I was getting quite sick of the bathroom being in disarray so once the stinky sealant was dry I went and got two litres of bathroom paint in our chosen colour: Resene Scandal. It is a very vivid aqua - more blue than green.
Right away we experienced problems with the paint. It seemed very thick, even with a lot of stirring. It still had the air bubbles from being in the paint mixer when I opened it but it was very thick. I poured some into the paint tray to use the roller - this did not go on well - very hard to describe but quite bubbly and not sticking evenly. I decided to leave the roller and just use the brush. It took about two hours. I would have needed to use the brush a lot anyway, as the bathroom is full of narrow panels and fiddly bits. The first coat looked really streaky, uneven and had some strange drips. We were quite alarmed, but then this was our first surface that didn't have textured wallpaper all over, so wondered if this was typical for a smooth surface. The second coat went on late at night after a warm day. After an hour of hard out painting I was hot and sweaty. The paint cover looked great, but heaps of drips developed. It was quite strange. I kept prancing around flicking over them, but they kept popping up. In the morning I decided to do a third coat. I felt quite frustrated about this. Finally, drips developed on the third coat so I had to touch over them the next day.
I discussed the paint with the shop staff who were very diligent at running through the explanations. They had no idea, other than it sounded similiar to something that can happen the first few times the paint gets steam exposure (eg from a shower) after painting. Still, I was a bit disappointed so when the next paint colour to catch my eye came from a competitor I decided to go with it rather than make my next purchase at Resene (of course I was back at Resenes two days later)!
Showing posts with label painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label painting. Show all posts
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Days 14&15: The other bedroom gets painted and the bathroom gets sealed.
It was a lot harder picking the paint colour for the Sweetheart's room. The colour used in the Poppet's room, Sweetcorn, was too bright when trialled in the other room. The Sweetheart decided that she would prefer one of her favourite colours, and since we were not having a pink or purple room it became green. It became quite hard to find a green that wasn't too cold feeling, or too yellowy or just too dark. We went with Resene Conifer. It reminds me of an apple green, although it is a lot darker than a granny smith apple. It is about as warm as a green will get and hasn't darkened or brightened the room too much.
As part of the negotiations around the tone of green we agreed to get some sparkly pink/ purple paint to coat her old bookshelves. This paint is a real pain to use. Even with a basecoat it tends to separate and need multiple coats.
This time my husband was home to help. It seems amazing that we have reached the ages we are without having actually painted a room before, so I passed on my small amount of knowledge from the store handouts. Taping took a lot longer because there were more windows and my husband is a lot more fussy about this kind of thing than I am (I didn't bother taping the top skirting board in the Sweetheart's room because I'm going to paint it).
The children were not so keen to be fobbed off with food, although I did try. In the end we took turns painting and childminding. We were way too tired to attack the bathroom that night.
The next morning we had to prep the bathroom for plastering. I thought that this would be very simple but it took my husband nearly two hours to sand, remove wallpaper adhesive and pick off bits of old plaster. It then took a further hour to paint the bathroom - it is a very fiddly room. The oil based paint we were asked to use stinks. The whole house reeks. The second coat only added to the smell.
The bathroom is looking very sad. It is empty, and floor is a sticky mess of wallpaper adhesive, splots of paint and chips of plaster. I wonder if I will ever see the lino again!
As part of the negotiations around the tone of green we agreed to get some sparkly pink/ purple paint to coat her old bookshelves. This paint is a real pain to use. Even with a basecoat it tends to separate and need multiple coats.
This time my husband was home to help. It seems amazing that we have reached the ages we are without having actually painted a room before, so I passed on my small amount of knowledge from the store handouts. Taping took a lot longer because there were more windows and my husband is a lot more fussy about this kind of thing than I am (I didn't bother taping the top skirting board in the Sweetheart's room because I'm going to paint it).
The children were not so keen to be fobbed off with food, although I did try. In the end we took turns painting and childminding. We were way too tired to attack the bathroom that night.
