Post 3: Master Bedroom - Paint Fixes Everything

Before we moved in, our master bedroom felt much too old for us.  Purple walls and lace curtains weren't going to cut it..

Not to mention stained glass windows. Fortunately, these we're stickers...

...stickers that peeled right off!

Purple was not exactly in our color scheme.  The dark walls, beige trim, and dim lighting left the room a little too dark. We needed to brighten things up a bit for our taste -- but this was nothing a little paint couldn't fix!

We got right to work patching holes.

 

  

We were going to paint the room beige to lighten it up. Not only were we not sure if one coat of beige would mask the purple paint, we also were worried because the purple was a much shinier paint than what we were using to cover it. (It was more of a semi-gloss and we were using an eggshell.)

We chose to prime the room first with Killz to ensure we wouldn't have to use two coats of our beige paint. 

It really went pretty quickly -- I cut in the corners while Alan rolled the walls. 

*Sulak Suggestion

Notice we have the windows open now. Killz is extremely potent, so it's important to make sure you have good ventilation. We really should have worn masks too! Everything smelled like Killz for a few hours after painting -- not good!!

The next evening, we retuned to the house to apply the beige coat of paint. We decided our system worked the night before, so I cut in the corners while Alan rolled the walls.

  

While cutting in the corners, we noticed that the purple paint was peeling away from the walls where the walls met the ceiling. 

 

We were a little concerned about solving the problem quickly before move-in, so we forgot to get good pictures, but you can kind of see it here.

Unfortunately, painting over this didn't make the old paint stick to the walls.  When we peeled the old paint off, it not only exposed a crack along the top corner of the room from when the foundation shifted, but it also left a seam several paint coats thick along the top of the wall. Painting over this didn't hide the ridge of paint. 

So, maybe paint doesn't solve everything...

We discussed our options and decided we had three:

1. Learn to tape and float drywall and then texture over the corner before repainting

2. Install crown molding to cover the corner completely

3. Leave it as-is and say we wanted to expose the rich history of the house

Okay -- option three was definitely out. That left us with drywalling and crown molding. They both seemed equally difficult for us as rookies, and crown molding seemed to be the option that would most enhance the look of the room, so we decided to go in that direction.

We didn't have a miter saw and didn't want to purchase one just yet, so Alan picked up a miter box from the hardware store. 

 

Without a miter saw, it was going to be much more difficult to cut the corners of the crown molding, so we found some corner pieces to use instead. These were pretty handy! You nail them into the corners of your room (of course, they have to be square corners -- fortunately, that's what we have) and then you can butt the crown molding right up against it without having to cut difficult angles. 

 

Once the corner pieces were all installed, we measured the length of the wall between the two corner pieces and cut the molding to fit. 

We recommend using a table or saw horses to do this.
The floor is really hard on your back and on your tarp.

Per my dad's suggestion, before beginning this project, we invested in an air compressor that came with several nail guns to make putting up the molding much easier and faster.  Otherwise, we would have had to glue the molding up and use a hammer and nails to keep it up there -- that would have taken ten times as long.  Thanks Dad!

 

We purchased a pancake compressor without wheels, so we wheel it around on a small dolly.  It came with two nail guns and a staple gun!

 

We had to match two pieces of molding together along each wall because the walls were so long. Alan did an awesome job getting the two pieces to sit against the wall and the ceiling at the same angle, and then we caulked between them to hide the seam. 

 

 

The molding was finished!  Alan caulked around everything and sanded it down, and then we painted all of the trim.  

If you're interested in more on crown molding, visit our dining room project here!

We had a lot of touch-ups this way, so we decided the next room we painted, we would paint the trim first and then the walls -- we'll see how it goes!

Remember that dim fan?

That had to go.  We actually replaced it with a fan from our dining room.  We really liked the fan that was in there, but prefer to have a chandelier in the dining room, so this was a perfect steal!

The fan was antique brass, though, and we are changing fixtures and knobs to oil rubbed bronze.  Not to worry!  We bought a can of oil rubbed bronze spray paint, took the fan apart, taped, sprayed it, and voila!  (We also flipped the fan blades to the other side.)

 

 

We replaced the light covers with some simpler ones we found at the hardware store and installed the "new" fan to replace the old one.

A few late nights, some elbow grease, and a couple new tools later... Voila! We have a new room!

Before

After

Don't worry -- we plan on painting the door white soon!!

We think the room turned out great!  What do you think?

Check out our next project where we take down some awful wallpaper in our living room and brighten it up with paint and texture!  Click here for more!

Post 2: "Obviously" Before the Move

We closed on our house mid-September and we didn't have to be out of our apartment until the end of the month, so that obviously meant to us that we would get some work done on the house the week before we moved in.  Nice idea, right?  We would put in a little elbow grease before the moving team got to work and then we wouldn't have to move all of our furniture twice to paint walls and tear down wallpaper.  No big deal, right?

Let me tell you what we thought would "obviously" get done in that week's time:

1. Bug bomb the house (it was vacant for a while -- vacant other than a few critters...)
2. Deep clean the place (ourselves, of course -- anything to save a buck)
3. Paint the living room blue
4. Replace the blinds in the whole house
5. Tear down wallpaper in the entry way

We aren't so crazy about the green...

6. Texture and paint the entry way
7. Paint the master bedroom
8. Install crown molding in the master bedroom
9. Change the locks

THEN if we had any time left (which, we probably would, right?)

