Before and after pictures?

[SiouxJ]

Last year I remodeled the major portion of my house - put in new floors, appliances, furniture, a French door, and painted. I did all the painting myself, including my first attempt at a faux finish. I lived in this house for 5 years, with all white walls, white carpet and sort of log cabin type furniture (I live in the mountains). After my old dog died, I needed to tear out all the old carpet (he had quite a few accidents during his last year) and so I decided to shoot the works. I did a 180 away from the mountain look and went for a Tuscan feel. I'm getting ready to do the remaining two bedrooms now so I got out my photos to inspire me. Looking at before and after photos is a great way to get you off your ass and get you moving on a new project, so if you have any, post your before and after photos. I'm really pleased with the way it came out and I can't believe I lived in all that white for so long! Color is so much better! Oh, this wasn't that expensive, the floor isn't wood, it's Pergo (better when you have dogs), and I really think the most dramatic difference is the paint, and I did that all myself so it only cost me my time. Also, the window treatments are just a piece of molding that I stained and hung over a plain old roller shade. I have my blinds open 99% of the time anyway so there's really no need for expensive window treatments. I had these horible verticle blinds before, that did nothing but gather dust. I hate those things! I'm thinking about doing some stencil work around the French doors and some tile work in the kitchen (back splash type of thing).


Before


After




It looks even more dramatic at night.

[GOPisEvil]

1. Wow! I'm impressed!

You did nice work! Uh, wanna come do my house? Mine's a lot smaller.

:hi:

[SiouxJ]

4. Hey you!

Long time no talk.

Thanks! That's a flattering offer but I still have about 1/3 of my house to do. Maybe after that ;-) . Funny, I was just thinking about Austin. I saw an interview with Sandra Bullock and she said how much she loves living there. I still want to come for a visit but you know me and vacations - they just never seem to happen.

Anyway, I want to see your before and after pics some day too! I'm sure you'll fix that place up nice.

:hi: :hug:

[GOPisEvil]

7. Yeah, you missed South by Southwest again!

:spank:

I did fix up my guest bathroom, but I forgot to take "before" pictures. :spank:

[SiouxJ]

8. Damn!

How was it?

Well yeah, it doesn't usually dawn on me to take pictures of an ugly room, lol. I wish I had some more before pics of the area I just finished but there are only a few. I would still like to see pics of your guest bathroom - funny, that's the first room I did too! I guess the size just seemed manageable and I couldn't see the point in doing MY bathroom since few people would see it ;-) .

I guess this is a good time to remind people to go take a bunch of pictures of their boring rooms, so later they can compare and feel all that satisfaction ;-) .

[Warpy]

10. Nicely done

[NMDemDist2]

2. beautiful!

i have b & a pics, but i'll have to scan them in

i also laid pergo type flooring and got rid of carpet

you did a great job on the faux walls. Paint is on my list for this summer

and my bodercollies are smarter than honor students too :) I see you're had the tennis ball jones also hehehehe

[SiouxJ]

5. You have BC's too?

And we both live in AZ! I got mine through Arizona Border Collie Rescue about a year and a half ago. They are still featuring them on their website in fact as I sent them some photos of my Natasha playing Frisbee etc. Both love to play ball, but Tasha lives to play Frisbee.

Actually, I cheated and had someone put down the Pergo for me. Good for you for doing it yourself! The reason I did it is because there is not a right angle in the house! It's all odd sized angles so it wold have been a major challenge for a novice. After watching him install it though, I think I would tackle a normal shaped room myself now. It does look pretty easy - no nails!

Thanks! I was so afraid of attempting the faux walls but it's really pretty easy once you practice a bit. I'm ready to do more now. I was an art major in college, so it would have killed me to have paid someone to do that part.

Good luck with your painting! It really makes all the difference in the world.

[NMDemDist2]

13. LOL angles..... we had LOTS of angles

if it had been a straight lay down we could have done it in half the time

it took us 4 days total for 900 sqft which included carpet rip out, patching and laying the new floor

I have a border, an aussie and a sheltie :)

[eleny]

3. It's beautiful

What struck me was how the common wall between the kitchen and living room disappeared after it was painted. It blends into the room now instead of being a focal. Your colors are my favorites and I love the red kitchen door. We got rid of our carpets, too, and now have laminate flooring throughout. I'm wild for it. Wow to everything you accomplished!

[SiouxJ]

6. Here's another pic of that wall

it's actually a free standing "island" in the middle of the house, that contains the coat closet (in the entryway), and the pantry in the kitchen. I decided to paint it a different color as it would then give a contrasting color on at least one wall in all the rooms it connects with, and at the same time create some unity. This is a photo of the kitchen side (with the double door pantry) of the "island."

Thank you! These are my favorite colors too. I'm doing the whole house in fall colors as I'm sort of a fall nut. I did my office in a deep rust color - it's the room off of this one, to the left. You can just make it out in one of the photos. I'm thinking about getting into the browns in the bedrooms.



Getting rid of carpet is the only way to go! I have allergies and dogs, so the laminate is wonderful! Best move I every made in remodeling.

Thanks again for your compliments!

[eleny]

9. That's a great closeup of your painting technique

Autumn is my favorite season, too. When we painted our home recently, I got one color strip of Ben Moore paint and we used it for all the rooms. Our home isn't a very large place. So using the colors on that one strip made each room different but still coordinated with the rest of the house. It went from cream, through colonial yellow to gold.

