Color!

Finally, after weeks of stripping and cleaning and staining and varnishing, the fun part is here.  I finally get to put some color on the walls!  Everything looked really good primed but given my aversion to white, I couldn't wait to get it painted.

The color we chose is "Acorn".  It is an orange/squash sort of color.  It is not for the faint of heart but we like it.  The color choice was tough.  There are some deep golds and greens I liked very much also.  I guess I can always change the wall color next year if I get bored with this one.    

We used Behr paints from Home Depot.  Everyone has their favorite paints.  I don't.  I have used Benjamin Moore, Valspar and Behr on the house.  A word to the wise though: if you are going with Behr and doing a deep color, only use their "Ultra" product.  Their regular paint sucks ass and it will take you several coats to cover the wall.   

For the color above the high dado and picture rail, I screwed up.  I rarely... ...actually, I've NEVER been so off in my color choice before in my life.  I originally chose what I thought was a nice mellow yellow color.  Instead, it looked like a clown to a leak on my ceiling - the place looked like some sort of demented circus and it made the orange look really weird.    

Yesterday morning, I ran out, trying to rectify things with a new color.  I found a "Pyramid Gold" that I liked a lot and mellowed out the orange the way that I initially intended.    

I am really happy with the outcome and can't wait to get the furniture back in the house. 

I should note that during this project, I made the best investment I've made in my DIY life so far: movable scaffolding.  I got this for just under a hundred bucks at Home Depot.   I love it so much that I may just keep it up and use it as a piece of furniture - it goes so well with quarter-sawn oak!  If you don't like the look of it as much as I do, it folds up to 2'x4'x8" so it is not too tough to store.  It really came in handy and beat the crap out of working off of a ladder.  It is seriously worth checking out.   

Now I can't wait to get at the dining room.  The staining and varnish in that room has worked out well.  The ceiling was a total bitch but it looks awesome.  I have a lot of issues with the wood up there because the PO beat the hell out of it when they stripped it but the stain is pretty dark and hides many of the past errors.  I may blog on this later because I think it will make a great "what not to do to your woodwork" post. 

We have family coming for Thanksgiving so I am stopping the project for a few days, leaving the built-in for finishing later.  I hope to pick it up again and finish the buffet by early next week.  It would be nice to call this project "complete" in another week.