love that thing!), loaded it with painter's caulk, and went to town on filling all the little cracks and openings (after wiping down any dust and debris from the sill). I used the caulk to essentially "glue down" the flaking paint, and then to smooth over the top using my fingers. Will it ever look brand new? Probably not, and especially with all those layers of paint! But, the house is almost 200 years old. I think these things are part of its charm!

So I waited for the caulk to dry, then taped the frame off and painted it with the same paint I've been using on my baseboards.

(I also took off the cover of the baseboard heater, planning to paint it in a classic impulsive-me move!) And seriously? It looks pretty darn good! And really, it wasn't that labor-intensive. The room looks so much brighter and cleaner! And, BONUS: sealing all those cracks should keep bugs from getting inside! On to the next project...

Painting Kitchen Cabinets: DURING/AFTER

Have I mentioned how unpleasant it is to paint kitchen cabinets? Having done it twice now (for reasons I will never fully understand-- I'm going to plead temporary insanity!), I will swear it on a stack of Holy Bibles: painting kitchen cabinets is pure misery!

That being said... Misery loves company, right? Here's how I did it (Don't forget to check out the "before" blog post!).

STEP 1: Make a drawing of your cabinets and label each one with a number, a letter, a nickname, WHATEVER. It doesn't need to be pretty-- just look at mine! Keep this paper handy. You will thank me for this later.

STEP 2: Figure out where the heck you're going to do this. I had a few requirements: It needed to have a door I could close, to keep both my kids and the cat out. It couldn't be windy or dusty. I decided on our upstairs guest room, which also had the advantage of having really good natural light. Plus, I could paint at all hours of the day or night, and I could wear my jammies. Bonus! I laid down a plastic drop cloth, then set up sawhorses with long 2x4 boards between them. I stuck push-pins into the boards every foot or so, so that the cabinets wouldn't rest directly on the wood. When all was said and done, I had a nifty little work area that could accommodate four of the big cabinet doors at a time. So... I knew it would take a while, but that was okay!

STEP 3: Time to take the cabinet doors and drawer fronts off. Electric screwdrivers are awesome for this! Here's where my experience came into play: I labeled every single hinge "top" or "bottom" with a piece of blue painter's tape, and put all the hardware for each door (or drawer) into a plastic baggie labeled with that cabinet's number. I also labeled each cabinet with a little piece of painter's tape. Really, it's useful stuff to have around. Buy in bulk! :)

STEP 4: Cleaning time. I squirted the deglosser onto the scrubber and went to work, removing years of grease and grime from all around the cabinets. I had no idea how filthy they were until this point. It was completely disgusting!! Anyway, I scrubbed and scrubbed and then wiped everything down multiple times with a wet rag. Then let it all dry. This step took me a long time, because I wanted to make sure the paint would adhere properly to my cabinets! No taking chance or cutting corners!

STEP 5: Finally, I started painting. Again, I was glad to have my previous experience! I started with the backs of the doors, just in case I messed up. I painted around the inner ledge, then filled in the middle panel, taking great care to follow the grain of the wood. Then I painted the two short sides, followed by the two longer ones, followed by the edges. The video below, made by the good folks at Rust-oleum, explains the technique very well! I think I did three coats of paint on the front, and only two on the back (I figured I could get away with it). Once the paint was dry, I did one layer of the top coat. And then it was on to the next set, over and over again until everything was finished! The procedure was the same for the cabinet boxes. It took forever, it was a huge pain in the butt, and it was ninety-something degrees inside the house! Yep. I'm still sticking with temporary insanity.

However... when it was all said and done, my cabinets were lovely. I can sorta-kinda-MAYBE understand why I wanted to do it all over again.

SIIIIIGH.... So pretty... And for a grand total of about $150, it really transformed the kitchen!

Unfortunately, it also made the counters look even worse. Yet another project to add to the list! It never ends!

Painting Kitchen Cabinets: BEFORE

When we bought our first home in 2005, our kitchen had these hideous hunter-green cabinet boxes with oak doors and floral-printed knobs. Really. Someone actually lived like this!

The rest of the house was pretty neutral, so I made it my mission to paint the cabinets. It took me a month. It was HORRIBLE. I swore I would never, EVER paint cabinets again. Ever. Although they did look pretty... I even made a kitchen island to match (maybe I will blog about it someday)!

I also vowed never to paint them again, simply because the paint wasn't that durable. I was constantly touching it up. It chipped, got dirty, and just generally gave me grief. NEVER AGAIN!

So, then we moved into our current house. And the cabinets were in much better shape, but...

They clashed with the floor. We have almost-200-year-old Southern Yellow Pine floors, and the cabinets were cherry. It was a lot of warm-colored-but-not-exactly-matching wood. And it drove me crazy. AND, since replacing the floor isn't going to be in the budget for a looooong time, I began to have these crazy thoughts about painting the cabinets white. Again. Only this time, I'd do some research and do a better job!

My husband, after giving me The Look, agreed to my plan. He almost always does (what a good guy!). After looking into it, I decided to buy a kit. Rust-oleum's Cabinet Transformations kit, to be precise.

It comes with a heavy-duty deglosser and scrubbers to really clean the cabinets. Then there's the paint itself ("Pure White"), a "decorative glaze" that you can apply for an antiqued effect (I didn't), and a scratch-resistant protective top coat. Rust-oleum had me at "protective top coat"-- I think that's where I had gone wrong in my previous cabinet painting endeavors! I was so excited when these babies showed up on my front porch (thanks, Amazon!).

Anyway, I picked the two hottest, most humid weeks of the year to paint the cabinets. In a house with no air conditioning, and I couldn't run a fan for fear of blowing dust particles onto my wet paint. I am a glutton for punishment, I tell ya! Stay tuned for the full report, and the "after" pics!