Questions answered about painting and priming and a few of my tips thrown in!

I haven't had any time to write a new post until now, I have been in and out for two days and I had a painting job today so I'm finally getting back at the computer! I haven't had a chance since last week to work on any of my projects and I am so anxious to get back at them.

Today I want to share a few of my painting tips, explain the different paint finishes and whether or not you really need to prime. I get questions about these topics all the time so I thought I should write a post about my experiences with all of the above. I think we all know what types of paint finishes there are: flat, satin, semi-gloss, gloss and the newest is eggshell. The thing that is important is what finish to use where.

Flat paint is a hard finish to clean when painted on the walls so it's best used on ceilings where a non-shiney finish looks best.

Satin and Eggshell are the best choices to use on walls in the lower traffic rooms like living, dining and bedrooms. Both of these finishes are listed as easy cleaning surfaces but I have found that it's a bit of a challenge to keep eggshell clean, it acts a little like flat paint in that it leaves streaks and blotches behind. I prefer satin paint overall.

Semi-gloss paint is a good paint for busy families, this finish is much easier to keep clean and should be used ifamed rooms, bathrooms and nurseries. This finish is a little shiny and since it is so easy to clean it's the perfect choice for windows, crown molding, baseboards and doors.


High gloss I don't know anyone who uses gloss paint in their homes, this finish is non forgiving if you have flaws in your walls, it will show everything. I have never felt the need to use high gloss paint for anything that I've painted. 

Another question I get is if you really do need to prime before you paint. The answer is yes, if you are painting directly over drywall, or if you have stains or crayon marks that can't be removed. If you don't prime over the stains they will bleed through, it's the same with furniture. If you are painting a pine dresser with "knots" you have to prime it first unless you want the knots to show through, and they will eventually show through! It's easier to paint a light color over a dark color if you prime it first, you won't need to give it as many coats to cover it. When you do get primer, ask them to tint the primer close to your wall color, that saves steps as well. The good thing is now you can get primer/paint in one, and though it may seem expensive, remember that you'd have to buy them separately anyway so the cost is about the same.

Now for a few tips that I use to make the job easier:

*I always pour a little paint in a throw away container to make it easier to climb up and down a ladder.

*Take a large nail and puncture holes around the rim of the paint can so paint doesn't "pool" around the lip.

*Take my brush and run it around the rim to remove the paint and cover the can with a cloth before I tap it down with a hammer, keeps paint from flying!

*If I have small amounts so paint left I pour it into a jar with a screw lid and keep it for Touch ups.


So there you have it, my painting lesson 101!! I hope this answered any questions you "newbies" may have before painting your first room or your first home!

Sharing pictures of my house on the outside!

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday weekend, I know we all did! We got a little work done around the house on Saturday so we played for the rest of the weekend with swimming, picnic, and flea market fun! Oh and I can't forget that we ate pretty good too! I just wanted to share with you a few photos of our yard, we got all the mulching done and you know what a chore that can be! It was a good job to have done. Like I said before, my husband and I do all of our own yard work and though it's not professionally landscaped we are very proud of what we have accomplished! We have spent more time in the yard this year and we still have a ways to go, this is what we have today.

This is the north side of the house, we planted these trees here about 4 years ago and just planted the Hosta's last year, when they are mature they will fill this space in nicely!

This is the west side of the house, we just transplanted all these bushes in last year so they aren't established yet, we have big plans for this area here, hopefully those plans will be a reality this year yet! This is the side of the house that our deck is on, it is not shown in this picture because we can't finish it until our plans for this area are done!

This is the same area shown at the end of the house. We planted the smaller trees and grasses this year to build a natural wall for privacy.

 

This is on the southeast corner of the house, I need to find something that takes the hot hot sun here, we have planted and replanted things in this bed but nothing can take the heat. I would love some flowers here!

The same corner to the left and the front of the house. This is the area where I want some flowering bushes now. This stuff takes time and we are learning by trial and error!

The east side of the house, this is the garage area, I love these tall Hawthorne bushes/trees, they are so airy!

My mailbox garden, this really needs an overhaul but this is as far as I got this year. I planted the flowers 2 weeks ago so they are still immature. The barnstone is laid to keep the snowplow blade from taking out the mailbox!!

This is a larger shot of the west side, I will plant more when the time is right.

Another shot of the Hosta garden. There is a Smoke Bush in the foreground and a Hydraenga tree in the background.

This is my beautiful Clematis, it started blooming early this year whereas my other flowering bushes did not. It gets so big that it almost pulls the trellis away from the wall!

This is the shed where I do all my work in the summer time.

My front porch. I need to find a few things to redecorate but I haven't even had time to do that yet!

My home. From the street.

We went to the flea market on Monday morning, I was looking for new dining room chairs and a few things to put on the front porch but it was so hot! We got there at around 9:00 am but it was 92 degrees before we knew it and it was so crowded that it was hard to look. So, I will be on the search for those things in the near future. Now that the flea market is open for the season and the garage sales are in full force I will be able to go anytime when it's not so hot or overcrowded!

Have a wonderful Memorial weekend!

Have a wonderful holiday weekend and be safe! Remember the ones who have given their lives for us and the ones still fighting! I'll be back on Tuesday!

Project # 2 is also underway! The Secretary!

