Overhaulin' in Tully

Whenever we go on a wallpaper removal job, people often ask us, "Do you really like taking wallpaper down?" To which we simply reply, "Yep!" It’s crazy, I know, but we really do. I think because it’s a challenge, that and we are always curious about what lies behind it.

We have found covered doorways, which once led to other rooms, we have found windows (or the box of one) that have long since been spackled and sheet rocked over.

Some paper comes down like butter, some we pick at for hours only to remove one tiny piece, so removing wallpaper presents us with a new challenge every time. It isn't as predictable as painting and you can’t mess it up. To make us seem even crazier...Maggie, actually likes prep work! I mean who likes prep work? "Maggie!" She takes great pride in spackling, sanding and finishing off a wall, so that when the paint goes back on, it looks like new.

Maggie must have been in heaven then on our job in Tully. Not only did we have to do A LOT of wallpaper removing, she had to do A LOT of prep! Each room was covered in (some rooms many) layers of vintage paper. Although wallpaper was all the rage back in the day, more often than not people put up wallpaper to cover unsightly walls. That said there usually is a lot of prep work lying underneath the paper. On this job, that reasoning applied. Armed with her trusty putty knife and bucket of spackle, like Michelangelo, she carefully slathers the wall. Personally, I hate the feeling of sandpaper and sheet rock, it freaks me out, but not Maggie, she'll sand for however long it takes to get that patch looking like the actual wall.

This project was so big...I will have to do it in two separate blogs...so while your anxiously waiting for the sequel check out the work we did in the two bedrooms, office and downstairs hallway!

Metallic Stripes

One of our specialties is Stripes! Okay, perhaps you think we're crazy, but it is! And we do them well, I may add! The trick to good stripes is first the obvious, straight lines, but second, is good tape. We have tried all types of paint and Frog Tape (http://www.frogtape.com/) works the best. It gives you the least amount of bleeds, and that means less touch ups. Plus, it comes in this great little container, which prevents everything in the world from sticking to the outer edge of the tape roll.

Maggie has several "T-squares" that she has created in various widths (4,6,8,10 inches) which is what we use to measure out the stripes,  as opposed to a ruler, because that way we insure the stripes will all be completely even (sometimes if you measure with a ruler, after 40 stripes you can get sloppy and be off an inch or so every stripe leaving the last stripe to be 5-10 inches wider than the rest of your stripes). But honestly...you have to have a really good "eye" because believe it or not, all walls are NOT straight! That's when you have to create a Trompe L'Oeil (fool the eye) of sorts. Although, not a mural as most Trompe L'Oeil, it's the same premise; you have to fool the eye, in other words if it looks painted it is! If you have to flare out the line at the bottom a bit to make it “look” straight to the naked eye, you need to do that instead of going by the actual measurement.

With all that said its best when you have two people working together simultaneously. Maggie usually marks, we both tape, and I use my "eagle eye"

For this particular job we had to prime the walls, because we were going from a hot pink to cream. Then we applied 3 coats of creamy white paint to the walls (white to the ceiling) and completely let it dry overnight. The paint must be completely dry before you tape off your stripes, otherwise you will take half the base coat with you when you peel the tape off at the end, and that's never a good look, trust me. So, the next day it took us about four hours to plot out the stripes, and then we started painting them. Metallic paint is fairly translucent so it took about 6 coats of metallic gold to reach the level of intensity that the customer desired, the good thing is without a glaze added to the metallic paint (sometimes you do that for a different faux effect, it allows the paint to stay wetter longer so that you have more time to manipulate it) it dries faster! Again its important to let it dry over night, this gives you the crispest line.  When the paint is still wet and you peel the tape you get far more "bleeds" (paint that has seeped or been pulled under the tape) or actually dislodging of the paint. Bottom line, you can get one big mess. Hint: once tape is up feather the paint along the sides of the tape, let dry, then go back in with your juicy roller.  The feathering sort of seals the areas around the tape line creating a block.

The end result was very classy. Now, you know why we love doing stripes, because they look so darn good in the end!

