“Oh what a feeeeeeling, painting on the ceeeeeiling.” Why yes that was a Lionel Richie reference. You’re welcome.
It was time to get some paint up in this heezy. And by heezy, I mean sunroom… hence the furniture being all piled in the center.
But before we get to painting, let’s talk about the half-brick wall in this room – since you guys offered up lots of thoughts and suggestions in the last sunroom post. Some had suggested covering the drywalled portion in brick veneer or reclaimed wood.
Unfortunately the dry wall sits in front of the brick, so there’d be this weird lip between the real brick and the veneer/wood (so we’d prefer not to add anything up top to make it stick out further like an awkward above-the-window overbite). We’re actually leaning towards either trying to distress/fade the brick or straight up painting it (like the same brick that was already painted by the previous owners in our living room, especially since it already has some splatters on it from the previous paint job).
See how the last owners of this house had already painted the wall of brick in the living room (on the other side of the sunroom doors)? Since they’re both in the same sight line, we think painting that small u-shaped expanse of it in the sunroom may be the most cohesive solution – so the sunroom feels more connected to the rest of the house.
But before doing anything rash, we wanted to give the brick the benefit of the doubt – so we decided not to take any action on it yet. First we wanted to paint the rest of the old yellowy-cream colored walls in the room to see if that influenced our decision about the brick at all.
So we readied the rest of the room by moving out almost everything, which turned our living room into a temporary disaster zone. This shot below is for all of you who love the chaos of DIY. Oh yeah, it spreads to at least a few other rooms when you’re painting one…
Burger didn’t seem the mind the temporary influx of extra pillows to curl up on. This is his “excuse me dude with the camera, someone’s trying to nap here” face.
And thankfully Clara was on a play-date with my parents, so we could dive in and do as much as we could without worrying about her getting into paint or tripping over the massive pile o’ chaos on the living room while we painted.
But back to the sunroom. Painting is one of those projects we can practically do in our sleep by now… except for when it involves 12 foot ceilings. That was a new challenge for us. But we couldn’t live with those white ceilings and those yellowed old cream walls anymore (yes, they were two different colors) so we dove right in.
How? We just busted out our ladder and go to work.
Oh yeah, forgot to tell you the paint color. We went with our current favorite: Rockport Gray by Benjamin Moore (which is also in our bedroom, and is actually more of a warm brownish-gray than a cold cement gray). I’ll explain why we made that choice when we get to the after pictures, so just hang on for the time being. I realize it’s not much to look at when all you see so far is the edged corners…
Edging actually took a long time – even with us both doing it – since this room is basically all corners and windows. And if I do say so myself, I’m not half bad at it. Yep, there may be a new edging sheriff in town. Take that Deputy $herdog. Ok, I take that back. Sherry can pretty much lap me when it comes to edging. So she did all of the edging around all of the doors and windows except for the few windows up near the ceiling, which I tackled on the ladder.
Once all of the edging was done, Sherry did a second coat around all the doors and windows while I took to the pole. Wait, that sounded bad. I’ve actually never painted with a roller that’s attached to a pole before. Even when doing other ceilings (8ft ones, that is) I usually just stand on a stool. And I gotta say I was impressed with how relatively easy it was. Granted it did get tiring to hold your arms and neck up like that for so long, but it wasn’t terrible.
But the rod extending pole couldn’t help us get the area where the fan attached to the ceiling (where we needed to be more exact than a roller ever could be). And my ladder couldn’t get me high enough to edge that area by hand either. So that’s when Sherry and I whipped up this contraption. Yup, it’s a brush taped to a pole. We’re true professionals around here.
If you weren’t convinced of my edging prowess before, just check out this magic going on. That’s what we call painting with surgical precision. Although I realized I should’ve taken a detailed after shot of how awesome this actually turned out. Seriously, it worked like a charm, guys.
It took us two coats and a total of about seven hours across two days, so it certainly wasn’t our fastest paint job in the world – but we’re really happy with the results.
