Let's Paint!

[Space Voyager]

One of the most impressive things about your work, IMO, is that you take something others would toss away as unusable and buy a new thing (board in this case)... and make it look - at least in the majority of the area - better than it ever did.

[Zombie]

All I'd maybe add as a final touch would be something like an odor absorbing air freshener (example). Regardless, van ready to ship out!

 

Our vans never smell bad. It's not like we store stinky gym socks in there or something. The only air freshener we have is the natural perfumes of the flowers.

 

One of the most impressive things about your work, IMO, is that you take something others would toss away as unusable and buy a new thing (board in this case)... and make it look - at least in the majority of the area - better than it ever did.

 

Thanks. Part of the reason I end up reusing, refurbishing or fixing existing items is because I do not have any kind of maintenance budget to draw from. Well, that's not entirely true, if something is beyond my capabilities or doesn't pay to fix I'll petition the bossman for a new one (or if it's small, I'll find one lightly used off eBay for cheap). Most often it would just take too much time to get something new rather than fix what you already have. And with COVID, I'd much rather stay at work than going shopping.

 

Well I promised you guys I'd show you how I make smaller boxes from larger ones so there's no time like the present. In the past, flowers came in big coffin-style cardboard boxes with approximate dimensions 48x20x12 inches or 122x51x30 cm (which I assume is optimized for shipping on wood pallets). Sometimes you do not need the enormous quantities a box this big holds so smaller boxes are used (but based off the big one). There are half-boxes (half as high as a full size box) and quarter boxes (half as wide as a half box). A lot of our flowers these days are shipped in what I call eighth boxes (half as high as a quarter box) with approximate dimensions of 48x10x3 inches or 122x25x8 cm. Our suppliers do not take back this size box because they are just too small to reuse. We used to recycle them but I noticed that they are just a little different from normal beer flats which we use a ton of. Beer flat:

 

 

Getting empty beer flats isn't hard or expensive, most liquor stores or convenience stores will probably save them for you to pick up. But it boils down to time. It takes a long time to sort the boxes out by type and stack them up (all are slightly different). If I make them up myself, everything is uniform. Heck, you can even purchase unfolded beer flats yourself from Uline supply. Anyhow, here's a pic of an eighth box with carnations:

 

 

There is a plastic strap which holds the carnations from moving around. All of the boxes from this company have 3 holes for strapping even though not all flowers require a strap. These holes are spaced out evenly in the center of the long side of the box so it makes it dirt easy to figure out the center. These boxes are way too long for us to use as-is, but if they are half as long they are almost perfect. So step 1 is to cut the sides down in the center:

 

 

I just use a Victorinox paring knife for this part as I can cut through both layers at once. After that, step 2 is to cut the base:

 

 

I use a utility knife for this step and all other cutting steps. Now the box is in half. But we only have 3 sides. Time to construct the final side ourselves. It's a little difficult to explain, but you need to cut the two edges the same length as the box is high. After that you need to score the base so it folds up nicely (can't cut completely through)! This is step 3:

 

 

The next step is optional, but I like to fold the bottom up first, then fold the side flaps over that so the sides are properly creased (alternatively you could score the cardboard like you did for the bottom, but this takes more time). This is step 4:

 

 

You could stop right here and staple the box together and it would be fine. I like to staple the box together with the flaps on the inside of the box so it doesn't "catch" on things (plus it looks nicer). I've been using two regular ACE clipper staples for each flap as I ran out of heavy duty ACE clipper staples (my suppliers can't get them even though they are listed on the ACE clipper website and ACE will not sell to a non-wholesaler like myself). Anyway step 5:

 

 

And that's all there is to it. After I staple some together I stack them up so they are easier to store inside our old-time styrofoam full size flower boxes (you can refer back to a pic in this post if you want). Granted, I have it easy because these boxes have a center already marked. It's possible to make up a smaller box like this without the handy holes but you either have to guess at the center, or mark it, or make some marks on a table to use as a template. In any case it's a handy skill to have for a Zombie Apocalypse or just to show off.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Well, thanks for that; it's all now properly stored away in my mind, Zombie.

 

Your explanation on how to cut to the extent a resulting fourth side would become of the same desired height as the other sides is quite understandable, particularly because the purpose is evident and well captured in your pictures.

 

What I'd say is especially fortunate for you is that the end size of the box - post fourth side "fabrication" - meets your intended storage requirements, seeing as the original boxes have a center marked but they are then "shortened" as a result of your process, so making the completed boxes of less than half of the length of the source box.

 

If I'm making sense to you...

