If we’ve made one thing clear about our new house, it’s that we’re not crazy about the trim colors…
Somewhere between the Williamsburg Blue and the Muddy Mauve, our painting hands began to quiver with excitement. Or was that dread? Not sure.
We reasoned that while all of the carpet was up and before the new hardwoods went down, we should take advantage of the can-get-painted subfloor and go ahead and tackle the upstairs trim. Correction: trim and doors. Sixteen doors to be exact… which we removed and de-hardwared first for easy painting.
Attempting to quickly paint four bedrooms and closets worth of trim along with a long hallway plus nine windows (with tons o’ mullions) and the aforementioned sixteen doors seemed like a job that warranted a paint sprayer. So we decided it was finally time to get one. And thanks to a suggestion from the Bowers, we picked up this Graco TrueCoat II which was on sale for $180 at Lowe’s (update: we’ve since switched to using this Wagner model with more success). We opted to buy one instead of renting it because there’s still plenty of stuff to paint in this house beyond just these things – so we’d like to have one that we can use a bunch of times as we move from room to room (did we mention there’s still a ton of blue trim downstairs?).
The sprayer is a lot simpler than I expected. It’s pretty much just a plastic cup attached to the gun, which just plugs in. So there wasn’t much in the means of set-up (although we definitely read the directions twice just to make sure we didn’t screw it up). Then we dove into our primer coat.
We’ve heard that the biggest pain of owning a paint sprayer is clean up, so we opted to use a provided bag in the paint cup to keep it clean and hopefully eliminate one step afterwards.
We don’t have a ton of pictures of the process because one of us was downstairs with Clara while the other sprayed. And also, the process was pretty darn fast. We could zip along the baseboards of one room in about 10 to 15 minutes, and the majority of that time was usually spent refilling the paint cup.
So I definitely agree with what everyone had told me about spraying: it’s MUCH faster, but you use a lot more paint. I could only get through about two door sides before having to refill my paint cup. But boy was it satisfying to watch that blue paint disappear with each swipe. And it’s not that you’re wasting paint, it’s just that you’re getting more coverage (spraying the front of a door once might take twice as much paint, but it’s akin to two coats applied with a brush).
Once we feel a bit more seasoned with the sprayer we’ll do a deeper post about using it, but for now I feel like we’re still getting the hang of it. Our biggest challenge is fighting the urge to go back and “touch up” a spot we missed because we found it’s very easy to apply too much paint and create drips.
But if you go slowly and resist the urge to double spray, the smooth factory-like finish is amazing.
We made the call to paint the windows by hand rather than attempt to get every nook and cranny of it sprayed (we pictured a ton of rogue drips and a bunch of overspray covering all of the glass panes). After the fact, we’re not so sure it was the right call since our hand technique will still require some glass scraping with a razor and all of the blue/mauve windows took one coat of primer plus 3 coats of paint each since we were doing them by hand. Woof.
So yeah, this has pretty much been keeping us busy for the last few days. Spraying only occupied two mornings (priming one, painting the next) but we’ve made several trips to hand paint the windows and other areas that we couldn’t spray easily. I’ve lost track of which trip these photos were taken, but you can see what a difference it’s making.
We didn’t bother to tape off the walls or floors or anything around the sprayed areas (except for some too-close-for-comfort outlets and vents). So it means the walls are in desperate need of painting now too, but that’s a project for another day.
Some rooms, like the guest room and our master, only had cream trim/doors so they didn’t require any primer. Which meant this whole paint job only took 2 gallons of primer. Not bad for four rooms, four closets, nine windows, sixteen doors, and a giant hallway (about 30% of those had cream paint).
But we needed 4.5 gallons of white paint. Had we been able to predict that we’d have bought one of those five gallon buckets at the start, rather than making the multiple trips to the store we’ve been making. Live and learn, right?
