For those of you wondering how long it takes to complete typical DIY work around your home, please read no further.  Move on now, nothing to see here.   …I have given up on estimating the timeline of a project and have decided just to go with the flow.  Once you add a kid in the mix, it’s all downhill from there.  Sorry to say, but my one to two week fix for the dining room in our 1992 Colonial has taken well over 2 months and has yet to be completed.  Since things are taking sooooo long, I thought I would share what I have done so far.  Because, it really is just some of the final finishes that are lacking.

Let’s start with the before shots:

This shot shows us making do with our old furniture, decor and the shears and shades that the previous owners left in place.

It’s hard to tell, but the wallpaper in this room was not only very dark green, but it also had a pattern like crushed leather.  It looked a lot like an old style ink blotter for a desktop.  At least that’s what we think the look was that they were going for.  Unfortunately, we were not “going for” the gentlemen’s library feel for our dining space.

This shot of the fireplace shows the trim work that appears to be an after thought.  It’s as though they just forgot about adding a mantle or something?  The previous owners gifted us the gold mirror.  mmmmm….

Here is the front wall of windows, a shot that we have posted before, showing our curtain fabric choices.  There is also another mirror that a relative gifted us many years ago.  This one is gold too, but with an antiqued wash.  Still not exactly our cup of tea.

As you may or may not remember, the first two big decisions we had to make for this space were paint colors and curtain fabric.  It took four samples from the home improvement store and four more mixed in baby food jars to get the right shade for the walls.  I ended up using the French Grey color chip that I found at Home depot, but mixed at Lowe’s with Valspar Eggshell finish paint, on the bottom portion of the walls.  I had a quart of the same color mixed with a high gloss paint for the chair rail and the trim around the floor just for a little contrast. 

Unfortunately the Antique Silver color was two muddy once I put it up on the walls and just did not have enough of a hint of blue for my taste.  So, I mixed it with the French Grey until I had just the right shade and had it color matched at Lowe’s.  I also wanted the upper walls to be darker than what the Antique Silver offered up against the deep blue grey of the bottom portion of the walls.  After getting the wall color completed I finished out the crown molding, window and door trim with glossy white Valspar paint.

We have not had many sunny days lately (or at least not when the sun comes around to this side of the house), so I have not been able to score a really good shot of the paint color to share.  Oh well…

As you can see from the wide room shot above, we decided to go with the Bird and Vine tablecloths from Dwell Studio for Target for our curtains.  After carefully cutting them in half, I sewed up the edge and then put a 1.5 inch hem in the top for some stability and then hemmed the bottoms to length for each window.  At $21.99 a pop, I would say these were a pretty cost conscious solution for the curtain panels. 

I also added more substantial wooden curtain rods with simple finials painted out in the same glossy white as the crown molding.  This piece of the project took a bit longer than expected because I ended up building my own rod system from the trim pieces you can purchase individually at Lowe’s and Home Depot.  Instead of buying the already finished curtain systems I opted for this more cost effective way to get exactly the size I wanted for a “high and wide” mounting.  Even though it was a pain to paint all these pieces I did save about a third of what I would have spent on the prefinished items.  I also found that many of the rods in the home improvement stores are either really bulky and large or kind of small and wimpy.  The Allen & Roth line at Lowe’s is quite nice, but their white pieces are actually sort of more ecru and looked dirty next to the glossy white of the other trim in the room.

And, although I prefer bamboo shades to wooden blinds I decided to go with the latter.  They are still not my favorite, but I figured they will stay with the house if we move and this home calls for a plantation blind or shutter look more than the that of bamboo shades.  Again, not my favorite, but I think the windows came out just fine anyway.

We decided to paint out the trim around the fireplace the same color as the crown molding.  It actually makes the grey streaks running through the marble look much better.  The surround also looks slightly less out of place or as an after thought.  My ideal fix for this wall would be to pull all the trim down from around the marble and use small glass tiles with a bit of shimmer from floor to ceiling just on this one angled wall.  I think that would be such a nice focal point for the room.  That is a far off in the future project, though, and we are quite happy with the paint job for now.  As soon as possible I will be spraying the gold trim piece, along with the rest of the gas insert surround, a mat black to further spruce up the fireplace area.

