House renovations, more painting...

Yep, still painting over here. But it's almost done, HALLELUJAH, and it's time for another house update.

1. Our white woodwork!

I always brace myself a bit when talking about painting our woodwork white and Nate thinks I'm highly sensitive to it, since nobody really disapproves as strongly as I fear they will. As I said before, I know that keeping original dark woodwork is really important to some people and I respect our home's style and age. However, after living in a home from the 1920s for 4 years, knowing that all.this.wood is just NOT our style and doesn't fit our vision of our house, I knew I'd want white woodwork whenever we bought a house. It's brighter, more modern, and cleaner to me although I'm sure some disagree. And it was also a HUGE pain in the butt to convert it all, as expected, but oh so worth it. Pictures first, then details:

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So we still have to paint all of the actual windows but we are waiting to do that until we can take the time to really care for these ancient babies. And it's a lot of work just to paint the frames on the outside since we don't want to paint them shut, and with old windows you have a lot of really different parts to consider. We plan to really clean them, caulk them, replace some weights and maybe some of the glass, too. So whenever that happens we will also paint the remaining parts of our windows. Also, we have yet to do any doors and for now, most of them are still off the hinges. And of course, the entire kitchen woodwork is still natural for now but that's nothing compared to the huge list of 'to paint' projects that began this process. And we DID keep the built in buffet and windows above it natural in our dining room, and I really do love it that way.

If you are at all curious on HOW we did this massive project in a few weeks, I'll briefly touch on that now. I kept track of how much time we spent on this woodwork painting project because I just knew it would be insane. I was right: 8 hours of just prep work, 12 hours to spray the primer and first coat of paint, 5 hours to caulk the cracks, and then 20 freaking hours for me to paint ONE final coat with a brush. That's 50 hours, folks. And a few fits of rage were thrown in there for fun.

To prep the wood we sanded it all down really well with sandpaper, then wiped it down with a damp cloth and then a tack cloth. Then Nate demanded to use his spray gun for the primer, since that isn't something I could do by hand anyway in my pregnant state, so we had to tape off all of the walls and cover the floors very well. Nate had his first breakdown with the sprayer when using the primer because it was a LOT harder than he thought to get in all the nooks and crannies with different angles on the gun. We waited 24 hours for all of that primer to dry and then Nate agreed to do the first coat of latex paint with the gun, too. Like I said, his two coats took 12 hours and my one coat by hand took 20 so you do the math. After the sprayed coat of latex was done, we realized we had to caulk the cracks in the woodwork or it'd look horrible. This caulking business was my LEAST favorite part by far. So tedious and annoying but it really did make a huge difference, just like all of the articles online said. You can see why we had to do it in these pictures:

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So after that was done, I had to sand it down a bit again. And then I got to work on my brushed coat--and really, even with the expensive Benjamin Moore Advance paint we used, it needed a THIRD coat in places to really look nice. I'm a pro with cutting-in now, what can I say? I absolutely love how it all turned out and during Nate's day of 'I will not do this anymore because my sprayer hates primer and I might kill someone before painting this stuff by hand' attitude, I was really nervous we'd made the wrong decision. But once that primer and the first coat were on, my heart really skipped a beat when I came downstairs and I almost cried (again, for the third time that day) seeing it all come together. The white wood makes it feel like home to us. And I hope we never, ever have to do a 'full paint' project again. Touch ups over the years are fine, but man---that was rough.

2. Sunroom ceiling:

This wasn't too bad considering the woodwork debacle. But I really wanted the ceiling in here to make the crown molding pop. Can you even tell the ceiling is two shades lighter than the walls? I hope so. :)

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3. The baby's nursery:

Remember how her woodwork was yellow, and I hated that with a passion? Converting it all to white, to match the rest of the upstairs bedrooms, was quite the task. It was my first taste at painting woodwork and so I knew what awaited me downstairs in the future. I think it took a total of 10 hours just to do her room, but maybe that included lots of daydreaming breaks as I pictured my baby girl coming home to this room:)

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And I might as well throw this in here, too--- the rug that will be in her room looks like this:

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And fabrics have been purchased for my mom to make a quilt, Roman shades, a bedskirt, and changing pad covers!!

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I'm so excited to see it all come together I could barf. Still have to paint the crib a hot pink, find a rocker, and make a few art pieces but it's really not TOO far off anymore. Just seeing the room totally painted is a huge step and that rug makes it even prettier. Many more updates on her room will surely come along soon enough.

So yeah, lots of freaking painting. Have to do the woodwork in the kitchen, the kitchen walls, the half bathroom walls, and the upper full bathroom walls and trim. But honestly, I'm thinking most of this will have to get done once we move into the house. Because, um, we are moving NEXT FRIDAY if I haven't freaked out enough about that on this blog. Can't wait...slash...am scared we might die in the process.