By now you know that I have two projects going this week, I worked on the secretary Tuesday for about 3 hours just sanding and stripping it down to make sure I had a nice base to work with. The sides had such deep scratches in the finish I just decided to take the finish completely off instead of sanding it down until it was smooth enough to prime. Once I put my refinisher on it the paint just peeled off in big sheets! I think this piece was ready for a new look!

So far this is where I'm at with it:

This piece is really solid and after further inspection it is made out of walnut! I could have refinished it but I think I will have a better chance selling it as a painted piece. The dark woods just look so dated and heavy. I think it will be beautiful with one of the new colors that are popular these days!

You can see the sides, I stripped the paint right off.

These are the mullions that go in the glass doors. This wood is so thin and there is a few breaks in them but I think when I get it coated with primer and paint it will be mended!

Here are the doors, two for the glass and one drop down as a desk top. I stripped the doors too but I didn't need refinisher, it just chipped right off.

This is the mail cubby that goes inside.

This is the color I'm going with, it's a dusty blue, reminds me of a Robin's egg!

I am painting this piece the same blue color that I painted my daughters sofa/console table. It's very popular right now and since it took a very minimul amount of paint for the table I had almost a whole quart of this blue left. I think it will be gorgeous when I'm done!

A Peek at my Slipcover Project!

I thought I would share with you the progress (or lack of!) I'm making on my slipcovers! I told you I am taking my time, and believe me, I am! This is a very intimidating project only because I've never done it before and there is a lot of material involved that I'm gonna be stuck with if it doesn't work out! I got the floral fabric that I showed you and I pinned that to the chair where I wanted it and yesterday I ordered another bunch of fabric! Baby steps!

This is my latest fabric that I purchased just yesterday. I am using fabric with different sizes of pattern repeat, some larger and some smaller. I want the same color family and so far I have done pretty good sight unseen. I am ordering all this fabric off of eBay because it's less expensive even with the shipping charges!

This print is medium size and I haven't figured out where I'm going to use it yet. I'm thinking this will be part of the seat cushion cover.

These below are the fabrics that I've already purchased and have pinned on the chairs. The pictures don't show it but they are all the same color! Hopefully this new one I just ordered will be a match too!

This is the smaller print of the three and it's going on the outside of the arms.

This one has the larges print of the three so far and I'm using it on the largest areas, the back and backside of the chair.

I want this chair to look a little disheveled, like I made slipcovers from leftover fabrics that I already had. Although the inspiration piece that I found on Pinterest had doilies, I don't think there is any place on these chairs where I can use them. So, I may have to forget that idea, although I did think it added to the disheveled look.

The fabric that I am using for the seat (under the cushion) is just some leftover curtain fabric that I had, since no one will see it anyway, but it does match!

You can see that I have my floral fabric pinned in place up to the arm. The inside arm wraps around and that will be a different fabric as well.

So far I can see it coming together...........oh I hope I can pull this off!!!

Because I don't like the color of the legs, I'm going to skirt these too! You know me, it's got to be difficult! Actually the skirt will be the easy part!

These are the cushions, part of them slipcovered.

Remember that these fabrics are pinned on inside out, that's why you can't see the floral pattern. I will be sending you updated pictures as I go. I have been looking for a real small floral fabric to run down the skinny section of the arms, because that area is so tiny I need a very small print, so far I haven't found any. I may have to make a trip to the fabric shop for that one. I am really excited about these covers, in my mind they look AWESOME!!

A Tough Furniture Restoration in Progress!

I have been extremely busy the last week getting yard work done, I have abandoned my post here at the computer and I have abandoned my other projects that I want to get done. We have been planting trees, trimming bushes, and redoing existing flower beds that still that I feel we have been neglecting. We still have lots of work to do but I am adament about getting them done this year. We also need to repaint the house, something we wanted to get done last year! The summers fly by so fast anymore and our weekends are always full, we just don't have time to get it all done! We do all of our own landscaping and lawn mowing etc. it's my husbands hobby and he enjoys it..............most of the time!

 In the meantime, I working on two projects and they are both going to take time. I showed you the slipcovers I am going to try and tackle! I got another piece of fabric in the mail Friday so I need to pin that in place to see how much more fabric is needed for this project. I also have been preparing a piece of furniture that I bought at the flea market a couple of weeks ago. This is more of a challenge than I thought but nothing I can't handle!

I bought this secretary to paint and sell, and like I said, I've got my work cut out for me on this one! Looks innocent enough here but let me tell you it was filthy!! You can't see by this photo but whoever owned this was a very heavy smoker!! I sanded it all down and then I took cleaner to it and the yellow stuff just rolled off of it:P I cleaned it several times and it just kept coming off..........blaaaah! I took it completely apart, there is a mail cubby inside, and I am scraping off all the old paint but I decided to remove the piant from the outside of this piece by stripping it off. After I got done sanding (and yes, I did wear a mask but.....) I realized that it was probably lead paint so the easiest way for me to get it off was to strip it off. So, yesterday I got all the insides and the doors stripped out and today I am priming those pieces to paint and set aside. I do hope this is worth all the effort, I have refinished and repainted a lot of furniture in my day but I have never had one this bad before! This piece is built very well and for the exception of one little crack in the mullion in the glass door it is in excellent condition. So I am hoping to restore her back to her full glory! You'lll have to stay posted on my progress on this as well! I got a couple of tough projects here!