Trust us: despite the warm gray color, this room is far from gloomy. Light floods in (which is one of the reasons we knew we wouldn’t regret going with a darker tone in there) and even the tiled floors feel less yellow now that the walls aren’t the same creamy-bisque tone. Although we’re the first to admit that the room still has a looong way to go until it’s a functional, finished room (remember how the middle makes no sense?).
And if you’re wondering about the two blue stools having a hushed conversation in the corner together (stool meeting is now in session!), we’re just experimenting with some layout ideas. The stools are helping us picture maybe tucking a small cafe table in that corner, but we’re not married to anything yet. We’ll keep you posted!
Oh, and I promised I’d explain the rationale behind Rockport Gray a bit more so here we go:
- It really makes all the white trim in the room stand out, so it feels crisp in a way that the old yellowed cream walls didn’t (this paint choice did the same trim-crisping thing in our bedroom, which we loved about the color)
- The room has a pretty crazy ceiling (it slopes away from the house and up, like a rocket ship) so we thought a moodier and darker color might downplay the strange angles and make it all blend together more than it did with the previous white ceiling and creamy-yellow walls
- As we mentioned a few photos up, the tile floor feels a lot less monochromatic and yellowed since the walls are no longer the same exact tone (it felt like a beige box with an oddly shaped white top before)
- We also thought it’d tie in well with the living room’s Moonshine walls as well as the grellow walls of the kitchen (both of which you see from the sunroom – so whatever we chose had to go with both)
- In the spring, summer, and fall (aka, any other season than the bleak and bare one that we’re currently in) we want the greenery outside to be the star, so we thought picking a moody not-crazy-or-compete-y color would keep from overshadowing it
- The brownish-gray helps us camouflage that similarly colored heating/cooling unit a bit
We also thought the new wall color picked up the tone of the mortar too, just in case we decided to keep the brick as is.
And now that the room is painted, here’s where we stand on the brick: we’re not sold on leaving it as-is. It still feels really awkward to us since the top end of the drywall above it rests oddly on the window (like it’s squishing it or something). And since there’s already a whole wall of painted brick to the right of the slider (in the living room) it still feels awkwardly disjointed from the rest of the house in a way that a painted brick wall would not.
We did think about trying to gray-wash it a little first (with watered down paint, stain, or even by rubbing some cement on it) just to see if that helps to tone down the red – as demonstrated by my poor Photoshop attempt below…
…but that still feels like not-as-seamless-of-a-solution-as-painting-it like the brick in the adjoined living room. So that might be where we end up.
As always, we promise to keep you posted! Oh and speaking of future planning in here, we’re putting more thought into the window-seat-under-the-window-wall idea, so that should be exciting if we decide to go for it. You know we’ll share all the details as we creep along.
Oh and as much work as we still have to do in this room, I must say that this has definitely reconfirmed for me (once again) that painting a room is an awesome way to make it feel like it’s yours. Our sunroom suddenly doesn’t feel like a forgotten project-room stuck on the side of our house, it’s actually starting to feel like a place we can hang out on a lazy Sunday – which is exactly how we used the sunroom in our first house, so it has us all sorts of excited about the possibilities. What did you guys do this weekend? Was there any painting or planning? Any other pole-related projects going on?
Love grey paint right now! Our bedroom is sculptor clay and the office is Bedford grey both from Behr.
It looks so good. All our ceilings in our house are a darkish cream, and I’ve realized that I need to paint them all. I just don’t want to. Thanks for the inspiration!
Looks awesome, love how the white trim pops! Can’t wait to see what you do next :)
Love that Grey colour, we have something similar in our hallway.
When I started reading the post I was all for keeping the brick but when I saw the pic of the full wall I changed my mind. I say paint it!!
xox
OMG….this is my favorite Burger face so far! So funny!!
Seriously, gray is the new (insert favorite color). We just painted our sun porch gray too!
http://www.oldtownhome.com/2012/11/20/Using-Criticism-as-Inspiration-The-Sun-Porch-Makeover-Continues/index.aspx
Love the idea of the paint brush on a stick. I used something similar by taping an oscillating cutter onto a stick to free a painted shut window. It sure beat climbing into a ladder to get to the 2nd story window.