Another little project I have been wanting to tackle for years now was to paint the antiqued gold mirror white.  The color was never quite right and it is a bit ornate for our tastes, so we figured a nice coat of glossy white paint (same as the trim in the room) would help tone it down and play a little more nicely with the rest of the space.

NOW, for the elephant, or two, in the room.

This chandelier actually evoked hysterical laughter from The Mister and I when we were first looking at this home.  Granted, the previous owners had filled the space with big, bulky, dark wood period pieces, but this light always seemed over the top to us.  I have always looked at it as to large for the room, but I discovered I may be off in my thinking after a recent visit to a local decorator’s outlet.  I was told that the chandelier should meet the measurements of the room size, not the table below it.  Oops.  I was thinking the opposite, and now I realize that I think it’s just my general dislike for the shiny, brass that keeps me from accepting this guy as the right fit for the room.  I have considered spraying it out, but I believe it is a nice and probably costly piece of brass.  So, I think I may replace it with something more our taste, but leave it in the attic in case future owners want to restore this room to it’s former gentlemen’s library glory.  BTW (sorry Kelli)- It’s hard to tell from this picture, but this thing is nearly 30 inches across.  It’s HUGE!!!

The other issue is the table.  It is only a dinette size and was our extra game table at our last place.  I have dreams of relocating it to our spare bedroom upstairs that plays double duty as my craft space.  I think it will be the perfect size table for all my sewing and crafting needs.  In the meantime I have this crazy idea that I am going to craft my own table from plywood and paint it out white.  That way I can get the exact size I want and I don’t have to worry about matching the wood tones to anything else I put in here (something I gave up on long ago after acquiring the Danish made rosewood hutch).  I did finally settle on some simple chairs that are pretty comfy, plus I figured I could slipcover them for different looks if I want to in the future.  They are the bentwood modern stacking chairs from Target in the espresso finish.  Not only did these come in sets of two, but I was able to purchase them at a price cut for $59.99 a set.  WHOOHOO for the budget!

Hopefully, we will be able to stop playing “which of these things is not like the others” soon and take this room DIY completely off the list.  Stay tuned for the latest project I created for myself involving a piece of furniture to take up that empty space below the newly painted mirror.  I’m super excited about this one and I think it will really make the whole space!

Bon Appétit!

Kitsch Krafts

It’s happening fast!  I cannot believe it is already the middle of June!  I feel like May whizzed by before I could even flip my calendar over from April.  We have had a couple of visits from the grandparents and between those, and the yard and house projects, things have just been in high gear.  I must reflect back on one thing and that is Mother’s Day.  I now have a new appreciation for this holiday and will say it’s better than all the rest combined.  The Mister got the Little Guy in the morning so I could sleep in (Sleep = the greatest gift on Earth!) and then my boys made me breakfast in bed.  Later, they took me out for a nice brunch with some friends.  All in all it was a low key, but very lovely day.

(Here I am with my Guys!)

That afternoon we also ran to the home improvement store and bought the plants for this little patch out back:

(Here is a shot of our sad old flower bed on the back side of the house.  More on this yard project later!)

Shortly after working on our soon to be veggie garden I started the DIY project in the dining room and you all know the rest.  That room is still sucking away at my time, but looks to be finished up soon.  I just wish I was moving through June with a neat and clean home instead of the DIY disaster zone we currently live in.  Soon, soon I keep telling myself.  I am sure as soon as the dining room is finished I will want to jump on something else, but I am still going to keep my eye on the prize.

I hope all the mothers out there had a lovely day too and all you DIY’ers (inside and out) are having fun in the sun!

