Renovation :: Dining Room

October 8 2014,

We finally did it. We finally were able to tackled and start and finished what the contractors f***ed up. It has been four years since the contractor left and left us with a house that was half done. Basically whatever they touched, they f****ed it up.

So we first tackled the dining room. The dining room was originally painted a dark pink. I wanted this room to be orange. We painted a few oranges, but thought it was too dark. We went to lighter oranges, and finally settled on the Sherman Williams Flan (SW 6652).

We had been working on Benjamin Moore and Ace paints, because our local Ace was very close to us. But one day, hubby wanted them to mix some paints and they refused to do so. The guy said we opened the paint can incorrectly, and thus they could not shake it up. I then asked him how to open the can correctly, and he proceeded to show me. And viola, it was the same way I was doing it - I even used the same tool - the paint can opener that they can given to us. This Ace hardware store had recently changed ownership, and the previous owner knew me quite well, because I was always in there buying things, instead of going to the big box store. Hubby said thank you and left.

We drove to the Sherman Williams store which was 15 minutes away, instead of 5 minutes away and gave them our business instead. Good-bye Ace Hardware, hello Sherman Williams.

Before Renovation

Before Renovation

Before Renovation

Before Renovation

We had to paint our ceiling because there was a big crack in it. If you open up the first picture above, you'll notice the crack. Our ceiling is not flat but slightly textured, similar to popcorn. Hubby researched how to paint with the texture, and found Zinsser Popcorn Ceiling Patch to be the best solution. It turned out really well.

We also invested in a airless paint gun. We got the Wagner Flexio 590 Paint Sprayer Kit and primed and painted the ceiling with it. OMG, it is such an amazing tool. It was worth the $150.00 investment. It has already paid for itself. No rolling, no neck aches. The result was more than satisfaction. But we had to make sure we covered everything.

After we sprayed the ceiling, we had to spray the walls, so we covered the ceiling before priming the wall with the spray gun. It was not as successful, but we think it was the paint we were using, rather than the gun. We didn't strain the paint before using it - there were a bunch of blobs in it (the same has been sitting for a while) even though we did have it shaken.

I went onto youtube and found a great video on how to strain paint with stockings / panty hose. I had to sacrifice a pair of mine, but it was worth it, because we did not have to buy another gallon of paint.

During Renovation

During renovation

Below is the end result. Don't look too closely. We had to repaint the trim, crown molding, chair rails, baseboards again, because we had used the wrong color. Oh well.

If you do look closely, on the french door, you'll see paint swatches.

We also spray painted the doors with the smaller paint gun. We first did it by hand and it took 45 minutes each side to paint the panel. My back was hurting too much and I gave up and told hubby just to spray paint and pray that it'll be fine. It turned out beautifully.

The top half of the wall is Benjamin Moore - Strand of Pearls (CSP-395). Now that we no longer will be using Benjamin Moore paint, I have to find an equivalent of Strand of Pearls for Sherman Williams.

After Renovation

Below is a lamp that we found in 2012 at a yard sale for $25.00. We finally used it. The bulbs cost more than the chandelier. They are Sunlite 60T8 Antique Radio Style T8 light bulbs and cost approximately $10.00 each, totally $30.00.

The "chandelier" might not stay, we might get a different one.

 
So, after the dining room was completed, we are now working on the living room. And guess what the dining room looks like now? LOL.

Give us three more weeks, and the living room should be done.

Quilt & Bitch