The paint we’re using is Benjamin Moore’s Ultra Spec in Simply White (in a semi-gloss finish) based on a few recommendations for that type of paint from you guys (and knowing it’s one of the best white paint colors out there). It’s No-VOC contractor-grade paint that’s more affordable than BM’s Natura paint that we usually use and so far we’re really happy with it. Instead of being over $50 per gallon, it’s just $36 through our local paint store (I’m sure it varies by location, but it should be in that range), which has certainly made buying five gallons of it a little less painful.
Oh and as for choosing the color, we brought home about ten swatches of white and just picked the one that looked the best when we taped it up next to all of the others (some were too yellow, some were too blue, but Simply White looked clear and crisp without feeling too warm or too cool). Of course it’ll look a whole lot better after we paint those yellowed walls and ceilings…
Our total budget for four rooms and four closets worth of trim/baseboards plus nine windows, sixteen doors, and a giant hallway has been:
- Paint sprayer: $180
- Primer, 2 gallons: $36 (on sale)
- Paint, 5 gallons: $180 (we still have half a gallon leftover for a future project)
- TOTAL: $396
It’s certainly more than we envisioned spending, but because we’re on a time crunch to get the new floors in before we move, we’re counting our lucky stars that painting so many things went as quickly as it did. And now that we own the paint sprayer it’ll probably will work out to around ten cents per use by the time we’re done painting this house (so. much. blue. trim.).
Next step is to rehang all of the doors (after we replace some of the old pitted brass hardware) and then we can get to laying those hardwoods. We contemplated getting some other painting done while the subfloor is still exposed – walls, ceilings, closet interiors – but we’re starting to feel that move date creep up on us (T minus 2 weeks!). We figure we can move in with unpainted walls and ceilings more easily than moving in without completed floors – and thankfully we’re no strangers to painting walls and ceilings with hardwoods that are already in place.
So that’s what we’ve been up to. How about you?
Lauren @ The Highlands Life says
Omg. I do not envy you at all painting all tha. My hand is cramping just thinking about those windows and scraping with the razor. But it sure does look a heckuva lot better already.
Catherine says
Looks better already! Great job, guys.
Jessica says
Why are you resisting the urge to touch-up missed spots?
YoungHouseLove says
Because that creates drips and applies too much paint. So you have to wait for it to dry and just get it with the next coat. Then it looks perfecto!
xo
s
Allison says
Another alternative is to paper and tape the window panes; then you can spray them to your heart’s content. It always seems with painting you either have to prep a ton before, or clean up a ton after by scraping. Pick your poison, I guess!
Personally, I’m a prepper. By the time the project is done, I don’t have the energy to clean up!
YoungHouseLove says
So smart!
xo
s
Lindsay says
Would you feel comfortable using the paint sprayer in a room where you definitely don’t want to get it on the floors/fixtures? Also, if you’re doing a glossy paint on the trim, what about the part of the wall that gets overspray? Will you have to prime over that so the glossy sheen doesn’t show through the flat wall paint once you paint it?
I ask, because I am trying to muster the strength to repaint the trim in our house, which was originally painted with OIL paint (sigh). Crown molding, baseboards, doors, windows AND plantation shutters — all in a drab off-white oil paint — and I want it to be crisp white. I could cry just thinking about all the work, and am wondering if a paint sprayer could help. Otherwise I may live with the off-white. Or move. Probably move. :)
Congrats on all your progress!
YoungHouseLove says
Katie Bower has taped things off and used a sprayer in a room with finished floors and fixtures so it does seem to work but it takes a lot of prep work (and admittedly since we’re so new at it, we’re be nervous I think). As for the overspray, we won’t have to prime (we have gotten semi-gloss paint around trim and painted over it with eggshell in many rooms and there’s no glossiness that comes through if you use good quality paint like BM). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Jessica says
My soon to be 4-year old son was sitting on my lap just now and asked me what the “blue thing” was. I told him it was a paint gun to which he replied, “I want one for my birthday!” ;) I think he was hoping to spray his sister…
YoungHouseLove says
Hilarious! A kid after my own heart.
xo
s
Susan says
Nothing like crisp white trim…and as someone who has painted a zillion ceilings in her lifetime (so far), I’d suggest using that sprayer and doing all the ceilings if you had the time/etc.