But painting ceilings. Oh I hate painting ceilings. I don’t know why, but the constant looking up makes my jaw ache.
Looks great though!
Looks great!
xo
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Love the color! I was hoping to begin painting our first floor this past weekend, but we got so far as to just spackle the numerous holes in the walls left by the previous owners (and their curtain rods).
Paint it!!
Looks great! I undertook a similar project this weekend, painting our bedroom (which has a similar angular ceiling slant leading to high, high ceilings), and we also went with gray, but a much darker, bolder gray (Behr’s Antique Tin).
I am always so impressed that you guys can edge without tape.. HOW did you get so good at that?! Even WITH taped off edges I still manage to get paint all over the trim and ceiling. Something to aspire too, I guess. ;)
Half is the brush! Short handled 2″ angled brushes with rubber handles give you SO MUCH MORE control! It’s also just 6 years of practice by now, ya know? Haha!
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Just whitewashed my brick hearth last week-used Ben Moore’s Swiss Coffee 3 parts water to 1 part paint. It was a learning experience. Definitely an improvement but not quite the effect I was aiming for-still deciding if and how to tweak, paint over, etc…
Also, Centsational Girl blog has a great, recent tutorial on making a window seat using upper Ikea cabinets. Looks great & they even detailed how they cut out for vents.
Oh yes, we love that project! She did such an amazing job!
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wow—it looks so great, and i know that must have been one tiring paint job! just watching john paint that ceiling makes my shoulders sore. looks so good, can’t wait to see where your little indoor/outdoor space goes from here…
whoo! though i will say a friend got a sample of rockport gray, and i wasn’t digging it as much. however when you guys do it i LOVE It! i have a gray.brown in my dining room, and i love it. i’m semi obsessed with gray now! the brick definitely needs to be painted! at least you tried to see if it could work!
Love the color. Have you thought about replacing the sliders with french doors?
Oh how we would love to! It’s not in the budget right now, but it would be awesome someday!
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Looks great! If you are counting votes – I say paint those bricks!!
Yup, it definitely seems like you’re in the majority!
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I really love Rockport Gray and am trying to figure out where I can use it in my house!
I finally finished painting our reading room in Plumage, actually. :) It looks adorable even though the room is tiny.
Sounds so sweet!
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It looks awesome with the Rockport Gray!!! Man, I am a little jealous of how you two seem to never need naps… or get distracted and waste an hour on Pinterest (or whatever) during time that should be more productive! It’s finals week for me, and I sure could use your motivation and diligence… :)
Haha, here’s the key: DIY to feed your family. Haha! It’s amazing how much you rush around to get done when paying the mortgage depends on it. And it doesn’t hurt to have a bunch of people checking in on your progress every day either ;)
I’m just kidding, but we definitely don’t want anyone to feel bad for not completing as much as we do (we always want this to be an encouraging you-can-do it place). We just both do this as our job, so we have to get ‘er done, ya know?
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I love that you chose Rockport Gray for the sunroom! I’m building up the energy to paint my kitchen/living room (which I’m guessing is probably the size of your living room) in between the 2-months old’s nursing sessions and during the toddler’s naps. Oh why didn’t I do this while I was pregnant?! Hey, would you like a nice vacation to Florida to paint for me? ;P You two seem to knock it out so fast.
Haha, sure we’ll be right over!
xo
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Holy wow! What a difference! It really makes the trim pop and brings the room into this decade. Pretty amazing what a coat or two of paint can do for a room! We’re still mulling what to do with our kitchen – which is currently covered in paneling. To paint or to drywall (and then paint) – that is the question! :)
WOW… love it.
It looks so good…awesome!
What is under the drywall? If the whole wall was brick, it could look cool to have a large painted brick wall. Or it could be a lot of work…and you guys work so hard already!
That weird line/lip irks me, though. What contractor thought that would look good?
Oh no, there’s no brick under the drywall- that’s where the old peaked roof of the original house used to be (before they added the addition) so the brick ends there and the roof used to be above that).
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Just curious… how do you prep a room for paint? Do you sand or wipe the walls as I’ve seen mentioned on DIY websites? Obviously, patch the holes and sand in those spots, but what else do you do?
