Decorating Help

[bekkiz]

We've recently bought a house that happens to be 900 miles away! We take possestion next week, but don't plan to move until June. We are going up the last weekend in April to meet with handymen/painters etc who can work on the house during the month before we move in.

I have NO experiance with decorating, and am somewhat overwhelmed with paint samples right now. Luckily my sister has a good eye for these things, and I think I'm settled with most of the major paint decisions right now.

I do need advice on one thing. In the bedrooms and the hallways, the doors are all the same wood, and it is a color I do not like, and does not go with any of our furniture. I'm wondering a couple of things:

a) I know it's possible to paint the wood with some prep (Sanding, primer etc) but how much more expensive would it be to simply replace the closet and bathrooms doors?

b) If we decide to just paint, do you go with the same color as the rest of the room? Darker or lighter? White? For example, below is a picture of the master. Notice the clearly hand done stenciling that will be gone ASAP-not that I don't appriciate it, but we are not flower people

We are thinking of a soft sage green, pretty light. What color would you use on the bathroom and closet door? We will have similar issues in other rooms, although we're choosing a more neutral color for the other bedrooms.

Also, how much paint does it take to paint a room. Like I said, I have never done anything like this before, and want to get as much done the weekend we are up there, and would love to be able to buy all of the paint I need.

tia!

 

[Minnie824]

Personally, I like white trim and doors. We have this with a sage green color in our master bedroom and it looks really good.

 

[Servants of Evan]

If you want to paint the doors, go ahead and do it. A nice clean white goes with anything, so that's what I'd do... If you want to go with the same color family, get the paint card your selected wall color comes on and then look "up" the card two colors or so. It should be a lighter version of the color and won't clash. Yes, you should lightly sand all the surfaces and apply a bonding primer before painting. Take the doors off by removing he hinge pins and put a piece of masking tape with a number on both the hinge part remaining on the door and the part remaining on the door frame. If the doors work properly it's going to be easier to paint the doors rather than attempt to replace them with new. Replacing them involves retriming everything out and you don't want to get into that if you don't have to.

You're looking at painting at least two coats in the master bedroom, if not a bit more. Your primary problem will be bleed through from the stenciling. I'd lightly run a piece of 220 grit sandpaper over the area, or even use a brown paper bag. What you're looking for are any stencil paint "bumps or "chunks" which will show through. You may need to to so far as to paint a coat of primer over this area as well -- just be certain to feather the paint out down the wall if you're not going to prime the whole thing. Personally, I'd go ahead and prime the whole wall just to be safe. Nothing is worse than painting a wall only to find that it looks like heck because you tried to skip a step... To determine how much paint you'll need, you need to know how many square feet of wall space you have -- walls minus window and door areas. I always start with a gallon of a particular color. If you paint the 4 walls and on the second coat you run a bit short, pick up a quart of the same color and paint the last wall by itself. Even if the colors of the paint are slightly different, you'll never notice as light hits the walls at a different angle and the human brain just doesn't process that difference. Additionally, use a 3/8" nap roller - MAXIMUM. Yes, there are rollers on the market which advertise "one coat coverage" -- and I'd avoid them like the plague unless you happen to like paint sags...

 

[RadioNate]

I personally like all the woodwork to match - meaning doors, baseboards, quarter round, any kind of molding, etc. I also prefer it to be stained wood (which you have now and don't like) or white.

I like the contrast between the colors so I wouldn't paint everything the same.

Our room is a light green so I llike that however color choice is such a personal preference. You got to go with what matches you stuff. I choose the stuff first and then the paint color. Belive me everything in my house is painted. I LOVE color and can not stand the look of all white walls. But some people love that.

I prefer warm nutrals in the common areas and then momre 'color' in the bedrooms and bathrooms.

I like Benjamin Moore paint or Behr paint from Home Depot but if you hire a painter I'm sure they will have a preference. They should have coverage charts based on sq ft but my master took 2 gallons. Our spare room was the only thing that took 1 gallon and that was really pushing it. We used every last drop. I think that room is 11x12. We painted it grey so we only needed one coat.

Colors like reds, deep blues, etc will need 2 coats of paint. We've gotten away with one with the green, grey, yellow and coral colors we've used.

 

[kimmikayb]

Personally, I love a light oak finish to trim and doors...it gives a nice contrast to paint, especially a sage green. But white will be nice too...you can paint your wood just prep it right. Sand, tack cloth it off, prime and paint. Same with the stencil (yuck, don't like it either). Sand it, tack cloth it off, prime (the whole wall) and paint. You will probably need several coats.

Have fun with your new house! Go to the HGTV site, they have lots of self help tips. Also, Lowes and Home Depot will almost always help you with any questions.

Oh, also....buy a good paint...the cheap takes more coats and last a short time.