This Is Why I Love My Job

Most of the time we are doing inside work.  Which, I'm not complaining, because outdoor work can be brutal sometimes, and lets face it, being in an air conditioned house is so much better on a hot summer day! But last week we had the opportunity to work out at a customers camp.  Light breeze, cat fish jumping out of the water, the sun, it was fantastic.

We had to paint her shed, her deck, and clean up the mess left by another painter last year around her awning & trim.  She was insistent in hiring women.  She actually had found us outside the post office, and asked for our card! Glad those "car" signs have paid off!

It was tricky painting the outside of the dock.  We actually had to go out on an inflatable raft to paint it! That was actually a first! LOL! But it was very cool, how it worked out. My only concern was the fact that, A. there were snakes in the water, and B. it was hard holding the can of paint on the inflatable raft! But they don't call Maggie, McGyver for nothing!

The customer was so happy, she asked us back to do the inside! Perhaps this time we'll bring a fishing pole! LOL!

Two Rooms With a View

This room was so open and had so much natural light that adding color to all the walls was a great way to pull it all together. The customer even opted to have an accent wall in a darker blue to accentuate the sky blue they had chosen for the walls. They chose Benjamin Moore colors 450-3 Heavenly Blue (the lighter blue) and 450-7 Star Spangled (the darker color) to add to this rooms appeal.  They have a great view of the outdoors and wanted to bring that view in.  It took 3 coats of the lighter blue & 5 of the dark.  We knew the dark would require more, but were surprised by the lighter blue, but sometimes that happens especially when painting over flat white paint. The walls act as if they have been out in the desert and they suck up the paint, quenching their thirst!  The end result was very calming.  The way a sanquary should be.  What a wonderful place to retreat to after a long day!

The green room was the same scenario, just a bit smaller. Both rooms had adjoining bathrooms and were painted to coordinate with each room.  Again, Benjamin Moore Paints were used; 404-4 Catnip (lighter green) and 404-7 Billiard Green (darker color).  There were a lot of trees outside of this room, and the color worked wonderfully to pull in that aspect. 

Pizza Pie!

Bob and Anita just purchased a condo in a renovated warehouse downtown. We were so excited to see it because we had often wondered what they looked like when we drove past them on the highway.  The factory use to produce parts for cars, it fell into disarray back in the 50's and was total abandoned after that for a couple centuries. 

 Recently a developer had come in and redid the many buildings into Franklin Square, turning them into wonderful offices and living spaces.  A lot of the original brick was left, inside and out. Which is beautiful but left us with an interesting problem in Bob and Anita's place.

They wanted to go bold! They wanted an accent wall with complimentary colors! Which is fantastic because we love color, the problem was the carpets, which they weren't ready to rip up yet, were mauve. The brick was exposed on one huge wall, with windows trimmed out in hunter green trim.  They were also redoing the trim, from vinyl white to a warm wood, so we had a lot of elements to work with in choosing a color!

Plus, they had wonderfully eclectic furniture pieces that had to work with the walls.  They were so open to our advice, and really were willing to work with the choices we suggested it was a great experience.  After much deliberation and color swatches all over the room we finally settled on a 3 color, color scheme, Pizza Pie for the accent walls, Mesa Pink for the inner walls, and Cameo Peach for the center beam, soffits & small bathroom off the kitchen.  Then the one wall in the hallway, that you can see from the living room was painted in Pizza Pie as well , just for a little drama!

Bob wasn't sure he would be happy with all the pink tones, but being the good husband said,  "If she's happy, I'm happy!"  The good news is Bob was extremely happy with the end result.  So happy in fact they decided to get the whole upstairs done in some bold fabulous colors as well, but that for our next entry!

Cutting in with two very distinct colors can be a challenge.  It takes a very steady hand.  Most contractors use tape but we pride ourselves on the fact that we don't.  Using a 1" brush, and in some instances a "paint by numbers" brush we get a clean crisp cut in. I'm not saying that we don't use tape sometimes, for example if we're making stripes, or there isn't a clear cut in the architecture, but for the most part it's talent.  Getting a sharp line, whether cutting into trim, ceiling, or corner, is what separates the true painters from the rest.