#DWH2: ENTRY WAY

We have been in the house now for about a week over 3 months. The painting has begun.
We started off this movement by painting a guest room (now Tongta's room) before she arrived in early August. That is now spreading to other portions of the house. The first area to receive attention is the entry way.

The entry way feeds into the living room of the house where I spend a large portion of my time teaching music lessons. SO, this was important to get a start on. The entry way and the living room have dark, hardwood paneling. The paneling is in really good shape and is original to the 1960 house. Remember, mid century mod. I had hesitation about painting it because of the style of the house. So if anything is to be painted, it had to be done right...right? So the decision has been made to paint ONLY the paneling in the entry way and leave the paneling in the living room as is (for now).
Along with the entry way paneling, the front door, trim and entry way brick will also get a fresh coat of paint.

So...now...the pictures...

This avocado green color is down the hallway of the master wing and is also the wall color in the master bedroom.  It makes me nervous. Question: Can a paint color really do that to you? Answer: Yes.  The palate for paint colors at #dwh1(as well as our place in downtown Memphis, and our first house in Lawrence, Kansas) were shades of gray/grey. These colors do not make me "nervous". I enjoy them muchly.  So, above are variations of colors to not only replace the green, but also for the entry way, the trim, and the two master bathrooms. (There's wallpaper in there...more on that, laterish.)

There she is...the FRONT DOOR. 

The front door feeds towards a brick wall that is continuous from the outside portion of the gated entryway. The brick is sort of a khaki color and is untouched on the inside. No stains, paints, etc. 

 First step, brick and mortar primer.  Fortunately, this part of the job is white, so it gave us a little bit of a preview to what we had in store. Painting the brick was a fairly simple task. Though, coating it for the first time did take a while. The brick absorbed the primer quickly, as predicted.

After a few practice coats, we were on track and away we went.

 

 Before we painted the brick we started the process of painting the front door. 

Step 1: Primer.

 This made a big difference. Really brightened up the dark entry. At this point, I felt pretty good about the whole paint the front door black part of the weekend until....

We actually started painting it black.  GOOOOOD LORD this part was frightening. Yes, I know it is black paint and it takes a few coats but like I said above GOOOOOD LORD. This part was kind of a low point. We persevered and got a coat of black paint on the door before bed on Saturday night.

 

 The next morning I woke up to this. 

And...I felt better. Kind of.

After church we resumed our little project. 

Another coat of black paint for the front door and while it was drying we began the bulk of the brick work. Geoffrey started up high, I did the bricks down below.

 By the end of the day we were left with white brick (primed) and a mostly black front door.

 We felt good about this change. 

Definite freshness in the space.

 

The color we selected for the front door was in conjunction with the lead pains between the stained glass. Normally, I would have chosen a tad different shade of black (darker and more black) but this shade fit the bill for this project.  There are portions of the day that the door reads dark, dark navy blue and sometimes charcoal. Bottom line, it is a nice change and really highlights the stained glass. Should this blueness continue, I may pick up something darker. But it's okay for now. All exploratory.

 Before and After

Because of the success of the primed white brick we decided to continue on with the vision of an all white entry. The trim around the front door as well as the wood paneling and all 7 doors (yes 7) in the entry way will be painted white.  

So, just imagine...

Then we thought....while we're at it perhaps we should paint the brick in the living room.

So...The brick in the living room will also be primed and painted (eventually).

The absolute next portions of the house to be painted are the master bedroom and master bathrooms.

(Hopefully in the next 10 days or so.) I am so ready for this little change.

It will make me clap my hands and shriek for joy. That's right, just like a little child.

So, until then...TTFN!