Kitsch Krafts

It’s the hardest part of any DIY paint project.  Well, that and doing everything while the baby sleeps!  Luckily the paint can dry in between naps and I don’t go to crazy in the meantime.  Hanging with the Little Guy always takes my mind off all the work I have to do around this place.  The priming is complete and I am waiting for the swatches of wall color to dry.  While I am trying to make a decision about which colors to use I plan to get a couple of coats up on the ceiling.  Lord knows when the last time that thing saw a fresh paint job.  It’s funny how white things seem until you paint them with a fresh coat of white paint.  As soon as the chair rail got a hit or two from the brush after I splattered primer I could really see the distinct difference in colors.  Can’t wait to get the ceiling and all that trim cleaned up!

In addition to the wall color I need to make a decision about curtains.  Since this room is large I thought about going bold with a fun patterned fabric for the stationary panels I plan to put up high and wide along all three windows in the room.  The real privacy will come in the form of bamboo roman shades.  So, I was perusing Target the other day and came across the new table linens from Dwell Studio.  As always, I was drawn right in by their use of color and fun pattern.  I was also lured by the size of the largest tablecloth, 60” X 104”, which is exactly the size I need for these windows.  Unfortunately, finding the longer sized curtains in the ready made world of window treatments has proven very difficult.  If, and that is a big IF, I find a ready made panel that I like it either doesn’t come in the larger size or that size is super expensive, or it’s out of stock.  That was my luck up until recently in searching for curtain panels.  Until I walked into Target that fateful day.  I left with just enough tablecloths to make curtains for the dining room and adjoining living room.  Now I just need to choose which to use in each room.  Here are some shots of the dining room pre-DIY disaster with the curtains held in place via clothespins over the sheer panels the previous owners left.

Linen #1 – Large Medallions

Linen #2 – Branches with Birds

Usually I do not like a lot of bold pattern, so I may end up just using one set in the dining room (since it’s a larger space) and going with plain fabric for the living room.  Both linens use the exact same color combo of chocolate brown and deep blue gray with an occasional bit of mustard thrown in for contrast, all on a white background.  My plan is to put up white wooden curtain rods with rounded finials that sit above the window and just below the crown molding.  I also want the rods to hold the curtains outside of the windows on either side, just overlapping at the trim and up to the edge of the bamboo shades I plan to hang for privacy.

I am curious to know what you guys think.  So far everyone that I have asked has picked the same style with the comment, “This one looks like you”.  What is funny is that I was leaning toward the opposite design.

So, let’s see what you all think, “looks like me”.

Kitsch Krafts

This is what has been occupying my time almost nonstop since the beginning of May:

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Yep, the wallpaper steamer didn’t work to my benefit.  Actually, I take that back.  It worked so well that it took down the wallpaper, the paint behind it and the top layer of the drywall within about 15 seconds.  I stopped after destroying one section of wall (you can see part of it in the far left of the second photo above.  Despite the really bad damage taking down the wallpaper caused I have been able to patch these spots with drywall compound, sand them down and cover everything with a couple of coats of oil-based, odorless Kilz primer.  It’s already looking like a new place and I am chomping at the bit to get the final colors up on the walls.  I think one more coat of primer is warranted to be sure that lovely border stays hidden forever and then I will be on to round two of painting.  Seems like this one week wallpaper removal and painting project has taken on a life of its own and wants to grow into a month long endeavor.  I have been slightly depressed about the length of time this has taken, but I have learned some lessons for future redecorating projects for other wallpapered rooms in my home.  I think I will skip the removal and go straight for the heavy duty primer.  I have always been told painting over wallpaper can be disastrous, but in this case I think I would have saved about two weeks time and I still would have had a nice looking paint job.  Oh well, you live, you learn, right?

