a year in the manor; part II of IV

Part II

The Foyer

These colors made my eyes tired.

Funnily enough, below when you see the side-by-side of the foyer from what it was to what it became, the before looks better than it was.  The color you see above on the walls was this almost tangerine color which extended all the way up the stairwell and into the hall up there.  The ceiling is darker than a butter yellow, but that was also what the foyer walls were before the ladies before me took a swing at it.  Regardless.  Here you can see the difference that was made by using "Extra White" flat ceiling paint by Sherwin Williams.

One of two stained glass windows, original to the house.

The original light fixture was milk-glass, not sure how old it was but most likely from the 50's.  My clumsy ass dropped it when I took it down, so that put an end to that one (I was replacing it anyway).

No more oranges and yellows!

The foyer/stairwell/upstairs hallway are all Requisite Grey by Sherwin Williams.  The downstairs hall (which is shown here) is actually French Grey by Sherwin Williams.  I thought there'd be more of a noticeable contrast between the two once I put them up, but nope.  Both greys look essentially the same.  That little pineapple lamp you see there is the first thing I bought for the house before I had closed on it.  It came from Pottery Barn (surprise!) but I wanted it right in the front because it is the symbol for friendship and hospitality.

I never turn it off because everyone is welcome here at the Manor <3

The majority still lost the vote.

I always planned on painting all of the baseboards in the house, using Simply White by Sherwin Williams.  The stairs were a tricky thing though because yes the baseboards were bad, but what about the stairs themselves?  The kickboards?  The spindles?  The newel post?  My sister was smart and told me to just start with the baseboards, and if I wanted more, then to keep going.  But start with them.

Priming is the worst.

All of the trim in the house was finished in spurts.  I did the upstairs hall, stairwell, foyer, downstairs hall and kitchen baseboards in one go.

Original front door.

I'll take the door down this summer and sand it down before re-staining it.  She needs some TLC.

Primed and ready for the final coat.

I decided I wanted the kickboards done as well because it brightened everything up soooo so much.  I wanted to incorporate the kitchen cupboard color as well, because I had used it to paint all of the doors upstairs and felt like tying it all together.  So...

Shameless selfie while sanding the bannister.

Those goggles steam up way to fast and I hate wearing a dust mask, but my sander kicks up so much dust that it was never a good idea to avoid it.  #responsible

The finished railing.

I painted the spindles and newel post Iron Ore by Sherwin Williams, and sanded down the railing and top of the post and re-stained them with Kona stain (which I had used on the kitchen counters and will use on the front door).  Eventually I will take the slip-tread off the steps and sand them down, and then I'll most likely stain the stairs Kona as well.

The piece de la resistance.

After taking down the milk-glass lamp shade, I wanted something that was dressy yet funky.  I have brass accents in my house and wanted this pendant to be the big welcome home, echoing the leaves from the pineapple lamp below it.  I also love very much how the shadows decorate the walls and add a little extra dimension to the foyer.  And now, the grand reveal!

Before                After

Like I said, the walls in the above picture were covered with orange after that picture was taken, but I mean really.  Who the fuck paints walls and ceilings such a bright color?  Not this Capricorn.  Also, just a little note, on the entry table is a small framed cross-stitch that my great friend Kyle gave me when I bought the house.

In rainbow threads it says "Homo Sweet Homo" and it's one of my favorite things.

The Living Room

The very first brush strokes in the entire house.

Green.  It started with green, and I would eventually finish the living room with green (though not this key lime shade, yick).  Step one in the entire house was applying the knowledge I attained from Diane Lane in Under the Tuscan Sun: "Take one room and make it your own.  Start small and introduce yourself to the house."

I'm actually shuddering as I look back at these in high definition on my computer screen, hahaha.

Crown molding done.

There are a couple things that kill me about this, and I'm gonna tell you what they are right now.  For starters, this green is awful.  For secondly, who paints the ceiling in green as well but a more yellow shade?  And C, why the fuck would you use glossy paint on the ceiling?  You're gonna see everything!  Also notice the crown molding separated from the ceiling, which would end up being my first foray into caulking.

Almost done with one coat.  It took two more.

Painting ceilings is my least favorite thing to do in the world.  My LEAST favorite thing.  My shoulders were killing me, my neck hurt, my hips hurt from standing in a position to brace myself against the extendable pole, etc. etc.  That being said, there is nothing more satisfying than a nice, FLAT, white ceiling.

I lived in this mess for two weeks and it was goddamn awful.

