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Saturday, January 22, 2011

Painting the Living Room

Today, Saturday, I go back to working on painting the living room.

The biggest part of doing the painting is all of the "cut in" or "edging" work. I started some of it in the hall area at the beginning of the month.

Before I started, I took pictures of the room and the hall.  This was before I took down the pictures or put way any of the "stuff."  As you can see, it is a complex area.

facing pocket door to kitchen
Two closets to the right of kitchen door
Round the corner (two more doors, one to the Master Bedroom and one to the Bathroom)

Going from the hall into the living room


Another wall


The wall above the six large windows.  The highest point here is twelve feet.


And finally, the door way into the dinning room and another pocket door entrance into the kitchen.

It is presently a cold white.  The new color is taken from the fireplace stone.  It is very close to white, but hints a bit of golden pinkish glow.  

At least I don't have to do the ceiling!

The drapery is another depressing problem.  It is very old, dirty, ripped in one place, and has some water stains.  When we moved in here I couldn't quite afford to buy new drapes, so I had these relined.  By now, they would fall apart if they were cleaned!  I had Coit do them a few years back. They don't take them down, and just steam them where they hang.  But they still looked pretty bad after that.

Several years ago I got an estimate for replacing them plus the ones in the dining room with similar custom treatments.  

The estimate was close to $10,000!  Since I was already starting to think about selling the house, I said "no way" to that.  I knew by the time we got the house on the market they would no longer be new, and I just couldn't spend that much.

A few weeks ago I went to JC Penny's and found some drapes that might work for a lot less!  The current ones are 96" long, and the maximum length on ready mades is 95".  

We can use the current rods and be a bit short, or move the rods down one inch! 

 I should be able to do the job for less than two thousand.  They may not be the high end fabric, but they will be clean. 

 But I have decided to wait until the house goes on the market to get new drapery. I want the realtors input.  

I think I can mend the ripped place  so it is less noticeable. 

Having this type of drapery in this room is essential.  We draw them to keep out the sun in the summer daytime, and the cold in the winter night.  They also are important to the acoustical nature of the room. 



   















10 comments:

  1. Wow, that's a lot of painting and draping. I like your idea of a bit off white for the paint. And also waiting until the house is actually going on the market for the drapery or even maybe something else by then? The realtor will no doubt have something to offer for the bucks they will make! I wonder if you tape off~I don't and surely with your artistry your hand is steady and you shouldn't have to...I hope so for you!!!

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  2. That's an ambitious project! Not sure what else to say. :)

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  3. Wow, there's a lot of painting, lucky no ceiling work!

    The last time I painted was 3 years ago when our house was renovated, the painter picked a wrong shade of white and we didn't like it, so we repainted the entire dining/living room, including the newly installed cathedral ceiling! So much hard work!!! When we put our house in the market, I will just sell the house as is.

    Yeah, I can't understand how come window treatment is so costy! Because of it, we only have honey-comb fabric blinds.

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  4. I'm exhausted just thinking about all you have to do! Good luck, you're doing a great job!

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  5. Will be interesting to hear what the realtor says about the drapes. I think I would take them down if they look bad and not replace them - $2,000 is a lot of money. We had recently painted every room and door in our house before it was sold (neutral color) - the new owners came in and repainted. On the house we sold before that one, the new owners came in and repainted every room - in really, really bright colors.

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  6. Just the thought of painting depresses me! I'm going to go out and sit in the sun!

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  7. We feel your pain!! Painting is time consuming but it does make things look so fresh and new!
    Good luck on your huge project!

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  8. That looks like a challenge. And a half! Whew! Good luck! Your color choice sounds very similar to the color I have. It is great. It has a warmth to it, and it picks up colors of things nearby, but not enough to limit what you can do with accessories. I think you'll like it.

    Drapes ...... gah. When I moved in here, I decided to go with Levelor type blinds as a temporary measure, and I like them so well that I have kept them. Don't think I'll be changing in the near future!

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  9. oh my..this is going to be quite the painting chore..lots of cutting in and edging too!..way to go for tackling this big project!

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  10. I just found your blog...So I know this is a bit late, and my guess is you might have already bought drapes. Women I know and I were just talking about replacing her drapes. Hers were the ones in the house when she bought it in the 70's. My suggestion was to get the tap top, or grommet topped drapes. You can find them at IKEA and other stores pretty cheap. I know most of my friends that are younger, hate the kind that you have to use the draw strings to open. Besides why spend a ton of money on expensive drapes, when the new home owner might end of changing them anyway, and just toss out the expensive ones you bought. Just my 2 cents, for what it is worth.

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