A Medallion, a Door Knob and a Paint Color

I buy a lot of my office supplies from Ebay so at the end of each month I get an e-mail from them that I have X number of Ebay Bucks to spend.  I usually use the bonus dollars to buy something like a little McCoy planter or as a credit toward a larger purchase.  I mean free money is free money.

With last month's Ebay Bucks I decided to buy a little plaster ceiling medallion.  Totally free including the shipping.

I've had real issues with the dining room ceiling.  The paint and/or plaster on one end of the dining room was peeling severely when I bought the house.  I thought it might be calcimite which I've read horror stories about on the internet.  But, refusing to accept I might have calcamite, I decided to scrape all the peelings and use joint compound to fill the holes.

The ceiling in the same area was also really discolored.  Whenever I would use joint compound on the holes, the discoloration would migrate and leave a urine-colored circle around each area that was wet.  I tried a latex primer to no avail.  It would look good for a month or so and the discoloration seemed to start bleeding back through the primer.

To add to my ceiling misery, the plaster around the box for the light was just a mess and I just couldn't get it to look good.

So I tricked a friend into helping me install the medallion.  It came with a metal ring that screws right in to the box so it wasn't necessary to glue it right to the ceiling.  I caulked around the edges but if I want to take it down at some point, it should be pretty easy.  And then I did a coat of that nasty, oil-based KILZ to block the discoloration.  I typically like the smell of things like gasoline and airplane glue (and I'm particuarly fond of magic markers) but I'm still a little disoriented from all the VOCs in the KILZ.  I think it will do the job once and for all though.  The ceiling looks great.

Here you can see the edge of ceiling and wall blur at a misty horizon.  I'm also really liking my choice of oil-rubbed bronze hardware.  I love the contrast of it against the White River paint.  The hardware isn't a perfect match with the spray paint I put on the hinges but it's pretty good.

The door know is white porcelain with an oil-rubbed bronze backplate.



I think this room is crying out for a little purple.

I was just starting to load things back into the room and try a little artwork on the wall when I decided I wasn't 100 percent happy with the paint color.  I painted the walls and trim the same color and what looks great in the living room looked just a little too dirty in the dining room.  Why does that happen?  In the living room, the paint is broken up by the burlap-colored drapes and in there dining room, there's larger expanses of the same color and it's just not perfect.

So even though White River is the lightest shade on that particular page of the BM fan deck, I went and asked for a 50% version of the same color.  I think the woman actually tsked at me.

In the photo above, I've just done above and around the closet door.  The 50% is a very subtle difference but I'm liking it 100% more. 

It acutally shows a little better at night.  The lighter wall color really provides a better reference for the oyster/mushroomy color of the door and trim.

So here's the view from the dining room into the bathroom foyer.  It's about a foot larger than it was before.  The bathroom door is on the left.  The gnome door to the basement is on the right.  And the hidden window is under the sheetrock between the two.  I can't wait to get that restored but, alas, I am broke for now.  I'll have some time to make some decisions on the bathroom finishes and fixtures.  I want something really special for the sink.  A bathroom easel maybe?  No, I guess not. I'm thinking something with wheels for sure.  My peeps are on the hunt.

Here's a picture of the front staircase when I bought the house.  You can see down the hall how dark and tight that space was.

And this is what that looks like now.  That window will really bring in some much needed light.

I'll shut up for a while.  I have a friend coming in to town so I'm putting away the paint brushes for a few days but I have more visitors coming in early June so I'd like to get going on the guest bedroom soon.

Painting Windows

Neighbor's back door

There's not a lot of progress to report on my multiple projects.  I've been working with The Architects again to tweak the kitchen and bathroom plans.  I'll show you those plans in another post.  I've been ordering fabric samples from a variety of ebay and etsy sellers for my upholstery projects.  I get overwhelmed whenever I go into a fabric store but I want to see things in person.  I thought ordering one-yard samples would be a good way to limit my choices and see how they look in my house compared to under the fluorescent lights of a store.  And buying fabric online seems like a cost-effective alternative.

Everything here has been a frozen, snowy mess since Christmas.  We've had three major snowstorms in a row...

That's -3 F.  (-21 C. for the rest of the world)

...colder than normal temps...

 ...and there's another big storm predicted for this week. 

 I literally have nowhere to put any more snow.   I may have to attack this pile and put it over the fence into the side yard.

Since I'm cooped up inside, I thought this would be a good time to get the new windows painted.  I've been feeling a little overwhelmed by this project.  All these little panes add up to one big pain. 

142 panes.

568 little corners.

One coat of primer, one finish coat.

So I've committed to getting one window done per weekend which means I'll be done by spring.  That's two things to look forward to:  painted windows and spring.

I don't normally use tape when I paint.  I'm a very neat painter, I have a pretty steady hand and I'd rather deal with any mishaps as they happen as opposed to finding surprises under the tape when you peel it off.

I started painting by hand but I'm such a perfectionist about the edges, I was really unhappy with the job I was doing.  So I decided to try Frog tape.  I've read really positive reviews of it, so I thought it would be a good chance to try it out myself.  Taping up the edges was pretty easy but getting the tape cut at perfect right angles to fit in the corners was a real chore.

As I stood taping up all the panes of one of the living room windows, Sam stopped by to start work on the front stair railings.  When he saw me taping up the windows he said, "You should get those painter's tape corners."

"What?"

"They make rolls of blue painter's tape corners that fit perfectly in the corners."  Sam said he'd never used them but he's worked with painters that really swear by them.

I don't know how many times I've been to Home Depot and various paint stores and I've never noticed them.  Maybe I just never noticed.

Have you seen them?  Have you tried them?

I went on ebay and found only one listing for them so I bought a few rolls and two days later they arrived.  Each roll of 60 corners was about $7.50

They're definitely easier and faster to stick in place than trying to cut perfect right angles with the tape.  And then I filled the gaps with Frog tape.  This must look really attractive from outside.

After using the blue corners on one window, I'll agree they work well.  They kept the paint off the glass and peeled off cleanly without having to score anything with a razor blade.  I also REALLY love the Frog tape.  It works amazing well.  On one living window which has 18 panes, I had only one tiny place where the paint bled underneath and required cleaning up with the razor blade.  Everywhere else the edges are perfect!

After painting the two big living room windows, the light bulb went on and I figured out a way to handle the corners that's pretty easy and doesn't require the extra cost of the blue corners.

Rip one small piece and cut the corner at a blunt angle and position the point into the corner on one side of the pane.

Rip a second small piece, cut a blunt angle and again place the point into the corner on the other side of the pane.

If you do this when it's light outside, you can see if you get the tape tight to the edge.  You can see here that I didn't quite get it tight on the top.  You could pull it back and try again or...

...just rip another piece and overlap it.

Actually, if you rip about a three-inch piece, you can cut the tape at an angle in the middle and have no waste at all.  I drew a line where I could cut just so you can see what I mean.  (I wouldn't draw lines on the tape.  The ink could end up in the paint.)

Ripping these small pieces and cutting the corners is something that you can do while sitting and listening to music, watching TV or watching it snow.  I'm sticking them lightly on a plastic cutting board that I'll pull them from as I'm taping up my next window.

The painted windows look beautiful.  I'm really happy with how they turned out.  

Two down, eight more to go.