I rest my case.  Also note in this image that I painted the insides of the arches white as well.  My great friend Leah suggested I do this to break up the space since the dining room and living room would be the same color, and while initially I thought I wouldn't like it, I now love it.  It also ended up being something that people comment on the most when they see the space.  Because once you go black...

My life flashed before my eyes as I started this color.

You know that thing where people always tell you not to do something, for your entire life, and you eventually start to believe that NO, you should not do it?  But you get older and look at a bunch of houses and steal a bunch of ideas and then you figure "fuck it," and do it anyway?

Yeah, me too.

I was hell bent on painting my house black.  I went to Sherwin Williams and had five different shades picked out (who knew there were so many options for black?)

The awesome General Manager at the Maple Grove store came over and asked what I was thinking, so I told her.  And without missing a beat she says "Oh, you need to paint Black Magic, it was color of the month for April."  She then proceeded to have me pull out my phone to see a video they did on it, because I was skeptical.  And because you are probably skeptical as well, here's the video for you to see as well.

Now don't ever doubt me again.

So, I went with Black Magic, because that video embodied everything I wanted with the space.  I bought two gallons and giddily raced home with the one color my mom always said "you can paint your room any way you want but that!"  Watch this, mom!

The first coat.

BAM!  What I appreciate about this picture is that I didn't even wait to take a shot before the final coat was done, or even the edging at the top.  I was so in love it's stupid.

Just, y'know... 10 months later...

Here you can see the final steps of the living room coming together as I finished the windows.  The brass curtain rod was also a choice I made before moving in, I knew I wanted it against the black with a whole bunch of white accents.  Ready to see the final look?

Lookin' on in from the foyer.

I think my sister said it best when she told me "It doesn't even look like a before and after.  It looks like a different house with the same floorplan."

I don't regret a single thing.

One of my favorite things about using the black is that my huge TV doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.  Particularly in person, your eyes just glance right over it unless it's turned on.  This definitely keeps it from feeling like a huge distraction.  That little chair in the corner is in this awesome Smoke Velvet from Pottery Barn and it's my favorite to lounge in with a good book and a cup of coffee (c:

Nice and bright.

You can see my house mascot hanging on the wall here, Diego the rhino.  I bought him when I was working at west elm in Austin, and he's made the journey with me a few times now.  Underneath him is the map of Isla Nublar, and if I have to explain what that is, you should be ashamed.

Also it's from Jurassic Park tho.

Looks like an adult lives here, who knew?

Like I said, it started with green and ended with it as well.  That ottoman is the first piece of custom furniture I've ever order from Pottery Barn, and I wanted it in Forest Green leather.  It came just a week ago and I am obsessed with it.  My big plan for the lower level of the house was all blacks and greys, with warm brass accents and soft browns from the leathers and wood.  The green was the added bonus of an after thought but one I am glad to have made.

The Dining Room

Best invention ever.

Quick side note, if you are ever painting and don't have one of these lids, you are missing out.  Saved me so much otherwise lost paint, kept things tidy and clean, and allowed me to access the paint over the course of several days without needing to worry about putting the lid back on.  I'll get off my soap box now.

Stress, bottled in a room.

The dining room was a challenge because of that fucking built-in.  No matter what I was working on, it was in the back of my mind.  I wouldn't touch it until the work was done with the paint, but that didn't stop me from wondering what I wanted it to look like.  Stain it again?  Paint it?  Was it original?  Could I re-route the lights?  So many choices.  Might as well start with the crown molding.

Ceiling painted.

The white ceiling opened up the space, if you ask me.

Here we go.

This was the first stroke of black paint.  I think I took this picture and sent it to a bunch of people and squealed "LOOK!"  At this point I was thinking it was a bad idea I was gonna regret the hell out of it.

It's like a Tim Burton colorscape at this point.

Also at this point still thinking I'm gonna regret my choice.  Black Magic?  More like Black Tragic ::does a death drop::

The next day

In the morning light, however, I felt better about it.  Black Magic has this uncanny, almost magical (if you will) way of looking like velvet when the light hits it.  And that made me realize I was correct in my planning.

GTFO

With the painting done, that meant it was time to rip this bitch out.  I figured at the very least, the built-in had been altered at some point in the 80's when they added these ugly little metal rails that would hold the pegs for shelves.  At this point there were no pegs left and no shelves.  So I took a hammer and busted out the middle shelf, the two vertical panels, and the little spindle railings that supported them.  In the process, I broke through the beadboard (truly on accident) but when I saw that there was styrofoam behind it, I paused.

My house was built in 1914.  I'm no genius, but I'm pretty f'n sure they didn't have styrofoam sheets and duct tape back then.

