Name: Colleen
Location: St. Louis
Time: Actual time spent on the project only amounted to one evening (prep), one Sunday (work), and another morning (clean-up)
Cost: Just under $70, but now I have acquired some useful items like the Kilz primer, the spackle, rollers, etc. Plus HD has a rebate for $5 off the can of paint since it was MLK weekend. (Mental Note: 3-day weekends are probably good times to buy paint).
Colleen says:"I moved in and immediately hated the boring beige-white walls about 43 months ago! Afterwards, I sat on the bed admiring our work and told my boyfriend that I absolutely couldn't believe I had waited that long to finally paint. Never again! Now it's on to tackle the kitchen... :) " - All the pics, tools, how-to and VOTING are below...
BEFORE
Tell us the tools and resources you used for the project:
Spackle and putty knife
Dropcloths
Painter's tape
Hammer and screwdriver
Sandpaper and sanding block
Nylon bristle paintbrush
Roller and tray
Kilz primer
Behr's "Glass Bead" eggshell finish paint Stepladder and Boyfriend and adorable painting outfit (plaid shirt and ripped jeans) - not pictured ;)
Stuff was from Home Depot, my hall closet, or my mom's basement...I did make use of Behr's ColorSmart software on their website to narrow down potential colors. This one came up after "fine-tuning" my original choice.
MY TOOLS
Share step by step instructions for how you completed the project:
1. Broke out the chipped plaster and spackled the holes.
2. Removed furniture, rugs, stuff on the walls, etc. Wiped down walls and floors.
3. Taped off the perimeter of the room and around all doors and windows, covered outlets and lightswitch with tape, too.
3. Covered bed and dresser (and poor Cocoa) with plastic sheeting.
4. Sanded spackled/water damaged areas and primed with Kilz.
5. Cut in with paint (no primer used overall, it's a rental and the existing color was light enough that I wasn't going to worry about it).
6. Rollered room, one coat was enough - again I wasn't going for perfection and I am on a budget, so one gallon of paint was perfect!
7. Closed off heat vent, opened windows, and shut the door to let things air out in the 20 degree STL winter air!
8. Pulled up tape, rolled up dropcloths, swept twice and mopped, moved some furniture back in.
9. Next day replaced other furnishings, curtains, and stuff on walls. Cocoa was happy to be back in the fresh air, too!
DURING
AFTER
AFTER
I've seen this pillow before but where is it from?
view scydream's profile
I have taken advantage of HD/Behr's rebates on 3 day weekends in the past. I have done this at least twice. Definitely a good time to buy. Plus I usually need every minute of the 3 day weekend to paint since I have plaster walls and lots of molding.
view H.H. Hannah's profile
I am totally the person you "were," about my own bedroom. I've been in my home about the same amount of time, except I had to peel very old wallpaper, and there were stubborn remnants and some of there are still on the wall and I yet have to paint... I tell myself that I haven't decided on the color so it's just as well that I'm taking my time...
view RJD's profile
The pillow is from CB2.
view JohnnySlimane's profile
Haha, I have to agree with the voters who said, "Glad it's done!" That was my whole reason for doing this for the Jan. Jumpstart - to be done with it! It's put my motivation to do other stuff at a much higher level now, and shown me what a huge difference a little paint can make. And yes, scydream the pillow is CB2 and it's actually on sale (if it's still there).
My advice to you RJD is to just take advantage of your next semi-free weekend (President's Day is coming up!), and finish the wallpaper stripping and get a color up - if you hate it, the worst you are out is a few hours and about $30 on paint and stuff.
It'll free your energy for other projects and inspire you to just get it done :)
view STLcolleen's profile