One of our standing home improvement deals is Andy
builds, I paint. I actually don't mind this deal so much... I enjoy the instant gratification of painting and seeing an immediate change. I also love setting up a movie while I paint (and now as a result of having painted 30+ rooms, can spout off scenes from the BBC "Pride and Prejudice" verbatim... though I do have to take a painting break every time Mr. Darcy jumps into the pond. He clearly needs my full attention). Before kids, once I started painting, I wouldn't stop until the whole room/piece was finished. Now, I work around nap times and bed times and eventually get it done. This project took me 3 nap times and 2 bed times to finish.
Always, the hardest task when painting is color choice. I made one wrong choice when we moved into our DeKalb house and that has made me a bit trigger-shy since (which will happen when you paint an entire kitchen then repaint it the next day). Since I already painted the porch white (SO unusual for me!), I decided I wanted to use some subtle color on the benches. Enter grey. Grey is a tricky color. It looks grey on the little color chip in the store, then once it comes home with you, suddenly morphs into beige, or blue, or lavender (check out the light walls in our
bedroom, urf!). So, I was a little nervous but after going through EVERY light grey color chip in the store, I was pretty confident in my choice: "Time Worn Stone" by Better Homes and Gardens. I am a self-admitted paint snob so I did a color match in Glidden brand- 1 quart of semi gloss (I always do semi gloss for furniture and eggshell for walls). Had I been at Home Depot, I would have gotten Behr paint, which is my favorite, but alas... Decorah only has a Walmart, sigh.
My tools of choice:
I used a pretty small, angled brush for all the cutting in and corners. I used the little roller for everything else. The roller had a flat nap pad on it which is what is recommended for furniture. The little baggies are sitting next to everything so when I have to stop (when nap time is over!) I put the roller in a bag and brush in a bag, close it as much as I can, and throw it in the fridge. Brushes keep for days like this so you only have to clean-up once! Everything got one coat of primer first (Zinsser 1, 2, 3).
Yeah, my sweet painting clothes- Old Navy pj pants and my high school "Pajama Game" t-shirt. Of course, I have the iPad set up and and am catching up on episodes of "Burn Notice". After the coat of primer, the benches needed two coats of paint. I
just squeaked by with one quart of paint. We are thrilled with the results.
The light grey really looks sharp on the white walls but is neutral enough to go with the outside color of the house and kitchen cabinet color (which you can see through the window joining the porch to the house). I considered making bench cushions but decided the cost wasn't worth the product. I may add covers to the bottom cubbies so you don't see all our "junk" and I am keeping my eyes out for some jazzy pillows and rug (the one in the pic was returned. We decided it was too small for the area and just looked weird) to add some fun color and pattern to the space. More on that to come. For now, the kids love playing out here on rainy days and we love having an organized area to take off boots and relax for a bit.
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