Painting the Walls

I am sure you all know the decision process that can go into painting. And with two opinionated decision makers... we went back and forth a few times. I should mention that we have both approached the design of this house with respect to its history and context. Neither one of us could envision going completely modern in this house. So we hoped to maintain its 1930s character and add a few contemporary touches where it will work.

Our decision process started with pinterest. Or I should say I used pinterest as a dream board to gather my inspiration and make my case to the hubby. :)

In the few weeks we have owned the home we have managed to paint all three bedrooms and the living room. We did have a little help from some great friends to help knock this out!

Living Room
I'll start with the Living Room and the inspiration photo for the paint color.

What we loved about the color was it's complexity and how it paired with the creams to create a soft environment. Below you will see the inspiration photo taped to the wall along with several Sherwin Williams paint chips. Our final color selection was Sherwin Williams #SW6213 Halcyon Green.

 

Master Bedroom
There really wasn't an inspiration photo for the Master Bedroom. Although I am drawn to photos such as the one below that reminds me of lazy Sundays and cozy covers.

The Master Bedroom was already painted a cool gray which we really like the idea of painting the room grey only we wanted to add a little warmth to the color. Below is the final color we selected, Sherwin Williams #SW7044 Amazing Gray.

Second Bedroom
For the Second Bedroom we really wanted to keep it simple and fresh. We had already been repainting all of the wood trim in the house a soft white. With that in mind we chose a white on white room, the walls are painted the same wood trim color only in an Eg-Shel versus the gloss finish of the wood trim. Sherwin Williams #SW0050 Classic Light Buff.

Third Bedroom
For the Third Bedroom I found myself really inspired by some bold colors. In the past we have been fairly conservative with color (it's stereotypical of architects to always revert to white). There were some amazing deep, grass greens that I was drawn to. But in the end we went with a rich blue. Here is the inspiration photos.

Below is our sample color and an image of the final product, Sherwin Williams #SW7610 Turkish Tile.

I cannot wait to get the floors refinished! It will really make a huge difference.

Kitchen Demo Cont'd

Well, we've been so busy working on the house, we've fallen behind on the blog. Plenty of updates so let's get right to it.

The kitchen demo is progressing well. When we last left off, we had opened up the center wall to find its containing ductwork. We've since opened up the ceiling at the top of the wall to learn that the wall is load bearing. Slight changes of plans, we'll need to add a beam to carry the floor above. This will also include two posts that will go all the way down to the basement floor.

Regarding the ductwork, we've met with an HVAC contractor and discussed how to move it. We'll need to reorganize the ductwork and some water pipes in the basement, but we should be able to jog the bedroom supply and return against the south wall. The structural beam will actually gives us something to jog the ducts against and we can fur it out. Combine that with a millwork piece at the south wall and the ducts should be completely concealed.

We then moved the demo effort to the wall behind the stove. Nothing fancy, right? Well, the ceramic tile (and its full mortar bed) came off the wall in one piece. Cory was temporarily pinned between the wall and the stove, but he managed to break it down into small pieces (no small task).

Next up, take down the plaster and lath, the surprises continued. Within the wall we found a weird abandoned pipe (old stove exhaust?), random batt insulation (surprising for a 1938 house), and termite damage. Now, the termite damage is not active (thankfully), but we will need to remove the damaged wood and scissor in some new studs. (Click on the image to enlarge)

Good with that wall, on to the buffet. Now you see it, now you don't...

The hutch that we currently have in our kitchen will fit in this opening perfectly (after we trim off part of its legs, of course).

Let's keep going. Lower cabinets and the kitchen sink, sayonara!

And last, but not least, the flooring. If you remember, we're taking out the ceramic tile, a layer of plywood, a layer of mdf, and the linoleum to get down to the original hardwood floor. We found some pretty cool colored striping in the linoleum, but nothing could have prepared us for this gem:

Custom linoleum inlay, pretty cool stuff. Nonetheless, its all gotta go, let's see those original hardwood floors pre-sanding:

The original plan was to lay new ceramic tile throughout the kitchen (we already have the tile picked out), but when we learned that the center wall is load bearing, it also meant that it's helping to hold up the kitchen floor (because there is no wall below in the basement). Without the wall, the weight of ceramic tile may create some deflection in the floor and cause cracks. With that in mind, while our flooring guy is redoing the hardwoord floors throughout the house, he will check out the kitchen to see if we can get past the linoleum glue and save the hardwood. If so, we will most likely paint it.

It's been an exhausting three weeks demo-ing the kitchen, but its all done. Just in time for special garbage pickup ;)

Let us know what you think and stay tuned, we've also been painting......