Solar Shades

The installation of our window shades is one of those projects we finished a few months ago, but had failed to blog about...until now.

Much like everything else, we considered a lot of different options and materials for our window shades. In the end, we decided we liked the look, function and benefits of solar shades. We ordered color samples from a number of online stores, finally deciding on roller shades from The Shade Store. The two main reasons that pushed us to buy from The Shade Store were the fact that their shades were available in different densities (which allow for more or less light to enter through the shade), and because all of their shades come with a silver metal ball-chain pull (as opposed to the plastic ball-chain pulls that are more widely available).


We decided on the 5% fabric for the front windows, due to privacy (those windows face the street) and the fact that they get the afternoon sun. For the dining room windows we chose the 10% fabric, as there are less privacy concerns (windows face the backyard) and they get the less-intense, morning sun. Additionally, both maintain our view of the outside when closed. The Shade Store has a neat feature on their website that shows the difference between all of the fabric densities, but here, for instance, is the view out our front windows:

Are you thinking about solar shades and have questions?
Drop us a comment.

Window Trim

Just when we thought our painting woes were behind us, it came time to paint the knotty pine window trim in the living room and dining room. I can't even tell you how long I put off the task. Give me a roller and I'll paint any room, any time. I'll even trim out the corners and ceilings. But painting multi-layered trim around our four windows in the living room and two in the dining room is not my idea of remodeling fun.

Backtracking for a second...we decided to highlight the archtichtual aspect of the sloped ceiling by painting a geometric shape on the walls that lined-up with our windows using Behr's Dark Ash, the same color we had used to paint the beam that divides the two rooms. Here's the best "before" shot I have of that:


Our plan was to paint the window trim surrounding the windows that same color. I spent one Saturday morning prepping the job, which included taping, removal of the window hardware and filling the holes that are natural to knotty pine. I spent the next Saturday painting. I started off with an oil-based primer, much like I did with the stair risers.

I put on one coat of the Dark Ash and just wasn't feeling it...


Much like the steps, it was just too dark and all blended together. I consulted with Angie and it was quickly decided that we needed to go a few shades lighter, but yet not as light as the wall color. We also needed to step up the sheen. We decided on Gray Area in a Satin Enamel sheen.

Here's what it looked like at the halfway point:


And now we come to this:



Lessons Learned:

Painting the frame around the window itself can seem like a daunting task. For one, you have to be careful not to fill up the channel where the window travels up and down, so that the window will still work properly once you've finished. And then you have to mess with the hardware, which may or may not be easy to remove. Hopefully you don't have to mess with multiple layers of age-old paint and stripping them off. And then, on top of all of that, you have the window glass itself to worry about. Do you tape it? Will the paint come off my window if I accendiently get some on it?

Problem solved with this great tip I found over at 1951 Ranch Redo. When it came time to paint my window frames, I was just about to tape the glass when I remembered reading this at one point. I was sick of taping anyway...so I just jumped right in and painted the frames without worrying about any paint that got on the glass. Using an exacto knife and a razor-blade scraper, the paint easily scrapes off the window. The key to the process is scoring the glass right along the edge of the window before scraping.

Saved by a gentle rain

As I mentioned in a previous post, we bought our paint from Home Depot during one of their big sales. Thus, I certainly didn't buy too little (and ended up buying way too much). As for the colors in the major area of our house -- the living room and dining room (both of which have sloped ceilings) -- we selected Manhattan Mist (main color) and Distant Thunder (accent color). We had actually chosen two different colors at the store, but when we brought the sample strips home, we decided they were too dark for the space and not exactly the look we were going for. When all was said and done, we purchased 7 gallons of the Manhattan Mist.

So fast forward a number of weeks. My parents were cool enough to take a couple days off work to come up and help us paint. We prepped all Friday morning and began painting just before Noon. My dad and I were trimming out and I thought the Manhattan Mist was going on good. It was about an hour before my dad picked up a roller and started on the major portions of the walls. About a half-hour later, I remember looking back at the wall where he started and thinking that the color looked a bit on the purplish-side of gray, which was not the look we were going for either. The more and more paint that went on, the more and more purple came out. It took the rest of the afternoon to finish the second coats of trim and rolling.

I expressed my concern a number of times, but always managed to talk myself out of the expense and work that would come along with changing the main color. I mean, it wasn't looking like Barney purple or anything, there was just a slight purple hue to the gray. It wasn't until later that evening, when the sun went down and the lights came on inside the house that my worst fears were realized. The entire area looked like something an 8-year old girl would choose for her bedroom; albeit a very sophisticated 8-year old. Not that I have anything against 8-year olds, it just wasn't right for the main living area of our house.

Saturday morning rolls around and as we all gather to begin the day, I finally make the call that Angie and I need to take some time to think about and discuss our options for changing the color. So we pulled out all of our samples and dialed up Behr.com. We narrowed it down to two colors and walked around the house looking at them under different light conditions. Finally, after seeing it all, we both decided on Gentle Rain (main color) and Dark Ash (accent color). And it proved to be one of the best decisions we've made yet!

