Remember when our living room was salmon?
Well, not anymore…
That’s just the primer coat, so we’ll be back on Monday with the full details of what color we chose, why we picked it, and a whole bunch of prep info, in-process pics, and of course the all-done afters. Today’s the last day of our Florida road trip, so we’re doing our best just to soak up the sun before our 14 hour drive back to Richmond. But I’m not going to lie… remembering that we’re not returning to a pink living room is definitely making us more excited to mosey on home.
It always feels crazy to eke out a last minute project before leaving (kinda like the kitchen flooring that we half-laid before our trip to Hawaii a year and a half ago) but it’s so much fun to come back to enjoy it since we barely had a second to soak it up before hightailing it outta town. Can’t wait to write up all the details for you guys.
**********************************
As a little Friday bonus, here are four fun projects, chats, or questions going on over on the Forums. We also announced this week’s giveaway winner, so you can click here (and scroll down to the Rafflecopter box) to see if it’s you.
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|||
| by courtmcg8 | by BurlapandLace | by karents | by DIYPlaybook |
|
Drive safely and see some cool stuff on the way home from your car trip!
My house is all flat paint- it’s awful. We love the color and have purchased the same color in washable finish. I’ve been putting off painting because it seems daunting to move all the furniture. Looking at your photo above gives me hope. You make it look so easy peasy- can’t wait to hear more about the process!
I don’t know why but that totally gave me anxiety about painting our living room! LOL I guess I sometimes forget about the primer coat because I’ve always had white walls…until I went medium green. The Mr will sometimes look at it, sigh and grumble “I dread having to paint this again.” I’ll have to remind him…”Prime! Don’t forget the primer too!” Then I’ll run away. :-)
Primer saves time! Don’t dread the primer. We had a pea soup green living room and a mustard yellow kitchen. We primed the kitchen (because the people there had painted a door and trim yellow too, so we had to prime that) but didn’t prime the living room.
Paint covered *much* better in the kitchen — one coat with some touch ups in a few areas is all we needed. We’re going on coat three for the living room to completely cover the green with the creamy beige we picked. Totally picking up more primer next time.
I had a Pepto pink bathroom – I used BM Aura (which claims both built in primer and two coat coverage) in a light lavender-grey, and those two coats did the trick. Actually, one coat was pretty darn good, but I still had paint left and went for the two coats.
I did like that salmon color, honestly, but maybe not with the bricks in there. But the salmon was well loved in its day, and now it’s time for a change!
just the primer looks amazing! can’t wait to see what color you chose! enjoy your last day of vacation!
I know! Even the primer looks pretty sweet. I mean, perhaps somewhere, somehow someone is making that salmon work, but not this room! Massive improvement already!
Safe travels, Petersiks!
I’m surprised we don’t see any primer on the brick….yet!
The plan is to whitewash that brick, so I don’t think there will be any primer this time.
xo
s
I thought there would be primer on the wood!
It’s amazing how much better it looks already -that salmon was crazy!
Can’t wait to see the paint color you picked. That room will be so nice!!!
Have a safe trip back! I can’t wait to see which color you chose!
Oh, it looks really lovely with the white walls and the stained wood. You could just cheat and not paint, only whitewash the brick, and live like that for a while. It would be very Old World.
You mention white washing the brick, what is your method for doing that? I haven’t done any research yet, but we have a brick fireplace we want to expose and white wash. Thanks!
We haven’t settled on a method yet but we’ll share all the details when we do!
xo
s
Are those ceramic snakes on your mantel?
They’re ceramic antlers from Pottery Barn a while back (John calls them The Mustache).
xo
s
How funny–I always thought they were snakes too :)
What are you guys’ plans for the beams and wood paneling?
Right now we are leaning towards glossy white paint like the trim/crown in our foyer. We also want to turn the beams into a coffered ceiling eventually (our to-do list posts have more info about our plans).
xo
s
Can’t wait to see you tackle coffered ceilings because the ones i’ve seen were light suckers (actual scientific term).
Have a safe trip y’all!