We just wipe down any obvious cobwebs and stuff (and spackle and sand holes), but then we just get down to painting.
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I love the paint job! The grey and white looks great together. I think the brick will look best painted, like you did in the living room. I wish I was as ambitious as you guys. I still have a brick wall and some paneling that I need to paint…someday…
Love it! Very nice job!
I love exposed brick, but I don’t think I love THAT exposed brick. I think for your house, that brick should be the same as the living room, you’re right, it just makes sense.
the grey really makes the windows and the out of doors pop, cozifies the ceiling and looks terrific.
paint the brick. it coheres as you say with the LR brick, and the orangeness of it all seems of of place in your chartreuse and grey scheme. (actually, a creamier orange would look great with chartreuse and gray but that’s not it.)
Looks great! It’s amazing to see what a difference some color can make. I agree about painting the brick there – it’s definitely strange with that drywall triangle above the window.
Looks 10,000 times better! Amazing. I love brick, but have to agree that painting yours and blending it in is really the way to go. One other thought, and could be just the angle of the photo, but the two blue “conversation” chairs look a bit forced, with one right up next to the door, so there doesn’t look like much room to get through. But maybe there is, only you can tell. Happy Monday!
Oh yeah we’re just living with them for a hot second, but built ins along the window wall sound like fun to us too so we’re mentally trying those out too! Haha!
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What’s under the drywall above the brick? Could you take it off to expose more brick? That might help the window look less cramped and make the whole wall look more uniform.
Or drywall over the brick, too? Put up a cool stone veneer on that wall?
There’s no more brick under the drywall (that’s where the brick ends because there used to be a sloped roof there but then they added the sunroom and changed the roofline- didn’t cover any brick though- it’s just not there since it’s a 1-story ranch so it ended.
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I really love that color. We have a small powder room to paint this weekend. However, the trim and fixtures (toilet, sink) are cream instead of white. Do you think it would still be a good color choice?
I would bring home a swatch and see how it looks. I think it could be great with cream (the tile is sort of cream in the sunroom). Hope it helps!
xo
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I think that new paint color did a world of difference! It makes it pop in there and even with those stools in there – the color from the stools immediately pop out which a great sign for whatever decorating you guys do in there. Love it already!
I like the brick showing since it’s an “outside” room. Obviously in person it doesn’t look as great though, so to each his/her own. Hope you find something you love!
What a great transformation. Painting the ceiling the same color as the walls was a great choice!
You might have already answered this, but is there any chance the drywall above the brick is hiding more brick? Or is that just where the brick stops? I love exposed brick, but if it’s really just a weird half-wall, it would probably look best painted.
Nevermind, I just saw that you answered that question in an earlier comment. Sad!!
Yeah, we wish!
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Wow, that white trim really pops now! It looks like a whole new room. Love that color of gray!
My father in law is a professional painter, and he uses brushes taped to a pole. And according to my hubster, he can cut in a 12 foot ceiling with it. I wish I had skills like that! The room looks great. Love me some gray walls!
That’s amazing!
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Lionel Ritchie has replaced Mr Roboto as the song stuck in my head!!!!!! thanks for planting the bug! ;-)
Our bedroom has crazy sloped ceilings that run into walls and we also painted them all the same gray shade (http://thisnestisbest.com/2011/07/14/home-decor-adding-a-dresser/). I love how it downplays our low ceilings and makes the room feel more cohesive than it did before.
Love how the sunroom is coming along!
So smart!
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I really love that color you guys. But fercryinoutloud you actually care whether your paint matches your brick mortar? It’s a house, not a designer showroom, k?
Haha, that wasn’t the reason we picked the color! We bulleted a ton of “pros” of the color and that was just one of them ;)
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We haven’t jumped in yet, but we’re considering painting our dark wood trim that is throughout the entire house white. Anyone have any thoughts or experience? We’ve lived here 5 months and I’ve thought about it just about every singe day, but every time I think about starting it, I get intimidated! Tell me it’ll be worth it!
We did that in our first house and with lots of trim in this house (the whole living room, etc) and we love the effect!