[Space Voyager]

He he he, at the second photo, I just had to think about

Flowers

By

Irene

 

But yes, pretty neat way to transform a box of less useful dimensions (with that length probably prone to folding whenever you put anything but flowers in it) into two much sturdier items. Tnx.

[Zombie]

Last week was bucket brigade cleanup again. We had a bunch of used buckets from Mother's Day which were sitting there idle so it was time to bleach them clean. Because it was warm outside I could use the hose to rinse off the buckets then haul them into the back garage and stack them up. I kinda lost track of how many buckets I did, bit it was North of 150, that's for sure.

 

 

I didn't have enough room to stack everything so the 5-gallon white pails had to wait, and there were at least 30 of those plus a good stack of 2 1/2 gallon pails. I figure those can be rinsed off along with our usual pail cleanup every week. So you can probably guess what I'll be up to on Friday.

 

On thing which was bothering me was the small planting area along the South side of the small garage. Recall I dug out all the dirt, replaced it with cow manure, and planted White Coneflowers, Canterbury Bells and Corkscrew Rush grass. The Canterbury Bells were nice for a couple years but they were only biennials (only come back once or two seasons of growing then die out). The Corkscrew rush was a good idea but just didn't survive the harsh conditions along the garage so only one of those survived. Anyhow, this is what it looked like (see, I remembered a before pic this time):

 

 

A weedy mess, plus there were some 4" wide x 10 foot lengths of green PVC pipe I was storing along the garage temporarily. Time to put those away, get rid of the weeds, and replant with something else. We didn't have much of a selection of perennials left over, but we did have some Pink nodding allium (in the onion family and supposedly a Wisconsin native plant so it should survive). Put in 9 of those and capped off the end with a Stella d'Oro daylily.

 

 

The new plants got a fresh "charge" of granular starter fertilizer at the bottom of each hole. Hopefully that'll give them a good footing. From start to end, this project took only one hour so I was pretty impressed how quickly I got it done. The alliums and lily are kinda scrawny right now so I doubt they will get much bigger this year yet. I'm hoping that next year the alliums will grow enough to set flowers in July, because I figure I can "harvest" some of them for cheap cut flowers.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Sounds like a real bucketload of work you've got done there already, Zombie.

 

As for the small planting area, that before picture reminds me of just how nature tends to go its own way regardless of how neatly things are set out - only to end up looking shaggy and unruly once again.

 

To wind back the clock and refresh our memory some more:

 

• August 4th 2019 - 3 white coneflowers (Echinacea), 6 Canterbury Bells (Campanula) and 8 Corkscrew Rush grass (Juncus) + black-eyed Susan

 

 

• June 25th 2020

 

 

So, here's to new beginnings and may we all prove as resilient as those plants, that we may see what you've now started flourish next July.

 

Thinking of seasons and enduring the weather, I do notice the weathering of those wooden door frames.

 

*David Attenborough voice* And thus the cycle of restoration seamlessly continues...

[Zombie]

Today I had a little bit of time at the end of the day so I started work on that bedroom in the lower flat which needs major help. Initially this was just a storage room for the shop, but the tenant subleased this out to a gal who was whacked out on who knows what. First step was to clear it out as there was some furniture in there, a seat for one of our delivery vans and a futon (ours). The only thing I couldn't move out of the room myself was the futon frame as it's really heavy and can't be easily disassembled. No problem, I'll work around it. Here are the four walls (clockwise from entering):

 

 

That first wall is a real mess as there are some pretty big gouges and nail/screw holes:

 

 

The other walls are not quite as bad but all have some issues. Two walls were half-assed painted in an accent color and one even had black painted flower stencils on the wall. The last wall (the one to the right of the door leading into the room) had a big crack so I ended up carefully scraping the area around it down to the plaster, then scratched out the crack to make it wider (seems counterintuitive to make a crack bigger in order to fix it, but you need to get something inside to bond the pieces back together). Here's the crack taped up with fiberglass mesh tape:

 

 

I put a coat of mud on that and filled in the rest of the divots and holes on that wall with caulk. I also started on the third wall (basically working counterclockwise) and yup, there was a bad crack on that one as well. I just mudded those cracks in and I'll come back after sanding to apply tape over that. I'll get pics of that tomorrow.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

That place has more than a fair share of pockmarks, Zombie.

 

The door seen to the left in the first picture has all sorts of surface "features", including even some grayish (mouldy?) spots that continue upwards to the very ceiling.

 

In a way, I'm kind of surprised to see there was at least some attempt (even if half-hearted), by either the tenant or subleaser, to repair some of the holes.

