Can I brag a minute?

 

You see before you my inspiration. 

French (or any European country) apartments filled with trim work that's probably been there for centuries.  It doesn't matter if the decor is old-world, modern, eclectic or truly country french.  It's those moulding filled walls that are the starting point for character. 

I decided to do this to our new place and knew I couldn't afford to hire it done, so I set out to do it myself. 

This was a "learn-as-you-go" adventure and I must say I'm truly proud of the results!!!  There's still lots more to do, but A LOT has been done!! 

I have no idea why these pictures are out of order.  I wish I know how to operate this darn blog! lol




"Dead-end" during.

Dining walls after.

"Dead-end" after.




Dining room during.

 



Once you go black!

No make-up, Sunday morning.

Several years ago I fell in love with black doors!  I think I was looking at a magazine and I'm sure it was before Pinterest days.  I didn't act on it at the time, but knew some day....some place...I would have me some black doors.

A few months ago I had a conversation about this with a nurse at my doctor's office.  We were discussing decor because she and I both are closet designers.  She said her "real" designer sister paints doors black in many of her designs and uses a Sherwin Williams color called Iron Ore.  She said to not even shop around, this would be the perfect shade.

I'm not usually one to accept things like that without some research, but by the time I was ready to buy the paint, I had also decided I would trust the advice. 

I'm soooooo happy I did!  I LOVE the color!  It's not grey, it's not brown, it's not black, it's perfect!!!  Look at this foyer!  All the trim is done and the walls are painted and the door is "black".  I'm shopping for some things like furniture and mirrors, but for now, I'm very pleased!

The walls in the living room and dining room are Pensive Sky by Behr.  Sometimes it looks grey and sometimes a true baby blue.  The crown and baseboards are a true white.

Off to paint the rest of the doors, because.....once you go black.....!!!

Back to sanding those walls!

Look closely, stripes still there.

Remember when I mentioned the dining room walls having texture that I had to sand off?  Click here if you need to catch up.  I bought a rotary sander and spent quite some time taking that texture off.  All that was left were the stripes that had been painted on.  I could just paint over that....right?

WRONG!!!  After weeks of putting trim up and feeling like I was about finished with these walls, I started painting over stripes and they showed through!  Now what?  I've got trim all over the walls, which will prevent me from being able to sand them down again like before.  I've also got the rest of the condo to think about.  Sanding creates a huge mess and the place was basically empty the first time. 

I didn't have a choice.  I had to sand before I could paint.  Most projects I look forward to but, I've done this one before and I don't want to do it again.  Oh well, got to.





Sanding "tent" and left-over trim on floor.



I decided it would be worth the trouble to build some "sanding tents".  After taping plastic to the ceiling, I went about using the electric sander on the large sections.  After that, I used a sanding sponge on the small sections between the trim.  The tents worked and kept the dust out of the rest of the house!

 

What a job.  The worst part, is that you can still see stripes in certain lighting, but it's as good as I can get it now, SO TIME TO PAINT!!!!!!!!!











You can see the finished look to the left.