Now, for my next big decisions…paint color and curtains.  I had been planning some light shades of blue gray to play off the darker shades of blue gray I was going to paint in the adjoining formal living room.  However, the dining room is almost twice as big as the living room and it gets a LOT more light.  Plus, the furniture in that room is all blue (I don’t know what I was thinking!).  So, I have decided to flip my plans and use the darker colors in the larger space.  I want the rooms throughout our home to glide seamlessly into each other with pops of color here and there, but I don’t want just a neutral white or beige background.  Although I like that look, I really want to have some color on the walls.  Over the years I have found that I lean toward shades of blue, green and gray with all different shades of stained wood thrown in the mix.  So, I am sticking with this color pallet throughout the house.  I also love a hit of bright red once in a while and that will definitely show up here and there as well.  Right now, though I need to get two colors picked out for the dining room because I hope to have them on the walls before the end of the week.  Here are the shades I am considering right now…(at least until the next trip to Lowe’s or Home Depot!):

Set #1- Woodlawn Silver Brook & La Fonda Villa Fountain (The middle colors)

These are from Lowe’s Valspar line and they are also both National Historic Trust colors.  They are definitely more blue/turquoise than gray.

Set #2 – Antique Silver & French Grey

These are from Home Depot’s Glidden line and have a little less turquoise in them.  They also both have more of a gray look to them when holding them up in the room.  Go figure!?!

What do you guys think?  Of course the lighter color would be above the chair rail and the darker color below.  Oh yeah, and I am planning to paint the chair rail along with the bottom color so it sort of fades away.  I love the moldings in our home, but I’m not wild about this chair rail.  The rest of the trim and moldings in the room will be high gloss white.

I would love to hear your opinion, and I know some of you definitely have one!  So, let it rip…

Kitsch Krafts

Okay, I am actually having a lovely Monday, but my neighbors are making me completely crazy.  If you are attached to me through Facebook you have already heard a bit about my woes involving our neighbors on one side.  Let me start by saying that they happen to be the nicest people on the planet and they keep their yard meticulously manicured.  Unfortunately, that latter part is what causes all the crazy.  They are a retired couple and their hobby is their yard.  According to them the previous owner never got around to taking care of things in the area between the yards before they could get to it, so they have always maintained the natural space between the properties.  From what we can see no normal human being (okay, make that regular working Joe) could get out to the yard fast enough to beat them to any of the work that needs to be done.  An example of what we have experienced would be, before all the leaves can even hit the ground they are out there to rake everything up in the natural space, shred it, spread it and keep it looking like an office park. 

Part of what made us fall in love with our home was that the yard is full of trees and has (like most of the homes in the neighborhood) a natural buffer between each home.  One side of our property looks like woods, with nice thick trees and leaves on the ground, while the other side has every twig and leaf picked clean and any tree that is not up to par with the neighbor’s standards quickly sawed right down to a nub.  I know I sound like a big whiner that should be thrilled with living by such diligent, tidy neighbors that basically keep up one side of my yard for me.  Well, I’m here to tell ya’ that living next door to retired gardeners has now made it to my list of “Things I will never live by” because during the summer and fall last year there was a constant sound of lawn equipment emanating from their yard.  The space between our homes looked like a video rolling a little two fast with the two of them running around busy beaver style trying to rake up every last leaf and get it through the shredder at record speed.  If it weren’t for the annoying sounds that radiate from their yard starting around 9:00 am and going until about 6:00 pm or later, the scene would be pretty hysterical.  The other issue is that the area between our yards is mostly ours.  Only a narrow strip of that space is actually their property.  Now that we are coming in to spring and early summer The Mister and I are starting to plan for a little yard revamp and are having a tough time figuring out what to do about the folks next door.  We are at the point of wanting to plant a thick hedge or add a fence right down the property line to keep them over on their side, but we think both would look weird in a space that is supposed to be just woods and not manicured at all.  Ideally we would like to see the middle section left alone with the leaves left to naturally compost in the middle.  Then  along the sides near our driveway we would like to keep up mulched beds with small flowering shrubs and seasonal bulbs and flowers.  The photo below shows an area that, although it needs some work, is exactly what we would like to see all the way around this buffer between our yards.

(The front edge of the natural space between our homes.  We would like more of this look all the way around,with a natural look in the middle.)