It goes really fast, and makes for less work over all
(covering new floors, up and down the ladder, neck kinks from rolling and looking up, lol, etc).
My daughter and her beau are moving into their first place tomorrow-a cute apartment in San Diego. They are flea-marketing and whatnot now , and we’ll be skyping to decorate it- should be fun :)
Gloria says
We just finished our house reno after 3 years. There’s plenty to add on to just make it prettier, but I’m already missing the tearing out and totally creating something new. Our two kids were 10 and 8 when we started and now they wish we had another to tear apart. I guess it runs in the family.lol
Your house is just the perfect blank canvas and is going to be great to follow. It gives me my high of renovation I’m missing in real life. Good luck and can’t wait to see more.
Kim says
WOW! I never underestimate the power of some crisp white trim, but this was still nearly a shocker at just how much it transformed the house. It looks so light and airy now. Also, I’d like to express my jealousy over the sprayer. I spent days working on the blue trim and door in only one room of my house! I would have loved a sprayer (and I would have used it on the ceiling too since that was painted navy!!!).
Mary says
Do you think the paint sprayer is a good investment if you’re not planning to paint the rest of the room and your floors aren’t torn up? I’m thinking that would be a lot of painter’s tape and whatnot to protect walls and floors, especially around windows. The prep might take more time than just painting by hand…?
YoungHouseLove says
Yeah, I might just do it by hand in that case. It really is a toss up because one involves lots of prep beforehand (the sprayer means taping everything off) and then takes two seconds to spray things, while another takes a lot less prep and a lot longer to actually do.
xo
s
Kristin says
Yessss. …. paint sprayer! We have a summer mission of painting all our doors (peeling paint), baseboards, and trim (stained from floor refinishing / just plain old). Not to mention I have about 4 end tables that are about to get it.
Question – do you think the sprayer would be a good option for baseboards WITH hardwoods already installed? Of course there would be the process of laying plastic and taping it off, but would it still be worth it?
I’m so excited about the new house! Can’t wait for all the projects!
YoungHouseLove says
We moved so quickly I definitely think it would be worth taping them off. Just do it well (super securely without any cracks) and I think you’ll be really happy with it!
xo
s
Jane says
When you first mentioned that you wanted to get all that blue trim & the doors painted upstairs, before you laid your new hardwood floors, I thought it would be a mega huge task to finish before the move. But I totally applaud you for getting it all done so fast. I’m sure the spray gun helped, but you two are ENERGIZER BUNNIES! Good luck with everything. Love your posts!
Jane
P.S. – Clara’s birthday party was adoreable! Loved the pictures of her breathing fire. Such a cute idea!
Emily V. says
You did a great job! It looks so good!
Kaija Kantola says
Looks so good and using the sprayer is brilliant!
We just spray can painted our plastic window boxes, inspired by the Pinterest Challenge. They look great. We wanted to add color to our large drab patio and the bright turqoise works! Except now the window casings and trim look like they need to be painted, that’s next!
I will also have to paint my back door and casing this summer, and will be using a sprayer. Just have to sand off all those brush marks from last time. Hopefully the paint will be dry enough by the time I have to go to sleep and I can close the door!
Emily Morrison says
Man, I’m kicking myself for not buying a sprayer when we first moved. I STILL have trim and ceilings to paint and it is such a daunting task…and we have all new floors. Wise decision, Petersiks!
Emily says
Hi – I just bought a paint sprayer from Lowe’s, but it was not this one. I used it to paint a dresser and the finish seemed really “bubbly”. It just wasn’t a smooth finish at all…I ended up going back over the entire dresser with one coat of paint and a paint brush. This didn’t happen to you guys at all?
