Consumed with a Two Bedroom Redo

Twenty or so years ago, I put my marks on our guest bedroom and master bedroom. We had been back East, visited the home of Louisa May Alcott in Concord, Mass., where I was charmed by the art left on the walls by her sister. I came home with the desire (and nerve) to go crazy with paint in my own home. (This was before I ever had the courage to call myself an artist.) Thus, our bedroom became the "dragon room" which was a nod to my summer in China. The guestroom became the "sunflower room" because of my admiration of Van Gogh.

Our closet

After twenty years, both rooms were ready for both a thorough cleaning, new flooring, and fresh paint--no radical change. But, oh boy, did it bring upheaval to the household. Where the heck do you put all the stuff in two bedrooms while you spend "a few days" giving two bedrooms a face-lift? Well, after pretty much filling up our garage and carport with the furniture, our living room has become our bedroom/dressing room.

Of course the "few days" have turned into two week so far. Even the tile guy underestimated how long it would take him to lay the slate in both rooms. This has given me even more time to think up small side projects involving more work, more trips to town, etc.







First of all, for me, even picking the right wall colors is not easy. I tried out five different colors and didn't like any of them. I was looking for a calm and welcoming color for the guest room, but none of these did it for me. The next time I went to town, I cleverly took the quilt that will top the bed and matched the soft yellow of the quilt. The winning color even has a warm feeling name if you are a dog lover, "yellow lab."

Here is a sneak peek of the fresh paint and slate floor of the new guest room. further decor changes there are coming. I have ordered stencils to put on the walls to give this makeover a woodsy feel. Yes, that is one of the small side projects I was talking about earlier. I have more time to think therefore more creative things pop into my mind.

Beyond fancying up the walls with stencils, we gave one of our daughters our old chest of drawers, so I had to come up with more furniture. Mike, the voice of reason, said there was no rush because it would be awhile before we really needed it. But to me, having all this time being tossed out of my bedroom seemed the absolutely perfect time to find new furniture.

On the internet, I found and fell in love with a chest, but I really needed a matching nightstand and I didn't want to pay big $$$. So I called up my sister, Janice, and invited her to lunch and a used furniture hunt. I figured that with paint and my artistic skills, I could turn used pieces into the look I'd been tempted with online. By the end of the afternoon, I had found and purchased two pieces of furniture.



This large chest on the left and nightstand on the right are being transformed into

THIS.

All you DIYers know this: all it takes is elbow grease. Yesterday I spent the day out in our very crowded (full of our bedroom) garage learning to used "Bondo" to fix a lip on the nightstand, sanding all items thoroughly, and putting the initial coat of oil based enamel paint on two chests and eight drawers. Oh yes, I also spray painted our ceiling fan from the master bedroom and painted its blades blue, but I saving that room for another post!

If you follow my blog because of my art, you are now seeing a sample of what happens when I don't get out into the studio to paint! I just get into more creative projects and drive my husband a little bit nuts. In fact, he banished me to the studio today just to keep me out of more trouble!

My New Front Door

20 years ago, soon after we bought our mid-century (as they call it today), ranch style house in the country, I painted a home-made and homely front door. It was sturdy and utilitarian, but I always longed for a front door with a window.

Well, several weeks ago I ordered my new wood-textured fiberglass door with a 3/4 glass insert. I struggled with choices, but fiberglass won out because of its excellent insulation and durability. Also, I saw a sample of a stained fiberglass door in the store, and decided that I would stain the interior of the door to match the rest of our woodwork. I also found a glass pattern that I loved.

 

What I didn't know until after the purchase was that staining fiberglass is a very long process. Because the surface cannot absorb the stain, you have to just let it dry. It takes 48 hours--that's right, 2 days--before you can finish or restain the door. In my case, I had to do do two layers of stain to get the color right.

 

In the meantime, I was staining the moulding around the door. Part of it was raw wood, part had a white primer on it. Can you tell the difference?

 

So after 4 days of staining and drying, I could put the clear coat (polyurethane) on. Of course, I needed to put at least 2 layers of that on with 24 hours of drying time between coats.

Now we are talking close to a week and I had only one side done!

I wanted to paint the outside of the door, so we flipped over the door and I was ready to paint. Next surprise was that although the fiberglass was primed coming out of the factory, expert advise was to put on another primer so that the paint would adhere well. Okay, what's one more day?

 

Of course, I've learned over the years that it is near impossible to envision a lot of color from the little 1/2 by 1 inch sample at the store, so I bought a color in one of those new handy sample jars. Yep, I love red.

 

Finally I was ready to put on my "Ladybug Red" high-gloss, oil based enamel paint.

 

Three coats of red (24 hours drying time between) later, the door was finished. Mike and I hung it today and WOW!!

 

 

 

Does that say "Welcome!" or what!