We've done many, many projects around this house in the 17 years we've lived here but the current fiasco is kicking my butt.
Three rooms needed to be painted. The office went fairly easily since we were painting the walls the same color. The ceiling was a bit of a puzzle. The paint took on a strange uneven texture in a few spots but it wasn't outrageous so we left it. The higher ceiling (remember yesterday's photo?) was difficult due having to go up and down the ladder (should have rented a scaffold). The other part of the family room was an unmitigated disaster.
I wasn't too keen on the ceiling paint as it had a chalky and slightly gritty feel as it dried. Since we had the flooring guys coming back, I worked hard and trimmed two coats and rolled the ceiling. Then I collapsed and waited for it to dry, thinking that everything would even out. WRONG. This is what awaited me several hours later. No, this isn't a photo of the sky on a cloudy day.
It seriously looked like someone went over it in random spots with a belt sander. This drove me literally to tears. We drove over to the home improvement store (mistake number one), walked in to find a 19 year old girl manning the paint counter. Those drove me to another near bout of tears. This girl clearly cannot help solve our problem. She recommended Kilz ceiling paint. At this point I'm grasping at straws. It's getting late. The Farmer and I return home and spend an hour or so trimming out the ceiling. What do you see?
This paint is GREY!!!! It looks white in the can but it's grey on the ceiling and very dark and ugly next to the paint color. As I crumble I turn to the Farmer and say, "Well, you always said you wanted to paint the ceiling a color. There you go."
There was no way we were going to continue. The next morning at 7 a.m. I drove to the nearby Sherwin Williams store where there was a real, certified professional behind the counter. Guess what? No more home improvement paint for me. The Sherwin Williams ceiling paint was on sale and was cheaper than anything the home improvement center had to offer.
I trimmed the ceiling again and rolled on one coat of the new paint and it was instantly 100 percent better. This weekend the Farmer and I will add one more coat and call it done.
I am so over that ceiling.
Stay tuned for something fun tomorrow. I promise no more talk of home improvements gone bad.
6 comments:
We always spend the extra money on
Sherwin Williams, does better and lasts longer. Good luck as you finish up.Linda
Nothing is ever easy, is it. Hope you are seeing light at the end of the tunnel!
How frustrating! (I do like color on ceilings, though. That's how I would solve it if it had been my problem.) My daughter also swears by Sherwin Williams. They have a designer colorist there who will help select the perfect colors for your entire home. My daughter's home has three rooms in a row that can be seen from each and she didn't want to paint them all the same color, but wanted complementary colors. The colors are perfection. I'd never have been able to do that on my own.
So the moral of this story is live and learn and share it with us. I am sorry for your frustrations in getting this done. It's all going to be so beautiful though!
Thank you for all the testing you did for us, and the reporting of same. Now we know where to buy paint. I hope we learn this lesson from you and don't have to repeat the expensive error.
Lots of empathy and love to you and the Farmer.
I'd have been crying too. Glad it's finally better. Looking forward to having you back posting again and able to enjoy your new digs.
When I bought my house several years ago, I completely redecorated it except the spare bedroom. Finally came the day when I had to do something with it in a hurry due to my parents impending visit. I thought I'd just do it white then I would have a base for something else later. So I found 2 five gallon buckets of white paint in the basement left over from before and started rolling. It was obvious it would take more than a couple of coats to cover up the disgusting old paint already there but after 5 coats of new, sparkly white paint, I could see an end in sight. The paint ran out so I opened the second bucket and finished off quickly - just one wall and half the ceiling and it was done! I went to bed knowing all I had to do was clean up the next evening and replace the furniture.
Next day I returned home from work and raced upstairs to view my handiwork in daylight. Disaster! The second bucket of paint was a different shade of white and so the ceiling was 2 different colours! Not perceptible when wet and in lamplight but definitely a two-tone ceiling! I was furious. So I had to paint the whole thing again. So I ended up with 6 coats altogether. The paint coverage is holding up that corner of the house I think.
BTW, this was Sherwin Williams paint too - the best!
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