YoungHouseLove says
Eeks, that sounds bad! Were you supposed to water down the paint but you didn’t? That’s all I can think of. Ours doesn’t need to be watered down so we didn’t have that issue.
xo
s
Tom says
The next time that you spray doors, try putting all of the doors in one room. Get little strips/scraps of wood to nail in the top from one to the other. If you do this, you can arrange them all in a fan/accordian pattern and have all of your doors ready to be painted front and back in the middle of a big room. If would speed things up even more for you on the downstairs and you won’t get overspray on the walls.
Just be sure to mark the top or the bottom of each door so you know where to bring it back to.
YoungHouseLove says
Smart!
xo
s
Callie says
Wow, you’ve gotten sooo much trim painting done with that sprayer!! Looks TOTALLY worth the investment.
Also, you are moving in 2 weeks? Have you packed? I feel a little less crazy hearing that – we are moving in one week and I plan to pack the whole house up in that time (it’s just my husband and me in a 2 bedroom house and I’m hoping to sell a lot of stuff). I have a lot of energy so I think I can pull it off, but still….there may not be much sleeping…! Haha.
YoungHouseLove says
Haven’t packed a thing! Ahhh! We’re hoping to start this week.
xo
s
Alex says
No worries! In my experience packing in one fell swoop takes less energy than slowly attacking it an afternoon at a time for 2 weeks leading up to it.
I’m a Navy brat, and my family always cleans like fiends the week before, then packs 2 days before, then does deep cleaning the day before (steam clean carpets, etc.), and then day of you just have to pack the truck. The downside to furious packing is you’re potentially paying less attention. One year my Dad accidentally put a full garbage can into the box! GROSS! He was being thorough, I guess.
You should be fine, as long as you don’t invite my dad over to help.
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh that’s good to know! Haha!
xo
s
Lauren says
It’s so exciting to see you transform a new house. Loved watching that blue trim being painted so quickly. With your windows, did you pop out the windows to paint all the way to the edge or just leave them in place? Are you having any trouble with them sticking? We have similar windows and I popped all of them out, without removing them, but it was a bit of a pain. Just curious. Good luck!
YoungHouseLove says
We left them in place, but painted them in an order that allowed for them to be closed and then opened to get all areas that would be seen (and also kept them from sticking) :)
xo
s
Richelle says
Oh, this was timely for me! We’re closing on our new old house in July, and we’ll need to do a. lot. of. painting.
Do you know – can the sprayer handle oil-based paint, or just latex?
There’s one room that belonged to a smoker, who apparently left the back door open and smoked in the doorway… leaving a lingering odor in that room. ick. Our inspector advised us that oil-based primer will help get rid of the odor, and it’s a big room. So if we can save ourselves a little pain and time with a sprayer, it might be a sound investment for us.
Thanks! And congrats on your soon-to-be-lovely new house!
YoungHouseLove says
I think sprayers can handle oil (at least ours is listed as able to) but clean-up is a bit more involved to get it out of the sprayer. If you follow the directions that come with it, you should have no issue though :)
xo
s
Yannick says
ohhh trim when i started reading i felt nauseated from memories of priming and painting kilometres of trim and french doors and regular doors in our new house…in some rooms they were yellow, in others military green…then i saw your gadget and wanted to eat my socks with rage and excitement…that would have saved us hours of painting and whining…Good going Pertersiks!Good going!
Kelly says
Based off your experience with the sprayer so far, would you consider using it to paint kitchen cabinets? Or would that be like the window trim, with too many drips, etc? Thanks for your input!
Kelly
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! If you laid them all out on a tarp in a garage or something it would be awesome! The finish is amazing. We loved it most on the doors and cabinets are just little doors so we’d totally do that!
xo
s
andrew says
Did you guys have any problems with paint floating to surfaces you didn’t want painted? I sprayed our sun porch a few years ago and ended up spending more time scraping hundreds of little drops of paint off the windows on the other side of the room than I actually spend painting. I’d be more apt to use my paint gun again if I didn’t think I had to tape/tarp every square inch of surface area in the entire room!
It looks great! Can’t wait to see what you do with the rest of the house!