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Paint that brick, baby!
I hear you can use the Ikea Hemnes TV stand for an easy window seat. All you have to do is paint and add a cushion. Plop that into your Craigslist search.
That’s an awesome tip Brandi!
xo
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I “almost” painted a room gray once, until I saw the name of it was “Dreary Morning”….seriously. Doesn’t that make you want to rush out and buy gallons and gallons of it? What were they thinking?
Hahaha, no way!!!
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Definitely paint the brick! It’s sticking out like a sore thumb in it’s current barren state. Go for it!!!
Haha, amen!
xo
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I am so jealous of those windows!!!
I love the new paint, and I love that you painted the ceilings the same color….tres chic or something haha.
Yay! You’re painting the brick!(I’ve been Team Paintbrick all along) Someday when I have a house I hope to use that color (Rockport) somewhere! I know I’m jumping the gun, but are you planning any kind of window treatment?
Oh yes, I’d love roman shades or bamboo blinds or something! Nothing too heavy- will keep you posted!
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LOVE the grey! Of course! I’m with you as far as torn on the brick. After living in NYC I’m sure you appreciate the exposed brick wall feel, but it is kind of awkward!
I spent the weekend shopping (on Etsy!)! You can enjoy my faves:
http://www.refreshandrepurpose.blogspot.com/
Fun!
xo
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Love the gray; I’m obsessed with gray paint. It makes any room look freshhhh.
As for the brick– either painted the same color as inside, or it would also look good to paint that whole entire wall, brick included, white like the trim.
Looks amazing! I totally did that that brush on a stick move. Except I used my hair elastics because we had no tape around. We have those gross foam ceiling tiles in our house. They soak up so much paint! I used a gallon in my daughters 9×12 room alone. We are just ignoring the livingroom ceiling for now lol
Ooh I know what you mean! We had those ceiling tiles in our first house’s den and it was crazy to paint! So worth it when you’re done though!
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Wow! What a difference! Looks amazing.
So how would I contact you possibly on project advice? Please and thank you!
So sorry, there aren’t enough hours in the day to take on clients or do mood boards anymore, but if you post a picture on our facebook page along with a specific question, folks are usually awesome about leaving suggestions!
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What about instead of painting the brick, drywalling over it? It sounds as though then it would be a totally flat wall, since the lip sticks out by the depth of a piece of drywall, if I understand correctly. You’d just drywall up to the overhang, and end up with one smooth wall.
Yeah, that could work too, but since we have painted brick in the adjoined living room we actually think it might look more seamless if it continued into the sunroom too – since it’s all in the same line of sight!
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I think drywalling over the brick would make more sense. I don’t think there is anything weird for having one room with painted brick next to another with all drywall. I do think it would look weird though to have a half wall of even painted brick, next to the rest of the wall with drywall.
It definitely could end up making more sense- we just hate drywalling! Haha. Plus the added expense is more than just using the extra paint we have on hand, so we’ll have to see where we end up! We had a wall of painted brick in our first house and actually liked the added texture :)
xo
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love it! part of me really, really wishes you could just remove that slider. that would *really* make it feel like a part of the rest of the house, even if the climate control is a bit different.
Yeah, if we had it in the budget we would spend 5K on a heating/cooling unit that would be on all the time in the sunroom so it would feel the same temp as the house. Our friend Lesley has one and it’s awesome. We just don’t have the funds right now…
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Hi, Sherry! I just wanted to tell you that I have an addition with a separate unit by Sanyo that is called a “split system” and it is a ductless wall-mounted unit that has both heat and cooling, –with the A/c unit located in a separate location outside. It is on it’s own wireless thermostat in the room. from the inside, it looks just like the one you have (like in a hotel) but outside, about 10 feet away, is a tiny little A/C unit. and because it’s on its own thermostat, it keeps the room the same as the other parts of the house–but there are no wires or ducts to install. it’s really neat, and it did *not* cost 5K to install it. No where near. i think our exact unit is discontinued, but the model is Sanyo KHS1232, in case they have a newer version that does the same thing.
Thanks so much for the tip! We’ll have to check into that!
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