Looking forward to it! Have a safe drive home. :0)
*BTW, we are considering an East Coast drive down to Florida next winter and was wondering if you can recommend any favourite historical or educational stops along the way?
We generally just stop at state rest stops to let Clara and Burger run around and stretch their legs. Anyone else have recommendations for Julianne?
xo
s
We did a drive from Omaha to Florida when I was a kid, so some of the stuff we saw may be different, but here’s what we did:
– St. Louis Arch
– Incline railroad in Chattanooga
– Andrew Jackson’s hermitage
– Stephen Foster’s home (Swanee River in Florida)
– Battlefield in Georgia
– Cyclorama (a museum in the round in Atlanta)
Other things I’ve done include visiting battleships in North and South Carolina, visiting lots of civil war sites in Virginia (Fredricksburg is pretty cool), hitting up Boston for their revolutionary history if you live up north, etc. There are lots of historical sites to see along the way. Try Roadside America for the more kitschy ones, and just look at some detailed maps (state maps or a good atlas) along your ideal route to see what other possibilities might be — a lot of things are marked on maps these days if you get the right map.
Thanks, Sherry & Leah! We do often buy travels guides for these types of drives, but I’ve found that the best rec’s come from those who live in the area, or have done the same route themselves. I appreciate your tips & everyone else who cares to share. Thank you! :0)
south of the border (btwn NC and SC) is awesomely bad! :)
Ohhhh weee, can’t wait to see it =)
Safe travels home! I have been vicariously enjoying your Florida vacation – I have never been.
I confess, the salmon walls would have driven me more crazy than all the blue trim.
That space is going to be so pretty with the color you pick and white washed brick. This room is a great example of looking past the current decor to what it can be.
Can’t wait to see the reveal!
This is exactly what I was going to say; that salmon color would have driven me nuts! It’s such a cozy room, can’t wait to see how it turns out.
I can’t wait to see the fireplace makeover. We have been living with a very similar fireplace since purchasing our house 8 years ago. It’s the only thing we haven’t changed in the house. Need some inspiration!!!
Are you keeping the red brick? I don’t like red brick but my husband does. We are currently debating what to do with ours.
We’re planning to whitewash it.
xo
s
Woo hoo! I can’t wait to see the final result!!
enjoy your last day of vacation! and your living room already looks 10x’s better! see ya, salmon!
We had a very similar salmon color in our house when we bought it, three and half years ago. I hated it.
It was in our dining room, living room [which were open to each other and shared a vaulted ceiling] and hallway down to the master bedroom.
It was one of the first things we changed and now it’s a cool grey color.
Love how much different yours looks just in the primer stage – it will be beautiful when complete, I just know it!
Yes, I think this would have been my first room to paint. Very excited! Also, I just started painting our living room this morning. Excited about that, too. :)
I like that white piece next to the couch and that big basket on the right. Very nice!
Can’t wait to see an “after” photo! Enjoy the last bits of your vacation :)
Teaser posts drive me crazy… I can’t wait to see what you guys picked! Be safe getting home!
Looking forward to your Monday post. Re the brick, we have a brick fireplace and our plan is to first try lime and salt. Have read both success and failure stories when the method is used interior, so we’ll see… looking forward to reading your decision about the brick too.
Travel back safe!
Anything will be better than that 1980s Salmon LOL
I whitewashed our brick FP-funny enough, it was PEACHY/SALMON-and I just used a paint/water mix.
It made a HUGE difference in the room-will be fun to see how your updates look when they are all finished.
This brings up a question I’ve had:
Most paint these days come with primer in it. But I’ve often wondered if I should still use a separate primer anyway. Thoughts?
Our decision was just based on what we already had around, but for walls a two in one is probably fine. For furniture or wood cabinets I still think separate products are superior though.
xo,
s
very impressive design skills! maybe we could hire you to stage some of our homes :)
Looks great! Will you be painting the brick, too, or keeping it as-is for now?
We’d love to whitewash that soon!
xo,
s
1. We can’t wait for Monday’s reveal!! Such suspense.
2. HOLY Moley…Thank you so, so much for featuring our reclaimed church pew!! We are beyond grateful…. thank you, thank you, thank you.