– Andrew
YoungHouseLove says
Woah, that sounds like lots of overspray! I think it depends on the gun, but ours was pretty concentrated, so nothing more than a few inches on either side of the trim got painted :)
xo
s
Brittany says
Wow! The change already is just amazing. I’m still pretty new to your blog (maybe only reading for a little over a year) so I’m so excited to see all the giant changes you guys will make in this new house! I’m currently painting some pieces of furniture (faux bamboo so lots of little nooks and crannies) and have still not gathered enough courage to try our paint sprayer!
Stacy Snook says
Looks fantastic, guys! I’m really excited to see all the projects you tackle in your new house. I’m toying with the idea of buying a paint spray but can’t decide between one like yours and one that requires a compressor. The only experience I’ve had with a paint sprayer was a Wagner plug in model and it was horrible. Did you consider a pneumatic sprayer?
YoungHouseLove says
We did (especially since we have a compressor) but the Graco one had such great reviews and a friend of ours has one and loves it so we went for it. So far it has been great!
xo
s
Lisa says
I have a question about trim….if the trim had been just plain old wood trim (poly’ed etc) would you have painted it? I have wood trim in my house (built in 1923), all in good shape but for the last 5 years I’m still debating on weather I should paint it white. did you notice dings and cracks that need filling after you primed?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, it’s all personal preference, but we love the look of crisp white trim over wood trim. After we primed they were ready for paint, but if you have dings you should fill them before priming :)
xo
s
Ginny @ Goofy Monkeys says
I’m pretty amused by the blue trim – I’m pretty sure my grandparent’s house had that color in some rooms – and some yellow in another room. Definitely a colonial Williamsburg throwback!
The sprayer looks like it was worth the cost, for sure!
Stuff has been going on over at our house too – Kitchen Reno progress…actually, I should probably put up a new post LOL
Sue says
Great job and I wish I’d bought one before tackling 20 new doors by hand in our house. I’d be tempted to at least paint the ceilings before laying the floor so you don’t have to worry about them later. Should go fast and you’ll get a real even coat, which is what we find hardest about painting ceilings. That and how the arms ache at the end of the job.
Candice says
You guys are awesome! Talk about fast and furious work! You know what I’ve been wondering? What project will you be in the middle of come holiday time…if history is any indication it will be huge!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! I know, right? This feels like a pretty big project (moving, painting, flooring, etc) so maybe our big projects have moved to the spring now? We were working furiously on book stuff this time last year, so it seems to be a pattern…
xo
s
Liz says
Oh my gosh you guys that looks amazing! We are in the process of painting all of our doors black. We started painting them by hand last fall but then quit when the snow came. We still have seven more to go and I totally have paint sprayer envy! I can’t wait to see how the walls evolve over time. Every time I look at a room in my house that hasn’t been touched yet, I think of you guys. “The middle makes no sense” is a pretty common phrase in our house now!
Laura says
Since there wasn’t a sanding step before spraying, are you concerned about paint chipping off?
We sprayed all of our trim, doors, and did the windows but I have noticed the paint on a few of the windows already chipping. I’m not sure if we missed a step or why that is happening. Any thoughts/suggestions?
YoungHouseLove says
If your wood is glossy (polyurethaned or painted with high gloss paint) you definitely want to sand and degloss. Ours was a chalky matte finish, so we knew good primer + paint would do the trick. Did you use a good primer? That helps a ton!
xo
s
Laura says
Ah…that is what we should have done, but we ended up trying to skip over that step because the trim was already white. It was just dinged up and dingy and needed to be a bit of a softer white. We thought with white trim we could just skip over the primer, but I guess with the windows and the amount that they are touched and used we shouldn’t have tried to save time. But now when we go back, we will know to use a primer first and take a little more time. Thanks!!
alana says
hey, how about using some glass coating to help protect the windows during painting? It’s a coating you paint onto your glass panes that protects it during window painting then you just peel that off when you’re through painting your trim. Saw it on HGTV and it seemed pretty easy to use. Here is a link below you can check out. http://www.strippablecoating.com/products/windOcoat.aspx
YoungHouseLove says
Love that tip!
xo
s
Katie says
I was just trying to do a quick google search on the film and scrape thing other people were talking about, but couldn’t find it. So if you decided to try to find it, please post about it. Because right now, I’m too lazy myself.
