Friday, March 18, 2011

The death of a feature wall

The Boy was away this past weekend which allowed me to get a few things done around the house without any interruptions! I decided to tackle the one thing that has bugged me since day dot. The red wall.
Lemmie explain. Our house is an older house. Like pushin' 50 years old.


As such it has some endearing (and not so endearing) features. Some of the former include the lovely rosewood timber floors, a dark timber decorative plate rail around the walls and ornate moulding around the ceiling.


For some crazy reason, the previous owners decided there was only one thing to do to tie all of these old school touches together. So they painted a red feature wall.


'So what?' I can hear you say. 'I've got a red feature wall and it's THE BOMB!'


I don't doubt that. And good for you. Buuuttt let me try and get across what kinda red I'm talking about. Think a bright, yet burnt orangey-red. Think fire engine red, on a fire engine that’s been sat in a field to rust for oh, 20 years or so. It's dark and oppressive, yet bright and blinding at the same time. Ok, enough of the descriptors - check it out for yourself.

Exhibit A: the red wall

Actually I think my camera has towned down the un-awesomeness of that red. Please don't tell me you think it looks ok. I've already had this argument discussion with The Boy, ten times over ("c'mon, it's not that bad…. I kinda like it… can't you leave it be?") So, being home alone, I seized the opportunity to paint out the red wall.
I popped down to bunnings and picked up 2L of Dulux one coat primer. I used the online calculator at the bunnings website to see how much I would need for two coats. Dulux advised that one litre would be enough to cover 16m2.
  
I also picked up some painters tape and a decent sized drop sheet whilst I was there. My very sweet Dad (Daddyo, I he is referred to in our house!) very kindly dropped over his painting box, which saved me having to buy brushes, rollers, trays etc, which certainly helped the back pocket.


 I was a bit concerned about making a mess and getting paint on the skirting boards or the plate rail as they are such a dark timber, but the painters tape worked a treat and there was barely any seepage (fortunately the Dulux one coat is acrylic, so any spills I was able to clean up with water. Gotta love that!) Now, what you're all waiting for - the  after shot!!

Exhibit B: red wall be gone !
Nice huh! Anywhoo, it seemed that once I got started, I couldn’t stop, so I got to working on the entry wall and one of the other loungeroom walls that was in need of a makeover. I'm still undecided as to what to go with as a top colour - I like the contrast of the white against the timber, but was afraid there's now too much white in the room. I'm thinking about a 'mocha' colour, like Dulux Natural Beige, or Tuft, but don't the room to be too dark, know what I mean? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

For the most part, Miss Bridget slept through the painting process.

Life's tough for her obviously.


A little hint or two for first timers -
a) Unless youre some kind of painting freak, you'll get paint on your hands / arms / face / hair / feet at some stage. Wash it off while it's still wet.  Painted fingernails are all well and good, but paint UNDER your fingernails sucks.
b) Take the time to prep the walls. I know, you just wanna get in and get a-paintin'! Seriously. Don’t. Fill any holes with a filler (I like Nordsjo Fine Filler - shrinkage factor is low, dries quickly and one tube goes a long way). Fill the holes with putty, scrape off the excess and gently sand when dry. Taping off all the edges will help if you don’t have a super steady hand or if you're cutting-in abilities aren't up to scratch. I also taped newspaper to the skirting boards after I taped them off which nicely caught any drops off the roller.
c) If you have a puppy who likes to chew things, keep her away or otherwise occupied. A whole roll of sandpaper and a paint roller were causalities as a result of this. (Seriously - can you imagine chewing sandpaper? Urgh!)

Happy painting! 

1 comment:

  1. What a cute puppy! We have a miniature schnauzer too and he also loves to chew. He's over a year old now and still like to nibble on anything he can get his paws on. But they're just so cute!

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