I have mentioned this to the neighbors twice and they insist they don’t want the leaves…they have allergies (this makes no sense to me at all).  They also have mentioned other plantings that we should  do since apparently what we have in mind is not up to their standards.  So, here we are wanting to fix up our little dream home and feeling sick about the idea of upsetting the people we have to live next to for God knows how long!?!  We know we need to speak up and take back our land…ha!…but we just don’t know how.  The reason I am writing this today is not just to vent, but to ask for some advice.  If any of you have a gentle way that we can get through this problem, some simple words of wisdom, or planting tricks to help us out we would really appreciate it.  The Mister and I are just starting to crumble and while we don’t want to give in to living with part of our yard being commandeered by another we are afraid that speaking up with only make things really terrible.  Please, please leave a comment and let us know how you would handle our situation.

Some other things you may need to know before making a judgment call:

-They mow their lawn 2 to 3 times a week during the summer

-Rather than sweeping their walkways and drive they crank up the old two-stroke motor blower and spend FOREVER blowing the dirt and debris away

-They recently cut down several (what appeared to be perfectly healthy) trees in their yard, claiming they were dying

-They mentioned to us that they hate oak trees (our entire yard is one big oak grove)

-When they blow the leaves up in the natural space between our yards they come all the way over to the middle of our front yard and blow everything off one side of our yard and into the middle of the side yard before shredding

-All the other neighbors we have encountered roll their eyes when mentioning these particular neighbors

-Even the guy that helps us mow our lawn (we don’t own a mower, just all other lawn tools) mentioned they are fanatical about their lawn (he maintains the lawn on the other side and behind our neighbors)

-When asking our lawn guy about buying mulch for that area even he suggested just covering the area around the edges, while leaving the middle natural (he was surprised to learn that the property was almost entirely ours since they are always in that area doing something to it)

-While their yard is gorgeous and full of specimen plants it looks like it belongs in a brand new community with no trees rather than this long established neighborhood that takes pride in all the natural space that has been maintained over the years

Keeping these last few things in mind, I will now commence to begging for any advice at all.  Please, throw it at us!  Again, I don’t mean to sound like a big whiner I just want to keep a healthy and good relationship with my neighbors while also having the yard I envisioned to go with my home.

Feeling like a prisoner in my own yard,

Kitsch Krafts

PS-I decided I was going to say something about the latest transgression involving a couple piles of yard waste that they raked up from their side and pushed on to our side of the property (see below).

(Black circles indicate the piles.  The black line way in the background is the property line)

It has been sitting their a week and making our blood boil every time we see it.  I decided today was the day I was going to say something, so I went out to water some plants out front and try to talk to them.  Let this go on record as being the first time I have ever been in my yard in full view of the neighbors when they have not come right over and started up a conversation with me.  It was strange, but they must have been really busy.  So, I let it go.

During the last few weeks the Richmond, VA area has been buried by Old Man Winter.  We have spent our time bundled up in our warm house, staring out into the deceptively sunny yard.  Deceptive because it looks lovely out, but don't be fooled it's FAH-REEZING out there.  This weather has me dreaming of spring and summer and the opportunity to spend some time on the deck of our new home.  The deck is a great size for our table and chairs, plus our loungers and small grill have a little spot too.  I hope to put together some pretty potted gardens and maybe give the wood a little facelift with a sanding and some stain once warmer weather rolls in. 

While dreaming of the chance to start those little outdoor projects I am reminded of how we transformed our concrete patio at our 1960's Tri-Level home back in Nashville, TN.  Our old home sat up on a hill and the patio was sort of carved into the hillside behind the house. 

The stacked stone retaining wall around the patio was made from the rock that was dug up during the construction phase.  We loved the look of the old wall, but over the years the concrete patio slab was cracked and very dingy looking. 