Right now we have wood trim throughout the house. We’re getting new carpet installed upstairs next week and I’ve been busy trying to paint before it comes. I only have the closet and ceiling in one room (which likely won’t be done before it comes) and the walls in the other room. And then the hallway. Sounds like a lot. Would be a lot less if I got off of the computer.
YoungHouseLove says
The comment right before yours has a link if that helps! You folks are so smart!
xo
s
erin says
and bam! the blue trim is gone. whew. it just makes your house look a million times better!
Kaija Kantola says
So if you have to pop off the baseboards for the floor installation, you have to break the caulking, install the floor, nail the baseboard back on, and then re-caulk. And touch-up paint?
YoungHouseLove says
Yup! We’re going to be busy! It still should be a lot easier than painting the trim by hand after the hardwoods are in, so we’re glad to have them painted and just do touch ups down the line.
xo
s
Vanessa says
What a difference a little bit of pain makes! Looking good!
Vanessa says
What a difference a little bit of paint makes! Looking good!
Carly S says
My man and I are talking about (finally) buying a house in the very near future and have high hopes of being avid DIY-ers (I may already have projects marked in your book for our future home!).
I spent a 4 hour car ride telling him all about what you guys have done and how you’ve done things and now I can’t wait to tell him about investing in a paint sprayer!
Erin says
We move every few years for our careers and I love the opportunity to set up a new home and try out different decor ideas with each house we live in. Like you, we work on a budget so everything is not picture perfect in a month’s time as we work towards making our house a home.
At what point do you feel comfortable letting people over to visit or host a housewarming party? I would rather wait until a room is finished (or at least presentable) while my husband is inviting people over while the moving boxes are still halfway undone.
I keep telling myself it’s about the journey – not the destination and friends and family are going to love your new home even if you have blue/mauve trim, but inside I’m cringing. Hopefully I’m not the only one that feels this way.
YoungHouseLove says
I think we learned after our first house took 4.5 years to redo that if you wait to have people over you’ll never have them over! So we don’t do it right when the house is full of boxes, but maybe a month after moving in we try to get people over. We have learned they don’t really see the mess, they just want to see you. And sometimes good music and pizza is all you need. A cute three year old for entertainment helps too…
xo
s
Koliti says
Wow! Love the finish on those doors! Can you put spray tanning solution in that little cup? :) Can you spray ceramic animals with it?
Love the cup’s inner plastic bag clean up solution. Since a lot of those “manufacturer’s” solutions can cost a lot to purchase more – do you think going to the dollar store and buying the box of quart-size (or gallon-size) zip-lock bags would be a good substitute? That way you’d get a lot of replacement bags for only $1.
I liken it to those paint roller tray liners – the cost of the liners at the home improvement store could really add up and you’re going to throw them out anyways, so I use plastic grocery bags or you can get a roll of 28 kitchen-size plastic bags at the dollar store for $1.
Seems like this house also has some rooms without crown moulding…insert happy Kreg Crown Pro happy dance :)
Looks like the double-hung windows could be really tricky to paint – what’s your secrets for not painting them shut?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes I think the using-other-bags thing would work! And as for painting double hung windows, I just paint them in parts so I can open and close them as I go so they don’t get stuck and I get every part of them. For example I’ll open them all and do the bottom 6 panes of all windows, then shut them when they’re dry and do the top panes, wait for them to dry, and then open them to get the top lip. All windows seem to be different, but working in sections like that allows them to be opened and closed as you go so you get all areas without painting them shut :)
xo
s
Stephanie says
Remembering the days of horrific work to repaint the cabinets in the 1950s-vintage kitchen of our new house (the drips… oh goodness, THE DRIPS), and then looking at the perfect, smooth finish y’all achieved quickly with that paint sprayer… well, let’s just say that some unladylike curses were uttered. ;)
Raeann says
Oh. My. Word. I’m with all the people whose heads exploded upon seeing the ease with which you spray-painted your trim. How many hours of my life could one of those babies have saved?! I guess I just assumed they’d be wayyy out of my price range, but I never actually checked on the cost. $180 well spent for a house with stupid-colored trim (mine was a lovely grayish green puke color).