I tore out the rest of the beadboard and then figured this was part of the remodel done to the house in the early 90's.  My plans for my own remodel continued to develop.

Free labor

Enter stage left, my awesome brother-in-law Tony and the one and only Papa Parker.  And carpentry tools that are better than my own.  By a lot.

Demolition

These two came out with my sister in July and not only did a ton of work over the weekend, but also gave me ideas for what the built-in would eventually become.

Just some plaster and lathe.

Surprisingly (not surprisingly) that styrofoam was the only insulation around the built-in, which was probably cause for a lot of cold seeping into the house in the winter.  All this shit ended up coming out.  Then it was off to Menards for the stuff!

Butch queen realness.

I never miss an opportunity for a selfie, especially when it's in a lumber yard and I'm with people who know what they're doing when I clearly haven't got a fucking clue.

That's open to interpretation regarding the rest of my life, too.

Getting there.

While my dad worked in the kitchen on a different project, Tony zipped through framing in the new portion of the built-in.  It should be noted that the bottom portion was actually original to the house, and was built like a rock and wasn't going anywhere.  The outer facing trim of the upper was also original, so that was just chilling in the garage at this moment.  Instead of lights on the trim, Tony suggested recessed lights because there was space for them.  I hadn't even considered that as a possibility but I love that it's the direction we went.

I couldn't have done this if my life depended on it.

The next day the new beadboard went up.  I had a mirror in mind from Pottery Barn that I wanted to put inside here, and it would fit great because the opening had originally been something like 58 inches and the mirror was 55 inches wide.  After realizing that the framing had taken away some space, I told Tony as long as it was 56 inches wide I could still work with it, no problem.

When all was said and done it was 55 1/2inches wide, hahahaha.

Getting closer.

I decided to paint the entire built-in but chose to sand down the buffet surface and re-stain it.

Just some stain left.

At this point I was getting giddy because it looked better than I could have anticipated.  That happened a lot in this house.

Ready for polyurethane.

The other bonus to having Tony help out was that he was able to run a power outlet into the built-in, which is amazingly handy.  I used a grey stain on the wood, which is echoed in a few places downstairs as well.

Final touches.

Drawers and cabinets are done being painted, just need that hardware and the mirror!

Cus-TOM

It doesn't get any more custom than having a 1/4 inch of clearance on either side of a mirror that weighs 75 pounds.  Notice that the wall outlet sticks out a little bit, which meant that two weeks after my family left, me being "oh so proud" decided I could do this on my own.  So I unboxed the mirror, lay a towel on the buffet, and hoisted the mirror onto it.  It took me 30 minutes to angle it backward into its spot and then try to wiggle my large fingers under the metal.  After a lot of swearing and pinched skin, I did get my fingers under it, and then I had to lift the fucking thing straight up (without letting it tilt forward because oh wait, it couldn't!) and try to hook it onto its bracket.

Obviously it worked, lol.  And the brass on the mirror matched the brass cabinet hardware perfectly.

More of this.

Then we move on to the baseboards.  This picture encapsulates the house quite well, because you can see right there in the corner that the wood doesn't match up.  Like, anywhere.  Gaps galore!  I got very good with the caulk.  I also got very good at scooting around on my ass but not too great at preventing the soreness.

A little tidbit from when I cleaned all the windows in the house, in the dining room when this was taken.  Barf.

More progress.

This spring when it was roughly warm enough to rip off the plastic wrap on the windows, I took to task painting them.  This was a slow, boring, difficult, and annoying process.  I hope to never have to paint windows again, and even as I say that I know I'll have to paint the outsides of all these damn things before winter comes.  But that's a tear for another day.

No more windows!

I have to say though, coming home to these made me realize how much work I've put into this place and how thankful I am that it's done.  Ready for the reveal?

Lots of glow.

Eventually I'll take down the ceiling fan, once I have central air installed and don't need it anymore.  It's awkward in the summer having a ceiling fan going and you're trying to eat food that's supposed to be warm.  At that point I'll get a chandelier to echo the front entry or something similar... but central air isn't coming anytime soon.  Unless I hear a donor out there?  Yes?  No?  Bueller?

Those white arches tho.

One of my favorite things in the house is that wall on the left there.  I bought those prints of the moon from an artist on Etsy, done in black water colors.  The little black and brass lamp, terrarium with a plant (not saying if it's real or not (it's not)), and the brass console table.  The minimalist approach to color is extended through the dining room, with more of a cozy vibe (in my opinion at least) coming to play.

At first glance there's not a lot going on, but when you start to look around there are little moments of things scattered throughout the downstairs.  I like this game (c:

Onward to Part III

Part I

Part IV