Xo,
Casey & Bridget
DIY Playbook
Of course! We loved it!
xo,
s
So exciting!! Can’t wait to see the big reveal!
Random question — for these Friday posts, would it be possible to make the forum foursome graphic render proportionately (like with a percentage in the width attribute)? When I read these posts in my RSS reader on my phone, it’s nearly impossible to scroll down, because it keeps wanting to scroll left or right (since the graphic is wider than the text column in a reader). And that’s just annoying with long posts. I slog my way painstakingly through because I don’t want to miss any of your scintillating wit (in all seriousness!), but I thought I’d ask since that’s been driving me crazy the last several Fridays. :)
/end whiny complaint
Thanks for all the wonderful content you put out every day!
So sorry! That does sound annoying! Is this happening to anyone else? In Feedly I don’t seem to have this issue but I don’t read on my phone (the width of the four boxes is the same width as all of our horizontal images). What reader are you in?
xo
s
I should have specified — I’m in Feedly on my phone. Thanks for the response!
Thanks Christina! We’ll see if there’s a quick fix we can implement from here on out. It’s so funny to me that there’s an issue since it’s the same width as our horizontal pics.
xo
s
Yay, something to look forward to on a Monday! I thought you guys would be proud to know, that 1. I discovered, and then developed a love for, Danish mid-century pieces from your TV stand find, and 2. have since kept an eye out for a dresser to use as a nightstand, and found TWO on craigslist $30 each through an estate sale!! One is a regular 3 drawer dresser and the other a matching double dresser (that I will use in my entry way). Will definitely use your tips to polish it up too! So excited!
That’s awesome!
xo
s
Hi guys!
This post is awesome but I want to see is a post on how you survive a 14 hour road trip with a three year old?!? My husband and I want to do a road trip with our little one and have yet to be brave enough to try! haha!
I hope your vacation was as amazing as it sounded.
Thanks so much!
We have just been driving long distances with Clara pretty much since she was born (there were lots of nursing stops in the beginning, haha) so I think she’s used to it. We just pack some favorite games and toys and snacks and play her favorite songs (we put them on our iPod and play that through the car’s speakers).
xo
s
Don’t wait. Start them young. If they grow up doing long drives they think it’s perfectly normal and don’t realize they have the option to behave badly! Ours did their first 6+hr drives at 6-8 weeks old to visit my inlaws. There were stops for feedings but otherwise it was really no different than before we had kids. Before the days of in-car DVDs etc when our son was not quite 4, we drove a small camper van from Ottawa (between Montreasl and Ottawa) all the way to Colorado. We tool a leisurely 5 days each way so we could do some sightseeing each day in addition to covering the miles. We’ve driven down to Florida with the kids (blasted through in two long 12+ hr days.
Suggestions for sights to see on the way to Florida (depending where you are coming from): Savannah Georgia, Charleston, SC, and if you pass through St Louis and go to see the arch, don’t miss the museum at the foot of the arch.
The public library has children’s books on tape – they’ve always been a lifesaver when stuck in a car with two kids on one of our many long summer road trips. Our boys are 7 years apart and we would pick out books geared more toward the older son’s reading level but the younger son loved hearing them too. One summer we listened to one of the Harry Potter books the entire trip from Montgomery County MD to Boston. The little one was around 4 and he hurried us back in the car when we stopped for lunch because he wanted to hear what happened to Harry. I bet the Maggie series by Courtney Ruffalo would be a hit with Clara.
Sounds fun!
xo
s
Ahhh! I had been looking forward to the day when I’d open my reader to see y’all had dealt with the salmon walls and that day has arrived! Can’t wait to see your “afters”!
I’m so excited to see what you do with this room! We’ve got a oddly positioned, super dated brick fireplace in the living room and awful paneling and I’m not sure what we’ll do with it yet.
Safe travels! I remember making that drive from ‘bama to Virginia, have fun!
I have to agree that a future whitewash of the brick would look amazing. You guys are so good. Love it!