 

At the risk of getting a little philosophical, I'd say the state of the place is sort of reflective of the condition of the person that was inhabiting it.

 

By your hand, it is well known, things will now start to mend so better times are ahead.

[Zombie]

The door seen to the left in the first picture has all sorts of surface "features", including even some grayish (mouldy?) spots that continue upwards to the very ceiling.

 

I had a closer look at that last week and it isn't mold. The spots were visibly raised above the surface of the door so I lightly scraped at it with a putty knife. I still wasn't quite sure what it was so I continued at it until my putty knife had a bunch of the stuff on it. I mushed it between my fingers and it seemed waxy and oily at the same time. When I tried washing my hands, water beaded up on the fingers that touched the stuff so it's some type of oily compound. Maybe dried hand lotion? I honestly have no idea. Since I know it's oily, that means paint thinner can remove it - I'll have to wipe down the wall and door to see if that works.

 

So I worked on the room a little bit more last week and scraped out the wannabe patches on the next wall. Some were pretty deep... all the way down to the wood lathe behind the plaster. Before and after repatching.

 

 

Better. The wall with the window on it wasn't too bad, I only patched one small hole to the upper right of the window and also another hole near the right corner.

 

 

The last wall had some issues so I had to do some bigger patch jobs. One above the closet door and a couple spots to the left corner.

 

 

The next day some of the deeper spots still hadn't dried fully so I ended up digging a little bit of the patching out, taping over the low area and then mudding the area. This time I put a fan in the room on full blast so the next day I checked it was all dry. Then the unenviable task of sanding the spots commenced. My recommendation for cleanup is to sweep as much of the dust as you can first, then vacuum whatever is left so as not to clog up the filter on the vacuum. Anyhow, the last thing I did that day was to remove the plastic switch plate and the two outlet plates and soak them in ammonia (78%?... as strong as you can get it) with soap overnight. The next day lightly brush the plates to remove any stains and lightly scrape any old paint off - I guarantee they will look brand new... no need to replace them.

 

With everything sanded I considered it time to put some texture over the spots in order to conceal my handiwork. You can do this manually with a trowel and a large taping knife, but I don't have the tools or experience to do this decently so I opted for a spray on texture using this product (Homax knockdown texture):

 

 

It looks so easy, but don't be fooled, it's not. There are no instructions on the can on how to get the thing to spray, it literally took me 20 minutes to figure it out. The dial on the top for the blob size never really worked properly. Open it a little bit and the stuff would tend to collect around the nozzle and start to ooze down the can dripping it all over you or the floor. Open it too much and the nozzle would fall off causing a huge mess. Many a profanity was uttered through my mouth to put it mildly. I only got the can to spray semi-decently on one setting (right in the middle) which was too heavy for my liking but it'll have to do

 

 

If I paint now it would probably be passable from a distance, but not up close. I might try to lightly sand the texture down to a better height to match, dunno yet. That would probably help though.

 

Yesterday I caulked the crack between the quarter round molding and the baseboard and also selectively caulked any cracks between the baseboard and the wall. Today I taped up the floor around the perimeter of the room and painted the baseboard and quarter round molding. I also painted the frame around the closet door. Looks a lot better now (sorry no pics of this). Up next is to wipe the wall and door with paint thinner to remove that residue, then paint the door frame and window frame. Possibly after that I'll prime the textured spots and put a light coat of paint on it because the only other step is to roll on a coat of paint and call it good enough. I like the sound of that.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Nice and steady Zombie will get your flat ready.

 

Patching things up is getting to be a quite literal job description but progress is remarkable already - no more cratering!

 

I see you've had a bad case of "spray and pray" there with that Homax delivery system. The described operation does seem to justify some of the adjust nozzle, and expletives to match, action.

 

Looking at the results you've achieved though, it turned out serviceable alright.

 

I do agree that some sanding would still be adviseable for the texture not to stand out as much and, of course, reach that lofty advertised goal of an "invisible repair".

[Space Voyager]

Many a profanity was uttered through my mouth to put it mildly.

 

HE HE HE, I can so imagine that. Also, I didn't even know you can get spray-on wall textures... Not that I'm a fan, any non-verticality turns into a dust shelf sooner or later.

[Zombie]

Sorry, I've been a little lax in updates it seems. It happens sometimes, I finish for the day and just want to go home and not mess around taking pics. Anyhow, the baseboards of the room are all painted and I sanded and primed the new textured areas. I still have some "explosive" primer so I used that. Here's the wall with the most damage:

 

 

I'll see about getting some close up pics of the repaired areas, that slipped my mind. It looks a lot better though, at least the texture isn't so high now. The wall with the closet is also sanded and primed, plus the baseboards and frame around the closet have one coat of paint on it.