Along with the staircase up to the smaller patio off the kitchen, the whole back portion of the house just looked old and uninspired.  We started with a good power washing, but that resulted in a lighter gray concrete that looked new and bright against the old mossy stone wall.  It just looked wrong and the cracks seemed to stand out even more.  Basically all the concrete areas around our home needed help and power washing alone was not going to cut it.

That is when we opted to try out concrete stain.  At first we were pretty intimidated by using a product that could end up looking bad on a surface we could not sand down and/or easily change.  What if we ended up with drips or areas that were lighter or darker than we wanted?  Would we be stuck with a mess or mistake forever?  After much hemming and hawing we took the plunge and purchased one gallon of a reddish brown and one gallon of dark brown stain (we got these at Lowe’s and unfortunately I cannot give specifics because they no longer sell the brand we used.  However it was very basic stain).  Prior to applying the stain we cleaned the concrete again with an etching wash and then used concrete crack filler that contained sand and could be stained to blend in.  Even though the product said it would hold stain we purchased a brown color just to help it along a bit.  Once the cracks were filled up and dried we started staining.  We followed the recommended application process to the letter and also purchased an inexpensive garden sprayer for the red highlight color and opted to roll on the base of dark brown.  The idea is that you roll out the base to the desired tint and then randomly spray the highlight color on top of the base while still wet.  Then to aid in making the colors look a little more like natural stone (as much as concrete slabs can) we used the roller again to lightly blend the colors and soften the overlapped edges. 

One other thing to mention, that became a part of this project, was the decrepit wrought iron handrail along the upper patio outside the kitchen, as well as, the front porch.  Both railings were covered in old white paint that was peeling off in huge chunks with layers of rust flaking away underneath.  Even though the project started as a way to make our back patio more inviting it connected directly with the back steps up to the patio off the kitchen, so we felt that we had to prepare this as one BIG project.  And, since we did not want the back of our house to look so much better than the front (first impressions, ya know!) we included that area too.  So, before we stained the kitchen patio and the front stoop we cleaned up both handrails.  I striped all the old chipping paint off, then we primed and spray painted the railing with a hammered bronze color that perfectly matched the new outdoor lights we planned to swap for the old ones. 

Here is an example of the new outdoor lighting.  (Photo Courtesy of Zeitlin Realtors, Nashville, TN)

The handrails looked like they had just been installed once we were finished  It was a total transformation.

The rich color shows well in this photo that I took immediately after completing the front stoop.  The next two were taken two summers later and in brighter light, but the color is still quite deep and dark.

(This Photo Courtesy of Zeitlin Realtors, Nashville, TN)

(This Photo Courtesy of Zeitlin Realtors, Nashville, TN)

In the end we were able to apply this staining process to the back patio, up the back steps, across the small patio off the kitchen and up the front door steps and across the stoop.  We ended up with a deep reddish brown mottled color that looked amazing against the red brick of the house.  The main color of the brick is red, but with dark green and several shades of brown mixed in.  So, the deep reddish brown of the stain made all of the concrete areas around the home look completely different.  Everything just blended very well and the new concrete color created a much smoother transition with the old stacked stone wall.  In the end, all of our outdoor areas were much more cohesive and inviting.

So tell me about your fun outdoor perk-ups and projects!  Are you planning anything for the spring already?

Kitsch Krafts

As I had mentioned in my novel long post regarding the nursery makeover I planned to share how I created the wall treatment.  I bet most of you other DIYer’s out there figured it all out by now, but I still wanted to post a sort of tutorial on the topic.  Like I said in the last nursery post I had very little time and almost no budget to make a big impact in this space.  You may call it “Pregnancy Brain”, but the Little Guy’s arrival date was fast approaching and I simply could not think of anything very exciting to do.  I finally got a flash of an idea while in an office supply store and decided I could make a couple of gallons of paint go a long way.  Hopefully, through infancy and into early childhood with a not-to-cutesy paint treatment for the walls.  I knew I was going to stick with the brown and blue color scheme since it was still popular enough that I could easily find other accessories to fill out the room.  With my tight deadline that was key.  Since the room is fairly small I chose to make horizontal bands around the space to make it feel larger.  Also, in order to help hide the wrath of a toddler I also used the darkest color along the bottom (ha!  I am a genius!)  ;o]  So, here is how the plan played out….

