Rethinking Colour

There's been a few changes at the casa as of late, and I wanted to give you a peek.

While it pains me to do so, I am not afraid to admit when I've made a mistake. After all, we can't *always* be right!

When selecting the paint colours for the house, we made a conscious effort to depart from our comfort zone of earthy taupes and warm caramels and tans in favour of light, creamy pastels. At the time we saw the paint go on the walls, we were very happy with our choices. They were right on!

Benjamin Moore - Limesickle

Now? After two years in the house it's just not "us". The light colour in the main areas of the house don't have any warmth or substance, are much too "minty", and are difficult to co-ordinate with decor and furnishings. They don't give off the feeling that we'd like and remind me of The Golden Girls house (yeh, it`s *that* minty). So...it's time to right this wrong!

Enter: GREY! Off I toodled to Home Depot to get this painting party started.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I did this 100%, completely, totally without Mr.Mel's knowledge, consent or input. In fact, I waited until he was out of town on business before I tackled this little project. Sneaky, right?

I am starting this colour revamp with the dining room. I figure if I do this in stages, it's entirely possible that Mr. Mel (who always has a zillion things on the go) won't actually notice until it's almost all done! Wishful thinking? Perhaps. But worth a shot! I want the feeling of this room to be warm, moody, and (dare I say) dark. Simmer down, peeps, the window is HUGE in here and it gets loads of natural light, so it's gonna be just fine. Here is the dining room before:

Here is the dining room after:

I used Obsidian Glass by CIL in here and it's friggin' awesome! I gotta give props so my friend for using it in her home and inspiring me! I am so glad that I took the plunge and went with a dramatic colour. It's exactly what I wanted, and it's much more "us".

Same drapes, same artwork, same furniture. What a difference paint makes! I love how all of the details, trim, lighting all just pops off the dark grey.

I am now on the hunt for an area rug for this room. I need to break up all of that wood...it's nearly all the same shade! Oopsie. 

Hello My Pretties

Alrighty peeps, time for another coffee table re-do! Am I the only one who is obssessed with coffee and side tables? I won't tell you how many I have stacked in my garage, lest you think I'm a loon.

I am a fickle creature and, despite the fact that I just bought wood side tables for my living room last year, I have already decided that they were the wrong choice and it's time for a change. Our main floor living room is a space that rarely gets used, but that doesn't mean it can't look pretty. It's right next to the dining room, which is a sort of formal space, so I want the living room to have the same formal vibe. I recently sold my Urban Barn velvet sofa and replaced it with a smaller 3 seater sofa in a cream colour. It was definitely the right decison. But the room was still far too casual! 

I swore that I would never again own glass topped tables - between kitties, visits from kidlets, and husbands, they are never clean - but I really like the look so I decided that it was time to suck it up and stock up on Windex!

I just swoon over a particular style of table, something similar to what can be seen in these rooms...glass top gold-ish base.

 

I have found some new tables similar, but I can't justify the cost. And going vintage was out of the question. This pair of vintage tables was over $1200!

I picked up this set of tables for $30 off a local online classified site. The size and shape were great, but the finish was pretty horrible. An aged brassy, bronzey eyesore. Someone please tell me why this finish is on so many pieces of furniture?!  I am not totally anti-brass, I am just anti-ugly-brass.

I cleaned and lightly sanded the table, gave it a coat of primer, and two coats of a metallic brass spray paint by General Paint (no colour number or fancy name - huh). I have never used this product before and was a tad nervous about how it would turn out, but I shouldn't have been. It went on easily and dried perfectly to a nice brushed metallic finish.

I decided to get rid of the cane and wood on the bottom of the table, it felt too heavy for the look I wanted. I initially wanted to replace the cane with a piece of glass, but Mr. Mel said he preferred them without a bottom shelf. Okily dokily. I suppose these are done, then.

I popped the glass top back in and have myself a pair of glitzy new end tables!

Cost breakdown for this project:
Tables = $30
Paint and Primer = $12
Total Cost = $42

Paint Booth

I paint in my garage. I prefer to park in my garage. I store stuff in my garage.

I have had a few unfortunate over spray incidents when working in there so I decided I needed some sort of booth to work in that would protect my projects and belongings...and my freshly epoxy'd floors, of course! When I painted my parent's dining set, I rigged up a hideous makeshift booth from tarps, zip ties, and bungee cords. It did the job, but it was dark, ugly, and hard to put together and take down.

I thought I might get creative and build my own out of PVC pipe and poly.

Source

But, seriously, this seemed like too much work for something that I would have to set up and take down each time I wanted to paint something. Not to mention that I needed a good sized booth to accommodate larger furniture pieces.

Ebay to the rescue! I bought this 10x10 pop up gazebo with 4 removable walls for $150 (including shipping).

It's light, bright, sets up quickly, and stores easily in it's own bag. It's perfect. It looks so silly set up inside the garage! ha ha

Time to paint!