This past One Room Challenge week has been non-stop prepping for paint. What I thought would take about 2 days took much longer. The first layer, yes first, of wallpaper came off so easy. But then I found two layers under that. And then much to my surprise, the original plaster walls and evidence of PICTURE RAIL under that! I really thought I would be finding drywall under the wallpaper so finding not only the original plaster walls but also evidence of picture rail felt like hitting the jackpot! (Even if it meant a little extra work). Not only was this discovery special for this room, but also tells me a piece of this house’s history that has been hidden and gives insight into the architectural details missing throughout the second floor. After finding it in the bedroom, I went hunting in the Stairwell where I have been removing unoriginal finishes and also found evidence there that I had not noticed before!
I did find drywall in one small area of the room where plaster was removed. When I removed the wallpaper here, it pulled off the finish layer of drywall that is the paintable surface; which is going to require a little repair before I can paint there. I am waiting for those supplies to arrive since I couldn’t find it local, so in the meantime I have been finishing up paint prep on the other walls and thinking about how exactly I will paint each surface since picture rail has been added to the mix.
There are so many ways that this room could be painted, too many to list and definitely too many to mock-up so I narrowed it down to the options below taking into consideration the following:
1. I wanted the ceiling to have a fun color in the same color family as the walls to heighten the room and make it feel cozy, instead of bright white that would cut the walls abruptly.
2. With the discovery of the picture rail, I still wanted to bring the wall color all the way to the ceiling to accentuate the height instead of the traditional stopping it under the picture rail that would shorten the room. The Second Floor is 9ft tall unlike the First Floor that is 11 ft tall.
3. The crown trim that is currently existing is actually not original. I can not take it down until the big ceiling project so I would like to make it not so noticeable and paint it the same color as the walls, but in a finish with gloss instead of the flat finish I prefer to do on walls. Which got me thinking about the base board and picture rail…
4. I really love a monotone room that has flat walls paired with trim in the same color but gloss finish. It adds so much depth and drama! If I were to paint the crown trim this way…why not the picture rail and baseboard too? This would also help lengthen the walls instead of chopping them up horizontally. But really, the drama it would add… *chef’s kiss*. Sold.
5. With so many openings interrupting the walls, I wanted to use paint to make some of them visually take lower priority. There are 4 doors, 2 windows and a fireplace. With the dark green walls, painting all of these in the light Old White color would chop up the walls significantly. I wanted to make the 2 closet doors (one was originally a back porch door) disappear to the eye instead of making it pop. I also wanted the focus to be the fireplace. Awhile back I listened to Susan’s @houseofbrinson paint theory on entry doors taking priority over closet doors, thus being painted a different color than the walls to stand out while the closet doors were painted the same as the walls to blend in. This obviously stuck with me and I am applying it here, because I do want to use the F&B Old White color somewhere to bring back that original trim color I found and matched. The 2 windows will be heavily draped, so painting the trim there either way would not be that noticeable once they are dressed, but I do like how painting them Old White with the Entry Door across the room would balance the space color wise along with calling out the beautiful architecture they add.
Note: eventually all of the hall doors (bedroom entry doors) will be stripped and restored back to their original stain color.
Seeing the mock-ups, my mind was made easily, but I am curious which is your favorite?!
I am going with....
CALKE GREEN, Flat
Walls (above and below picture rail)
CALKE GREEN, Semi-gloss
Baseboards
Picture Rail
Crown
Closet Doors and Trim
OLD WHITE, Eggshell
Entry Door and trim (from Hall)
Entry Door and trim (to Widow's walk)
Window sashes and trim
Fireplace Mantle
CHURLISH, Flat
Ceiling
Be sure to hop over to see what the other ORC Participants are up to!