We jetted off to Home Depot and bought a gallon of each. Came home and rolled it on a wall and waited for it to dry (paint always dries darker). It dried just as we hoped and Angie returned to purchase 3 more gallons. Although we lost a day of painting, we gained a color we love!

Capturing accurate representations of paint hues in a digital photo is nearly impossible, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Walls are Gentle Rain. Beam is Dark Ash. Ceilings are Ultra Pure White.

And now we come to this -- our lessons learned:

1) Sample strips are NOT enough, especially for the main areas of your house. Buy a sample container or quart of your desired color, slap it up on a good-sized area of your wall, wait for it to dry and then observe it during the day time (natural light) AND the night time (artificial light). We almost could have lived with the Manhattan Mist during the day, but the night brought out the true nature of the beast!

2) Make the call. As I mentioned, if you're feeling a bit worried about the look of the color when it first dries, chances are it's not going to get better with time. Conduct a "team meeting" and decide before you waste more time slapping up a second coat while hoping for a miracle. And don't just take my word for it. Note: This may not be true of some colors because sometimes its hard to see the true color without a second (or third) coat.

3) Don't get caught up in the hub-bub of a big sale. Although we did take our time in originally selecting a color, we bought way too much and didn't have time to test paint our rooms.

4) Your turn -- please share any similar lessons you've learned in the choosing paint colors and/or painting areas of your home.

Looking Up

Although our living room wall (at 13') and sloped ceiling add a unique architectural element to our house's interior, they pose quite a challenge when it comes to painting. So when it came time to paint the living room ceiling, I looked into the possibility of renting a small section of scaffolding. Turns out that with a little planning and the right vehicle (umm...a truck) you can rent a set for about $25 per day. In our case, it was well worth it.

My dad managed to roll the bottom-half of the ceiling with his 8'-16' extension pole, but it would have been a real struggle to get clean coats on the upper-half without the scaffolding. Not to mention the ease of trimming out the corners and edges while standing on a flat surface (instead of having to balance on a ladder and then going up and down it a million times). I almost stepped off of the catwalk a few times (I guess I was REALLY getting into the painting), but luckily managed to avert any major disasters! We easily got two coats on in one day and were able to return the scaffolding later that evening.

We didn't finish all the ceilings as we had originally hoped. As we were removing the old flush-mounted light fixture in the guest bedroom, a piece of the textured ceiling came loose. In fact, it just peeled away with very little effort. We debated about what to do -- patch it or remove it -- and finally decided to try and remove all of the texture down to the original drywall. We used putty knives and I would say that 90% of it peeled off with little effort; BUT the other 10% was about as tedious as it gets.

And I don't even want to think about the heavy "starlight" texture on the ceiling in the office. We still haven't figured out what to do with it; but that's for another post.

Wall Work

Man...the walls in this place are really working us over! If the wall-o-wood wasn't enough, we found "buried" wallpaper on 3 different walls -- buried in the sense that the original wallpaper had been painted over numerous times. Our first discovery came when a corner of the wallpaper started to pull away in the dining room. We didn't just want to cut away the peel, repair it and add another coat of paint. Since the discovery of our wood floors, and their impending need to be refinished, we decided now was the time to fix the walls correctly.


Using putty knives and water soaked sponges, we were able to wet the wallpaper and scrape it off of the dining room wall. Interestingly enough, as you can see in the picture above, the wallpaper only covered a portion of the wall -- we're thinking it was a mural of some sort. Anyway, it revealed a ton of nail holes to be repaired, two cracks and the two large seams, all of which you can see above. We did our best to skim-coat it with drywall compound in trying to blend the cracks and seams into the existing painted walls. The results, after a coat of Kilz:


Time for an easy one -- the master bedroom. While removing the baseboard I discovered this lovely wallpaper.


Sweet, huh?!?! As you can see, this wallpaper had also been painted over. My first thought was "Oh no, not again." However, after further inspection, I discovered that the wallpaper glue had completly "dried-up" and, no lie, I was able to gently pull each individual section off the wall in a complete strip, paint and all. Below is a pic of the wall with about two strips left to go. You can even still see the pencil lines drawn by whoever was hanging the wallpaper!


Oh, and much like the dining room wall, the original owners had only put the wallpaper on one wall, so that was definitely a positive. After it was all removed I used a plastic putty knife to chip away all the loose glue particles, re-set the old drywall nails, patched the holes and two coats of Kilz to cover the greenish color left behind by the glue residue.

Finally, we turned our attention to a wall in the office. This wall had also originally been wallpapered, but then painted over. Do you see a theme here?!?! This job mirrored the dining room removal process -- water and scrapers to remove the paper (and paint) and then the messy job of patching holes, repairing minor cracks and two coats of Kilz.