22 comments:

  1. Looks great! I always cringe when I see people paint their woodwork, but it's your choice. I just know I'd always think twice about buying a house with painted woodwork. So that might be something you'd have to deal with down the road. Until then, do whatever you want!

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  2. It looks amazing! My Husband is one of those people who freaks out at the thought of painting original woodwork. I'm all for the original but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. White is so much more fresh. I approve! Can't wait to see your baby's room!

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  3. And I should have mentioned that our real estate agent even said, 'it has natural, unpainted woodwork which is a bonus'. We just nodded and smiled.

    But really, its' our house now and we could potentially stay here a LONG time, so I'm not too worried about what the 'next owners' will like or not. Because honestly, it was a huge turn off/negative for me to buy a house with all dark woodwork because I was hoping it'd be white already. I figure if I could suck it up and buy a house that didn't have the woodwork I loved, someone else could do the same, too.

    Plus, I'm sure there will be potential buyers out there who hate what we did to the kitchen and hate my paint colors, etc. All of that would sting a bit but I get it---we all have such different tastes and mine aren't always 'appeal to the masses' types of tastes.

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  4. I do not envy the HOURS that took, but I'm totally with you on the white woodwork- I think it looks SO much better! At least your hubs was on board with painting it- as we look at houses I know I'll either have to find a house that already has white woodwork, or live with natural, because my hubs is not a fan of painting it so I would lose the batter to do so!

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  5. I think more people should paint their woodwork! Look how much cleaner and fresher your house looks!! I find that dark woodwork is so drab.

    When we were house hunting, and would see a house with dark wood trim, I'd ask my husband "can I paint it?"

    If he said no, we'd leave. :-)

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  6. Ohhhh it looks AMAZING!!!! I wouldn't worry ONE bit about someone not wanting painted woodwork down the road! Seriously - it looks SO MUCH BETTER and SO MUCH more expensive!!!

    You did a great job!!! 1960 called & they want the unpainted woodwork back.

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  7. I can't wait to see her nursery all put together... those fabrics + rug make me squeal! Love girl stuff.

    And wow, I do not envy all of your painting hours, but I know how much it will be worth it once you move in. So exciting!

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  8. WOW! Yall have been hard at work! The white looks amazing - it makes the world of a difference!

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  9. All that hard work paid off because it looks great. I'm not a fan, at ALL, of dark woodwork. The whole house is coming together nicely!

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  10. Looks great!!! I know first hand how much painting wood white is, especially on a railing... ugh But it is totally worth it! Good job!

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  11. It looks great! Can't believe it took so much work but the results are amazing!!!

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  12. Wow, lots of work. But sooo worth it in my opinion. Both of our houses have had cream colored woodwork and I wouldn't have it any other way. I would have made the same choice as you!

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  13. I'm with you 100% on the white woodwork. I honestly don't know if I could have seen past all of that dark wood in the first place. Props to you and Nate for all of your hard work. It really does look amazing!! Can't wait to see more pictures!

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  14. There is just NO comparison between the gorgeous white woodwork and that dark, old stuff. I don't think you'll have to worry at all when the time comes to sell that people won't like it.

    I can't tell you how impressed I am by all the work you and Nate have done!! I'm excited to see it all in person.

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  15. I cannot believe you did all this in such a short period of time! That's a lot of work on step stools and bending over - you are nuts! Every time I got tired painting the nursery last week I thought of you painting your new house and stopped complaining. It looks so amazing and the white is awesome, I am so glad you did it and it really updated everything. You are so lucky you have your mom to help you make bedding and curtains too, I have to pay to have mine made, no one I know sews! It also looked like we picked a similar color for our nurseries - cute!

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  16. I highly disagree that you might have a hard time selling the house with white woodwork. Anytime you watch HGTV, every gorgeous house has white trim. The midwest just has crusty taste ;)

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  17. Gorgeous. Love it all; you have an eye for color that I'm not quite brave enough to try yet! THanks so much for sharing - love seeing it all come together (and getting inspiration!!)

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  18. I think the woodwork looks great. Just remember--- even if someone doesn't approve, it's YOUR house not theirs. Everyone's got a right to make their home feel comfortable to them :) Praying for y'all and new baby girl!! Don't stress, everything will get done in time.

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  19. Oh and I'm LOVING all the stuff you've been pinning lately. Just thought you should know :)

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  20. You should totally submit your kitchen photos (which are AWESOME) to Young House Love!

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  21. Looks awesome!

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