prime time

Can anyone guess what I did this weekend?

I'll give you a hint.  It starts with a "p" and rhymes with "faint".  That's right, more painting!!  Luckily, no fainting, although the paint fumes weren't helping the situation.  I also did a lot of priming.

The first project I tackled was painting the entryway and hallway, which were still a baby blue color from when we moved in.  I used the same gray as the kitchen and dining area, Glidden Smooth Stone.

I realize that in this picture you can barely tell a difference between the before and after, but I swear in real life it looks 100 times better!  At some point we'll be painting that closet door white, and the front doors black.  We're still trying to come up with a plan for that hideous yellow-green window...

I also used Glidden Smooth Stone in the hallway.  Ignore the messy door frame, that will be painted white!  We are also going to continue our laminate flooring into the hallway, so the carpet you see here will be ripped up soon.  And I'm so excited to get something up on these bare walls!

 I also worked on two projects for Chloe's room this weekend.  I've mentioned in previous posts that I'm going to paint her dresser with an ombre effect on the drawers.  I went to home depot and had a paint sample made in each of these colors.  I cannot wait to finish this project!!

Because the dresser has a laminate finish (which is typical for most Ikea furniture!), I bought an oil-based primer.  This stuff is amazing, and can seriously stick to anything!  It's really smelly though, and my advice would be to use a paint brush or roller that you don't plan to re-use because water will not rinse this stuff off of anything...including skin.  Yep, I spent a good 20 minutes scrubbing my hands, arms, leg, you name it, trying to get this stuff off.  I even had a mild panic attack thinking to myself, "How can I go to work tomorrow with white hands???"  Luckily, most of it finally came off, but it was not fun.  So try not to get it on your skin if you can help it!

Here's the dresser before and then after I used one coat of the primer.  I did two coats and let it dry overnight, and tonight I plan to paint it.  I can't wait to post pics of the final project!

The second project I worked on for Chloe's room was arranging some frames to go above the dresser once it's finished.  I thought about driving to Ikea to buy some frames, but ended up stopping by Goodwill at the last minute and totally hit the jackpot.  I found two 8x10's and one 5x7, exactly what I needed, and for only a few dollars each.  The 8x10's at Ikea are $19.99 each, so I saved a lot!

First, I played with a few different arrangements on the floor.

Then it was time to paint the frames white!  I know some people love the mis-matched look of different frames, but for me I just love the clean look of all white frames grouped together.  I used the primer on the frames as well, and I will be using white paint tonight.  I even primed the matting as well so everything will be white on white.

Stay tuned to see the finished product!

We also watched "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" this weekend and I was surprised to find that I actually liked it!  It was a little tricky to figure out which parts were true and which were made up... like, did  vampires really fight in the Civil War?  Did Abe really lose his mother to a vampire?  Was John Wilkes Booth actually a vampire seeking revenge??

I'm no history buff so I guess I'll never know.