The next morning we had to prep the bathroom for plastering. I thought that this would be very simple but it took my husband nearly two hours to sand, remove wallpaper adhesive and pick off bits of old plaster. It then took a further hour to paint the bathroom - it is a very fiddly room. The oil based paint we were asked to use stinks. The whole house reeks. The second coat only added to the smell.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Days 11-13: Painting the baby's room and the glazier comes.
Advertising is insidious. In the 'Bounty pack' given to mums after the birth of their baby there is a hardcover book for the baby. It is provided by Resene, a paint manufacturer and has no reading merit whatsoever. It lists different paint colours by trade name, along with pictures. It is a very clever advertisement and not at all for the baby. I've recycled them in the past.
About a year ago I was reading 'Little Treasures' magazine and saw a room that won the annual Resene baby room paint competition. Parents are invited to submit plans and the winners are given $500 to complete their designs. It is fantastic advertising of course for Resene, and makes a great story for the magazine. Most of the time I consider these kinds of stories way out there - most children I know have a very basic bedroom, needing little more than their bed, curtains, books and toys. The room and furniture is generally functional, and often cast offs. This is quite appropriate - it is expensive enough looking after a child without all their stuff looking like it came from House and Garden magazine.
But one of these stories somehow got under my skin. I loved the sound of the main paint colour used in the story (sweetcorn). Finally, in the midst of all this reno madness I decided to paint the girls' rooms. I got a testpot of sweetcorn and tried it out. It looks fantastic in the baby's room, but too bright in the Sweetheart's room. It has taken five testpots to find the colour we are going with in there a warm, pastely green called 'Conifer.'
The point of all this chat is a brief reflection on the influence of advertising. I suspect that even though I disliked the baby book and felt that most of the rooms in the stories were over the top, somehow the brand has stayed with me.
Anyway, painting.
I had to do this in a lot of parts. Cleaning the baby's room was a task I did over a day - just moving things around to make it easier to paint. I then got out the mop and washed the walls. I then used my fancy putty-for-idiots that changes colour when dry. I like puttying. I find it very soothing. Finally, I was ready to go. The next day I taped the skirting board and decided to go for it! I thought that I would start with one wall. Given that I was doing this around childcare it wasn't until the baby's afternoon nap that I started (probably not ideal for a children's room). I managed to do the second coat later in the day and the room was only a little smelly that night. The next day I decided to push through, and painted in the morning while the baby was awake. This was tricky. The children wandered around but I did manage to distract them a bit with food and games. I discovered how hard painting can be and found it easier on the clothes to paint wearing nothing! 'Cutting in' using a brush was OK, but I quickly found rolling hard on the arm.
I sped paint. I was dripping in sweat but I got it done. The kids were quite cranky waiting this time, and unfortunately the baby's sleep was short. The room looks pretty good though!
The local glazier also came to replace the bathroom window (because the old bathroom fan is stuck in it). He put in some safety glass, this was a reminder that we need to start replacing the glass around the house with safety glass. So far we have safety glass in one window :)
It took an hour to change over the window. They also brought back the bathroom cabinet door - they added a nice piece of mirror to the front.
About a year ago I was reading 'Little Treasures' magazine and saw a room that won the annual Resene baby room paint competition. Parents are invited to submit plans and the winners are given $500 to complete their designs. It is fantastic advertising of course for Resene, and makes a great story for the magazine. Most of the time I consider these kinds of stories way out there - most children I know have a very basic bedroom, needing little more than their bed, curtains, books and toys. The room and furniture is generally functional, and often cast offs. This is quite appropriate - it is expensive enough looking after a child without all their stuff looking like it came from House and Garden magazine.
But one of these stories somehow got under my skin. I loved the sound of the main paint colour used in the story (sweetcorn). Finally, in the midst of all this reno madness I decided to paint the girls' rooms. I got a testpot of sweetcorn and tried it out. It looks fantastic in the baby's room, but too bright in the Sweetheart's room. It has taken five testpots to find the colour we are going with in there a warm, pastely green called 'Conifer.'