What a teaser! Hope you guys enjoy your last day. Just tried your “cutting in” method for a painting project and LOVED it! So much better than taping. Thanks:)
Can I just say that you guys rock?! Reading your blog is the highlight of my workday. To see how you work yourself throught this new (to you) house is just so inspiring and fun. I have read your blog for a couple of years and the energy and can-do attitude just shines and makes me want to do more with my home – which doesn’t always happen but still – keep up the awesomeness!!
Thanks so much Susanna!
xo
s
You say you are planning to whitewash the red brick fireplace. I’m not sure what you mean by “whitewash” but if it’s the same as calcimine paint, you will be making an enormous amount of trouble for yourself.
Calcimine paint makes any other paint you put over it, peel off. Calcimine paint is a mixture of zinc oxide and glue. I’m not sure if it’s the glue or the zinc oxide that causes the peeling problem.
Just out of interest, why are you going to use whitewash–instead of ordinary latex paint?
We are researching methods but leaning towards one part water to one part latex paint for a whitewashed look. We hear its a really easy method. Will report back on it for sure!
xo,
s
I’ve seen posts using ASCP to white wash fireplace bricks – here is one http://www.sewafineseam.com/2012/09/annie-sloan-paint-gives-brick-an-update/
I’ve never used ASCP and have wondered what the texture is like – is it chalky?
How exciting! Can’t wait to see how much better it looks now. That salmon sure was um, yucky. :)
Have a safe drive home, guys!
Oh the brick already looks so much better without that pink (“It’s SALMON!” Sorry FRIENDS reference!)against it! So glad you painted! As are your retina’s I’m sure.
HA!HA! I thought the same thing and can hear Ross saying it every time! ;)
I am excited to see what you will do with your fireplace. Ours is very similar and have been trying to figure out what to do with it for 2 years!
I love how much brighter, airyer(? Lol), and larger the room feels even with just primer on the walls. I lived with white/neutral walls for soooo long that when I was allowed to paint, I refused to live with one single white wall. Now, I’m wanting to paint because everything feels so heavy and closed in (even tho the colors themselves, I love). So I’m considering going for a cool, pewter color over my current deep pumpkin color. Will be a big difference, but I’m tired of feeling closed in and paint is easier and cheaper to buy than a new, bright colored sectional. So thanks for the inspiration. What’s funny is that the pink, while not beautiful per se, wasn’t a dark color at all, but it still made the room feel heavy. Can’t wait to see it.
????Are you guys buying another house? as, at the rate that you are going, you are going to be finished this one ASAP !!!!!!
Your place is really starting to come together!
????Feel free to come to Trinidad W.I. in the next 3 years as we put together the house we are building there ????. We have been Kijiji Surfing (same as Craig’s list) assembling pieces here and there to ship and ” Pinning” like crazy ( well, I have, not my husband lol ).
How about a hint as to the color? A weekend is a very long time for some of us who are color-challenged. :)
BTW, the primer looks so much better. I am really stumped as to which way you may go. It looks like you get a lot of light in that room. Have a safe trip back!
Thanks! A hint might be that we mentioned it in our paint colors we love post a few weeks back – so those are a nice place to start if you want to grab some swatches and see which ones you like!
xo
s
It already looks so much better without that horrid pink colour!
Hi-ya!
I’ve been following y’all for about a year now and realized even after a year, I missed a lot! So for the last two weeks (along with my full-time job) I’ve been reading your 878 pages of posts…do I qualify for Creeper status now? I’ve even got my husband hooked. I love your little fam and style. Keep on keepin’ on cause y’all are amazing!
P.S. Sherry…the hubs and I think you look like Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke). =]
Haha, thanks Emily! I get that a lot. I think she might be my secret sister. I wish! Then I could play with her dragons…
xo
s
Why did you decide not to prime the trim and paneling too?
That’ll call for a heavier duty primer (a stainblocking primer) and will easily take us around 3X longer than just painting the walls. We’re working up to that…. haha!
xo
s
That makes sense!
Great to read about somebody else doing all this…we ripped the back off our house in January as the coldest months of the year set in and are just slowing to a stop….though not a finish….31 weeks later….
Good luck! I’ll enjoy reading about it….