decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

Original post by michele31

Feb 07, 2003 01:16 PM

Since many of us are setting up homes or apartments I thought it would be fun to share some of our 'wow, this looks great' ideas as well as those 'Holy Moly Why did I do that' attempts.

-My 'Why On Earth Did I Do This' moment was the green color I chose for my condo's living room/dinning room. I wanted a light sage green w/white trim BUT I ended-up with Mint! While many people said they liked it 'Yuck' was all I ever said and thought.
Lesson I learned: by 1 qt. a the colors you like and try them BEFORE you paint. Also, look at the dried color in the daytime and nighttime to make sure you really like the color.

My 'I really like this' was my recent bedroom painting. We used a suede effect paint and while it is subtle it really adds some nice texture to the room. It was A LOT of work, but worth it in the end.
I also sponged painted a bathroom once and really loved the results.

Claud2001 Posted: Feb 10, 2003 12:15 PM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

In terms of home improvement projects, painting is one of the cheapest and easiest things you can do to give a room or two a makeover. There really isn't any reason [in my opinion] to hire professionals to paint.
Personally, I'd rather spend the money for professionals to put in a new wall, or take down a wall, even install a tile floor or lay carpeting - things that DH and I cannot do ourselves.

But, if I had an unlimited budget, perhaps I would hire people to do everything that's on my list!

michele31 Posted: Feb 10, 2003 12:35 PM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

So far, scott and I have always painted ourselves BUT my LR is 20x24 and I will not paint that myself. Jus the cost of the supplies (drop clothes, painters tape etc..) will be a ton. And it would takes us days to do it ourselves. We only have 2 days off a week and I would rather do other things.
I will say that at times hiring someone to paint is important if your walls have a lot of problems such as cracks or if they had lots of layers of wall paper on them since that type of work is not always easy. But if you can do it yourself you do save $$$

alina Posted: Feb 10, 2003 01:45 PM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

Hm, interesting. I guess we'll figure out what to do when we buy something. I have 0 plans to decorate our current rental, I fairly happy with the walls. My parents don't have unlimited budgets, but don't do their home improvement.

The had to be selective as to which rooms could have walpaper and which had paint, even though optimally they would have wallpapered the whole house.

Fran M Posted: Feb 10, 2003 02:12 PM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

I actually enjoy painting - I dont know why I just do. I guess if money were no object I would hire someone but I dont mind doing it myself. We used our remodeling budget for the installation of crown and decorative molding, sheetrocking the dining room and the partial removal of one wall. Oh yeah and that wonderful hall project . Basicly if we can do it ourself with little chance of getting hurt or damaging the house we will give it a try.

RichsBride Posted: Feb 10, 2003 11:19 PM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

I try most of my mad sciance projects on my own house-then if they are successful I reproduce them for our customers(We own a design & build contracting company). I have tons of bad things I've done in my house-but not online(still need new scanner)
Here are a few things I have online
First my sage green in our living room-it came out the color I wanted it to.

Next a picture of my friend-but my red bedroom wall is behind her

Nicole's baby blue-the first day-it's different now

And some of my projects for customers-everything is designed by me, built by me & Rich
Kitchen remodel

RichsBride Posted: Feb 10, 2003 11:25 PM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

My favorite bathroom-we worked our butts off on this one

Another Bath

RichsBride Posted: Feb 10, 2003 11:31 PM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

Okay- My alltime favorite total home renovation-This was my baby

OK that's enough out of me
Once I get started with that picture thing-I can't stop!!!

jennbaby Posted: Feb 11, 2003 06:58 AM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

Kelly OMG your home is beautiful!!!!!!!!!

Diane Posted: Feb 11, 2003 07:16 AM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

I agree your house is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!

Sonicstef Posted: Feb 11, 2003 08:59 AM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

Do you remember what color/brand of paint you used for the red wall? Love that shade!

Cira Posted: Feb 11, 2003 09:15 AM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

Gorgeous Kel ... really great work! I wish I had money, I'd hire you guys!
Stef asked you about the red ... but what about the sage green ... I love it!

And in the kitchen, is that Granite countertop?

RichsBride Posted: Feb 11, 2003 09:24 AM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

Thanks everyone-but only a few of the pics are of my house-the rest belong to our customers.
The red was called Opera Red & it came from home depot-I decided one Saturday night I had to have a red wall. The other three walls are Dijon Gold.
The sage green is a few years old & I don't remember that color name, but that one came from Aboffs.

The kitchen has a custom corian countertop & tabletop.
The beige bathroom has a granite top.

Sonicstef Posted: Feb 11, 2003 09:33 AM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

Thanks! Do you know what brand the Opera Red came from? I think Home Depot carries a few brands.

Would you mind taking a photo of how the one red wall looks? Thats what Im planning on doing.

RichsBride Posted: Feb 11, 2003 09:36 AM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

I think it was Behrs-which is the worst paint, I think we did 5 coats. I'll try to take a pic for you later. My friend did the same colors in her bedroom-but it's smaller & she did 2 red walls & it was too much.

RichsBride Posted: Feb 11, 2003 09:47 AM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

Here's another cute powder room-the family has 3 boys & they LOVE baseball.

This is a totally different look for a kitchen-with formica tops

RichsBride Posted: Feb 11, 2003 09:48 AM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

Stef,
I found a better pic of the walls

Sonicstef Posted: Feb 11, 2003 10:00 AM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

I didnt even notice in the first pic but you have matching gold/red furniture. Very cool!

On a more serious note - do you come to Brooklyn? I posted about looking for a reliable/trustworthy contractor to do some renovations in our home.

stacedz Posted: Feb 11, 2003 10:01 AM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

Kelly, you are so talented! Love your work.

I also have a sage green throughout my apt. but it was there before I came...I did pull a chip off to match up and fill in holes and whatnot, I will have to check what the color was for you girls. I love the color, it really is sage and not mint. You can kind of see the walls here...

Curley999 Posted: Feb 11, 2003 10:44 AM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

This is a great topic! We just had our kitchen and hallway painted, we hired someone because there was wallpaper up before and didnt want to take on the job of using the DIF and sanding it all down. But we didnt know what color to pick, the counters are a beige - yellow color with wood trim and while I hate them, we dont have the $$$ to replace them now. The floor is really nice tile with speckled brown/marron. We figured an off white with a hint of pink to pick up the maroon would be good, but it was NOT. Now we have a bubble gum pink kitchen and hallway, it looks rediculious!..and I want to repaint it right away but DH seem to think since we paid someone to do it, we should leave it!!!! The thing is I dont even know color it should be!! Im glad to hear we are not the only ones who have made this mistake!!

jennbaby Posted: Feb 11, 2003 10:50 AM

Re: decorating accomplishments and not-so-great ideas

Kelly,
My FH does incredible tile work and him and his brother are incredible at buliding stuff (decks, kitchen's etc) but I will definately incorporate you somehow when we get our home!!!