First I measured the height of the bands and while using a level I lightly marked them with a pencil.  The walls were already white, but I had a few marks and holes to fill from the previous resident, so I ended up painting the upper portion a nice bright white to freshen everything up. 

In order to make my color transitions work from band to band I had to tape off and paint the center portion next.  I used good old blue painter’s tape for this task.  Then I collected my bounty from the office supply store for the next step.

Yep, that’s right, stickers!  I used reinforcement rings, small and medium multiuse (pricing) dots and CD labels.  For the top of the center blue band I wanted a smaller, more delicate pattern, so I used small pricing dots and reinforcement rings as seen below:

I placed them just below the painter’s tape line that separated the center band from the upper white band.  In an attempt to try to keep the final coat of paint from seeping under the stickers and the painter’s tape I brushed on a basic gel medium, which is clear and helps to seal the edges.  Then I rolled on two coats of BEHR Premium Plus in High Noon (color matched from a Valspar card) with an Eggshell finish.

Since I was working on this in the dead of summer and the heat was almost unbearable the paint dried VERY quickly.  That was great for the timeline and I was able to pull the painter’s tape and stickers off pretty quickly in order to get to the next step of the process….the bottom band.

As you can see from the photo above I used the bottom of the blue band as a guide in placing the CD label rings along with the larger pricing dots.  After that I added painter’s tape to make a clean line above this row of larger circle stickers and on the baseboard trim.  Nothing like easy clean-up, right?  Then I rolled on three coats of BEHR Premium Plus in Butternut Wood with an Eggshell finish.  Even though I was buying BEHR paint, from a BEHR color card the lady in the paint department was unable to get the color matched.  So, she ended up having to use the new BEHR paint with primer, which she sold to me for the regular price.  Sah-weet!  (The funny thing is I found the paint with primer to be thinner than the regular BEHR paint and it still took three coats to get good coverage.  So, I am not sure about the added benefit here.  I may have to try that paint out again in the future before I make a final decision on that one.)

Just a note about these larger stickers:  I stuck them to the leg of my pants prior to sticking them on the wall because the smaller stickers I used above left a bit of sticky residue when I removed them.  I just wanted to avoid having large gray (dirty looking) circles and dots in the future because of dust, etc.  Also, the gel medium made them pucker, so I had to just paint over the stickers very delicately to prevent seepage as much as possible.

Again, it was hot, the windows and doors were wide open, and the paint dried very quickly.  So, I was able to move on to peeling all those stickers off pretty soon after painting.  Even with all my efforts to keep the final coats of paint from seeping under the stickers and tape I still had some touch-ups to do.  Next time, instead of relying on a gel medium, I plan to just paint over the barrier with whatever color is underneath.  That way the seepage won’t show later.  Lesson learned.

After adding a nice dark, chocolate brown (BEHR Premium Plus in Dried Leaf with a high gloss finish) to the baseboard trim and a fresh coat of white (BEHR Premium Plus in high gloss bright white) to the door and window moldings this is how it looked:

Of course I was pretty excited at how it turned out and hope that this simple paint treatment keeps the Little Guy happy for a long time. 

Or, at least until I decide I want to do something new to his space.  Who knows!?!

Kitsch Krafts

PS- One last note to those concerned about our health and safety during this process.  Yes, I used regular paints rather than the super-eco-friendly no VOC variety, but I did so after speaking with my doctor about my plans.  I also read up on doing DIY work while pregnant since I had a million projects to finish at our last home before moving to our new one.  I wanted to be absolutely sure I was taking the correct precautions to avoid having a kid with an arm growing out of his forehead.  As I mentioned above, the windows and door were wide open, plus I used a heavy duty respirator (which I refused to model in my touch-up shot purely out of vanity).