I like how you used that deeper, leather-like color for your faux technique. It looks like soft suede. It might look great on one wall of our bedroom. Did you find the instructions or make it up on your own?

Nice artworks, too!

[SiouxJ]

11. A little bit of both

I sort of mixed and matched to come up with the faux technique. I found a ready mixed glaze in a color that I liked (burnt sienna) and used it over the same color (the yellow) that's on all the other walls. That way I was assured of having the colors work together.

The technique came from the company that makes the glaze (I think - its been a year since I finished) and basically it's just cross hatching the glaze (straight out of the bottle) over the base and then blotting with cheesecloth. I used the very expensive, recommended brush that the glaze company suggested.

If you want to duplicate it, here's exactly what I used:

Glaze is #6434 Burnt Sienna by McCloskey Special Effects; found it at True Value Hardware.

Base is Pale Orange by Glidden; found at Home Depot

Like I said, the brush was some special brush by McCloskey that was specifically recommended for the cross hatching. Basically you just need something that will leave a course looking stroke.

I too think it looks like leather! Funny, I was going for more of an antique stucco effect, but everyone says it looks like leather and I can live with that.

Thanks for the compliment on the artwork. The leaf is an O'Keeffe. I've always been a big fan but I never saw that print until I started looking for something in the rust colors. I was hoping to find something of hers that would work, when I stumbled across it. I thought it was perfect because, one, I love O'Keeffe; two, the rust and white go with the doors and molding in the kitchen; and three, it further emphasizes the fall motif. I'm not one for hanging art simply because it goes with the decor, so it had to have some personal relevance as well. I got very lucky - the web is a wonderful way to shop for art!

[eleny]

12. Thanks for the details!

We have a True Value right nearby. I'm going to go in with a color swatch of the bedroom paint. It's a soft gold, so I think burnt sienna will work well. I'd like to do the wall behind the bed since it's the one wall unbroken by doorways. After I see how it turns out I can make a new new coverlet and throw pillows.

I've got a book on O'Keefe but can't put my hands on it. I know that she painted some gorgeous red flowers, too. Interesting how she lived so isolated down there in the desert. Even though we live in Colorado I haven't been to see where she lived in N.M.

Thanks again for the information on your wall technique. I'm such a weenie about trying them but this one has me itching to try.

[SiouxJ]

17. I've been to the house

where she lived in NM. Well, I drove by it - it wasn't open to the public at the time (don't know if it even is now). There was a small shop/gallery nearby as I recall, that I went to. This was many years ago. She's always been sort of an idol of mine. I admire her independent spirit. She was a rebel and a pioneer. She sort of inspired me to leave my city life and move to Arizona. I started out living in Sedona but I guess I'm not as rugged as she was as even that proved to be too remote for me. I live in the mountains in a decent sized town now.

Go for the wall! Georgia would ;-) .

[Stinky The Clown]

14. Great Colors! Lovely looking house, indeed! And such a nice poochie!

We still miss our Border Collie.

I'm totally amazed at how similar our tastes are to yours. We used the same general color palette when we redid our kitchen recently. Even a similar floor. Ours is Allock, also a laminate and in a very similar color.



What is your counter top? It looks in the picture like concrete.

[NMDemDist2]

15. i just noticed that old ceiling light fixture(s) you have

what a beauty(s)! the one in the Dining room is nice too

when we get going with the counter top we are thinking of doing a cafe au lait base with cranberry accent walls too

we'll wait til we get the counters in and stained and the existing cabinets re stained too. then choose tile....

this may take a while LOL

[Stinky The Clown]

16. Both lights are flea market finds

The dining room light is the real treasure. A five bulb slip shade that screams art deco. It is flawless except for a few very small white paint globs on the ceiling trim piece. The kitchen piece also has its paint intact and is also in excellent shape ... but more "ordinary" than the dining room fixture.

[SiouxJ]

18. OMG! That's amazing!

We have the same taste! In color that is. Wow! Your kitchen could easily be mine!

My counter-tops are actually Corian. I wanted granite but I would have had to beef up my sub-floors to accommodate the weight so I didn't do it. Your stainless steel looks awesome!

I love the rust you used on the wall near the ceiling. It's very much like the color I used in my office:


the color is called "new penny." Don't ya love that name? I think the name influenced my decision, lol. Oh, this took 4 coats! I was wondering if you had a coverage problem with your rust too?

[Stinky The Clown]

19. The paint all needed two coats

There was wallpaper on the kitchen walls when we started this redo. Had to strip all that off. Some was put up with no sizing and was **really* hard to remove. Once off, we primed then gave it all two coats. The light yellow (on the wall edge and behind the bookshelves in the left of the picture) was the hardest to get coverage. There were a few places where we did, effectively, three coats.

Our paint was Sherwin Williams from our local Sherwin Williams store. We've found their paint to be the best.

Funny story about the darker yellow (above the counters). That is an exact color match to some tile we're considering for that area. We took a tile sample to the Sherwin Williams store and they matched it electronically and mixed up a gallon for us. We liked the tile, but given its strong color we decided to try it first in paint. If we hated it, we could simply repaint. if we like it, we will do the tile.

We like it, so the tile is set for an upcoming project.