Someone may have mentioned this already, but I’ve seen people use something like this to protect their window glass while spray painting: http://www.strippablecoating.com/window_protection_film.aspx
Maybe that would save some time or give you better results? I’ve never used it personally, so I can’t vouch for the stuff. Just thought I’d pass along the tip :)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the link Raeann! Looks awesome!
xo
s
Nancy says
Wow! Getting rid of that nasty blue trim made the rooms look so much bigger!
I wonder if there’s a bigger paint pot available for the sprayer. Might make things go faster, no?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, that would, but I think it would get heavy! It’s already kind of tiring on your arm sometimes (like you’re holding up a quart of paint and spraying at the same time) so maybe that’s why they cap it at that size?
xo
s
Nancy says
Oh! That makes sense! I didn’t think about how tiring that must be on your arms. Thanks for the reply. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Of course :)
xo
s
Donna says
Happily watching your progress on your new home. Have to say tho, I have those same style windows and you are gonna hate all those little panes. The panes are a pain!
Ali B. says
Wow, that looks so great! And I’m kinda jealous of your sprayer. I’m about to disappear to paint trim in our home office, though with just a few baseboards, it’s hardly the job you guys tackled! Speaking of the home office, I just finished painting it navy blue! It was terrifying, but we love it. Now I really need to choose a rug, but I’m paralyzed. I did a post about it here: http://piesandpuggles.blogspot.com/2013/05/roses-are-red-our-walls-are-blue.html. Oh rugs, you confound me.
YoungHouseLove says
Holy cow that looks awesome!
xo
s
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
That looks amazing! We’ve been considering getting paint sprayer for whenever we redo our kitchen. We want to paint the cabinets white and think it will turn out better if we spray them instead of hand paint. It’ll take just as long to tape everything off though, so definitely not a time saver haha.
Heather @ Barefoot Crafts says
16 doors?! Holy moly. We replaced 4 bedroom doors this past winter, and that was rough because the frames were smaller than the standard door sizes from the store so we can to sand and sand and sand until they fit.
The trim and is already lightening up the space!
Elaine says
Completely relate to this post. We have a 30 year-old colonial that was covered in a gross dark beige trim, including doors. We’ve been in the house 2 months and still painting. Wish we had a sprayer. It’s taking 3 total coats to get them a crisp white. Hard to paint with a 1 year old around.
Amy says
Hi Sherry and John,
I’ve gotta ask, is pluralizing “hardwood” a regional thing? I’ve noticed you always do it but I’ve never heard it before… I’m from Canada so possibly that’s just not something we say! Anyways, it struck me and since I’m in the language profession my curiosity has gotten the better of me. Regional language differences make my heart skip a beat in a totally nerdy, dorky way. :)
Also I’m very excited to see what you guys will do with your new house! I’ve been a daily reader for a couple years and I have to admit that I was a little bummed when I realized a few months ago that you seemed to have finished off most of the bigger projects in your old place. Because what girl doesn’t luh-luh-LOVE a good demo-to-the-studs reno?
Cheers,
Amy
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, I bet it’s region! That’s so funny! Here we’d either say “put our hardwoods down” or “put our hardwood floors down” – so the S jumps off the word floor and goes onto hardwood. Haha!
xo
s
Hannah says
I’m currently painting every bit of trim in my house…..blonde oak is not my thing! Do you ever tape the windows before you paint them or it is easier to scratch the paint off with a razor?
YoungHouseLove says
I’m dreading the scraping process so maybe tape would be easier. Others have mentioned that rubbing alcohol or a magic eraser can remove the paint more easily so that’s another idea!
xo
s