The point of all this chat is a brief reflection on the influence of advertising. I suspect that even though I disliked the baby book and felt that most of the rooms in the stories were over the top, somehow the brand has stayed with me.
Anyway, painting.
I had to do this in a lot of parts. Cleaning the baby's room was a task I did over a day - just moving things around to make it easier to paint. I then got out the mop and washed the walls. I then used my fancy putty-for-idiots that changes colour when dry. I like puttying. I find it very soothing. Finally, I was ready to go. The next day I taped the skirting board and decided to go for it! I thought that I would start with one wall. Given that I was doing this around childcare it wasn't until the baby's afternoon nap that I started (probably not ideal for a children's room). I managed to do the second coat later in the day and the room was only a little smelly that night. The next day I decided to push through, and painted in the morning while the baby was awake. This was tricky. The children wandered around but I did manage to distract them a bit with food and games. I discovered how hard painting can be and found it easier on the clothes to paint wearing nothing! 'Cutting in' using a brush was OK, but I quickly found rolling hard on the arm.
I sped paint. I was dripping in sweat but I got it done. The kids were quite cranky waiting this time, and unfortunately the baby's sleep was short. The room looks pretty good though!
The local glazier also came to replace the bathroom window (because the old bathroom fan is stuck in it). He put in some safety glass, this was a reminder that we need to start replacing the glass around the house with safety glass. So far we have safety glass in one window :)
It took an hour to change over the window. They also brought back the bathroom cabinet door - they added a nice piece of mirror to the front.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Days 1-3: Magnetic and Blackboard paint.
I decided to start with an easy project: putting magnetic paint on the girls' wardrobe doors and then covering it with blackboard paint. I thought that it would be straightforward and also be a good project for the Sweetheart to assist with.
I had a leftover can of paint and varnish stripper and figured it would be easy enough to use. I put a towel down under the door to catch the varnish. It came off instantly. The instructions suggested waiting for fifteen minutes but it wrinkled instantly. I had to work quite fast. It was hot and windy and I pretty much needed to scrape instantly or the removal gel would dry again. The Sweetheart enjoyed scraping of the varnish in big long strips but it quickly became clear that she has no tolerance for noxious smells!
Remembering that we had some white primer in the garage I had fun playing with the mini roller that came with my test pots from Resenes. The primer dried in thirty minutes so I was able to get two coats of magnetic paint on that afternoon.
Magnetic paint:
Blackboard paint:
Overall, very happy with the result. Both rooms look a little more modern and more kid friendly. The magnetic paint is very strong (could hold a magnet after one coat). My oldest daughter has written a lullaby for her sister on the door in the baby's room and she and her friends have coated her daughter with pictures. Lovely.
I had a leftover can of paint and varnish stripper and figured it would be easy enough to use. I put a towel down under the door to catch the varnish. It came off instantly. The instructions suggested waiting for fifteen minutes but it wrinkled instantly. I had to work quite fast. It was hot and windy and I pretty much needed to scrape instantly or the removal gel would dry again. The Sweetheart enjoyed scraping of the varnish in big long strips but it quickly became clear that she has no tolerance for noxious smells!
Remembering that we had some white primer in the garage I had fun playing with the mini roller that came with my test pots from Resenes. The primer dried in thirty minutes so I was able to get two coats of magnetic paint on that afternoon.
Magnetic paint:
- Do not use rollers, only use brush
- Brushstrokes all going in the same decoration is apparently important for the tiny magnetic particles.
- At least two layers.
- Needs to have at least one coat of non-magnetic paint as a topcoat.
Blackboard paint:
- OK to use rollers (although I found it quite hard and slow to do so over the magnetic paint).
- Aiming for the smoothest finish possible as bumps and brushstrokes make it hard to write on with chalk (and if you have magnetic paint underneath it needs to be very smooth or the magnet just can't hang on).
Overall, very happy with the result. Both rooms look a little more modern and more kid friendly. The magnetic paint is very strong (could hold a magnet after one coat). My oldest daughter has written a lullaby for her sister on the door in the baby's room and she and her friends have coated her daughter with pictures. Lovely.
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