10. Tear down wallpaper in the dining room

Again -- not crazy about the green wallpaper.

11. Texture and paint the dining room


Before I go any further, let me paint you a picture.  Alan and I currently work 8-5 in Northwest Houston.  After work, it takes us about 25 minutes to drive straight to the house in 5:00 traffic.  Upon closing, we had a drill and a small toolbox which held about 10 screwdrivers and a nice collection of nuts and bolts, but we did not have a paintbrush, drop cloth, or saw of any sort to our name.  Do you see where I'm going?  We had quite a few Home Depot trips ahead of us that we hadn't considered.



--> 12. Home Depot supply trips

So we had our list.  Our house would basically be done before we ever moved!  (Are you feeling the sarcasm yet?)

After closing, Alan had a softball game, but we were determined to get something done that first night.  After his game, we drove to the house and set off several bug bombs.

Half of our cleaning crew -- so blessed by them!

The next morning, we packed up our cleaning supplies and headed back to the house for what turned into a cleaning party.  Let me take a moment to brag on Alan's family -- they are fantastic.  Alan and I had a day full of scrubbing and vacuuming planned for the two of us when his parents showed up equipped to sanitize bathrooms and install doorknobs.  We could NOT have done it without them.  Sidenote: I understand now why people pay for cleaning services before they move -- it's a lot of work!

In fact, everything about our house seems to be turning into a lot of work.  I'm not saying we aren't enjoying it -- we're having a blast!  But things seem to take a little bit longer than we anticipate... quite often.

Remember our list of what was going to be completed before move in?  We completed everything!

Yeah.  Right.  Here's what we really accomplished:

1. Bug bomb the house (it was vacant for a while -- vacant other than a few critters...)
2. Deep clean the place (ourselves, of course -- anything to save a buck)

Multitasking -- windows and floors at the same time!

3. Paint the living room blue
4. Replace the blinds in the whole house (replace blinds in the master bedroom)
5. Tear down wallpaper in the entry way
6. Texture and paint the entry way
7. Paint the master bedroom
8. Install crown molding in the master bedroom
9. Change the Locks

Step-Dad Bo installing door knobs

*Sulak Suggestion

Okay.  So this is the Kwikset Smart Key Re-key Technology System.  We were skeptical, but after using it, we were really impressed.  We have four external doors in our house and we were under the impression that you had to buy a package of four locks to get matching keys.  After about 30 minutes of searching the Home Depot door knob aisle, we were at a loss -- there was not a set of four door knobs with matching locks to be bought.  Fortunately, one of the patrons of Home Depot saw our dismay and offered his assistance.  Apparently, locks are not made in a factory by hand where each individual lock and key are unique from one another.  You can buy matching locks by matching an identification code on the back of the packaging -- so technically, you could have the same house key as someone else!  (Lock companies vary the locks enough that we're probably safe... but we went ahead and marked out our lock number anyways!)  

Want a nice front door knob that still uses the same key as the rest of your doors?  That's where the Kwikset Smart Key Re-key Technology System comes in.  In literally 15 seconds, you can re-key the lock to match any key you'd like!  It's a three-step system and it's as easy as reading the box.  I know it sounds too good to be true, but we tried it and it works!

10. Tear down wallpaper in the dining room

11. Texture and paint the dining room
   12. Home Depot supply trips

 www.cbsnews.com

Okay, so we "obviously" didn't get all eleven tasks marked off our list, but six and a half out of twelve really isn't that bad, is it?

What did we learn about home improvement? How fast we think it will go:

www.carguydad.com

How fast it actually goes:

auto.howstuffworks.com

Be warned!

Stay tuned and we'll talk about transforming our master bedroom from a dim, purple cave to a bright, grand retreat (well, it's on its way to becoming one)!

Click here for the master bedroom project.

Post 1: Blessed Foundation

Why Blessed Foundation?  

Well... to state the obvious: We are so blessed.  

Alan and I graduated last year -- May and August.  Shortly after, we were married and living in Houston.

In the literal sense of the name:

We were blessed to buy a beautiful house in a gorgeous neighborhood that we fell in love with the moment we first stepped inside.   Let us clarify, though: we fell in love with the bones of the house -- we loved the layout, the windows, the space, the yard -- but our style was no where to be found.  We don't know if it was the dark green wallpaper in the entry way or the stained glass stickers on the windows in our bedroom, but we knew that we would be getting ourselves into something big by taking on this house.  

 

But our vision is big.  More than the colors on the walls, we imagine big dinners and family gatherings, music playing throughout the house, the smells of a big breakfast filling the kitchen, hosting, entertaining, curling up on the couch during a thunderstorm, and backyard bashes in the Springtime.  We want to create a place where anyone can come to feel loved and at home and at rest.

But back to the name -- "Blessed Foundation."  While falling in love with the potential in our future home, we knew that the foundation of the house needed repair.  24 pillars and a lifetime warranty later, we had ourselves a contract with the sellers and we were well on our way to owning our first home -- a non-sinking and much closer-to-level home, let us add.  

  

We definitely have our work cut out for us, but that was exactly what we wanted.  We are so excited to begin projects together and to start bringing life and style back into our house.  This is not going to be an easy undertaking, but we are looking for a challenge.  Are you ready?  We can't wait!

To read about our big plans for our home, click here!