Painting Project

Evan's bedroom has been crying out for a paint job ever since we moved in. Last weekend, after finding inspiration while flipping through one of the "How To" books at Lowe's, I was finally spurred into action.

The scheme as displayed in the book was a base of blue with two broad horizontal bands of green set off with white stripes. I decided to modify the colors and decided the lower band was an unecessary complication, but took the measurements directly as presented in the book.

Initially, I measured the location of the stripes and used a 4" roller to put down the white. The next morning it was time for the more tedious process of sketching level lines as guides for the masking tape: the upper one 20" from the ceiling and the lower one 21 3/8" from the upper one. As recommended in the book, I used colored pencils corresponding to the adjoining paint colors. The tape went up quickly by comparison.



With that accomplished, it was time for traditional painting. I was momentarily worried that the masking tape would be too narrow to allow comfortable painting up to it with a roller. But it turned out that the 1.41" width was fine.

I ended up putting two coats everywhere. In particular, the areas of white paint around the stripes (and their satin finish) needed it.



Then the moment of truth arrived as we peeled off the masking tape. Would the edges be crisp or did the base colors bleed in? Yay! It looked great!

Here's a look at the finished product.



All in all, a very satisfying project. The colors turned out exactly as I hoped. I wanted tones that were a little muted or washed out, but not to the point of pastels. And I think the scheme works great for a kids room.

Here's hoping the next stages of window treatment and painting the dressers go as well!

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