 

 

The door to the room is not painted in this picture, but I slapped a coat on the visible side last week so it looks a lot better too. The closet door needs a coat yet as does the frame around the window. I should be able to knock those out rather quick. You can probably see I have some plastic taped to the wall next to the window... I forgot to texture a patch there so I quickly sprayed some on. I'm really surprised how close the color of the trim paint is to the current wall color - when I painted in the apartment last time I just randomly dumped gallons of paint into a pail and stirred the concoction together and ended up with something close. Funny how that happens (though, I did add some white into the mix as it was a little too dark for me).

 

If you look on the futon frame, there's a black vent cover on it. There's also a bigger vent cover for that room which isn't shown. Both were dirty and had white paint on it from the previous inhabitant. The other day I took those back to the store and cleaned them off and sprayed two coats of gloss black paint on them. Those will be the last things to go on in the room other than the switch plates and outlet plates.

 

Here's a closer pic of the wall the door is on, mostly of the baseboard and to the left of that is where the bigger vent cover resides:

 

 

You can see I carefully taped up the floor to prevent paint from getting on it, even though there are some paint spots (wanna-be painters always cut corners). I might be able to carefully scrape the spots off. Oh, and the bottom outlet is broken so I'll need to replace it.

 

I was running a little low on paint for the walls and didn't want to use everything up in case I need to touch up some other spots in the apartment so I did a little digging in my stockpile of old latex paint yesterday. I found a 5-gallon pail with about 2 gallons of paint in it from one of my colleagues at work. After stirring it up the color was like a cappuccino which was a little too dark. After some more digging I ran across a full can of a cream color paint from Jan-9-2003 (from the bosses house, so it's just over 18 years old). Dumped that in the pail and mixed up the contents. Better. I also had a second can of the same cream color that was only 1/3 full. When I opened that up, the edges were pretty rubbery but the center was soft (but really pasty like glue). I scooped that out and stirred it into the pail. Yeah, there were some skins in it, but the thick texture made the paint heavier which is helpful. I'm gonna say, just by a glance, that this color is going to be really close to the wall paint too. The only difference is that I now have nearly a full 5-gallon pail of the stuff to use, so I'm not going to be running short anytime soon.

 

If I get the opportunity tomorrow I hope to get some pics of the vent covers, closeup of the wall texture and possibly the color of the "new" old paint. The tenant might be around in the morning so I probably can't do any painting but maybe I can sneak in to do the window frame, closet door and the back of the main door (I scrubbed on it with some paint thinner and that seemed to take off that oily goop).

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

No red tape with Zombie shall you face, he uses the blue and of errors no trace.

 

I have to admire your continued deftness at on-the-spot paint mixing with repeatedly proven results. I probably wouldn't have dared to throw in that cream coloured paint that was exhibiting some pastiness.

 

I mean, potentially risking "tainting" such a large combined amount of paint in one go might be worthy of some pause.

 

Fortunately you've got that magic painterly touch, as will shortly become apparent again.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

Do you have a particular brand you'd suggest? Also, is there a company like Lowes or Home Depot, etc that has a better understanding of specific color variations? The reason I ask is because I have a third kid coming soon. I want to paint his room sky blue, but then there's Baby and Powder blue. Thanks

 

-n0x

[Space Voyager]

Do you have a particular brand you'd suggest? Also, is there a company like Lowes or Home Depot, etc that has a better understanding of specific color variations? The reason I ask is because I have a third kid coming soon. I want to paint his room sky blue, but then there's Baby and Powder blue. Thanks

 

-n0x

 

OT; As a father of three myself, I support anyone who is willing to put that boulder upon his shoulders. A LOT of work, always worth it, naturally.

[Zombie]

I have to admire your continued deftness at on-the-spot paint mixing with repeatedly proven results. I probably wouldn't have dared to throw in that cream coloured paint that was exhibiting some pastiness. I mean, potentially risking "tainting" such a large combined amount of paint in one go might be worthy of some pause.

 

There's very little risk involved. If the paint is too far gone it will not stir in and will remain as blobs at the bottom of the pail. Maybe a slight element of risk here as you don't want blobs or skins in your nice paint job. Other than that, if the paint is somewhat viable it'll intermix just fine. It might be a little thicker, but still okay. In this case I did add a little bit of latex paint conditioner to replace whatever was lost, and I also added the water that I used to wash out the good can. So I think I added enough liquids back into the paint to get the consistency somewhat ideal.

 

Do you have a particular brand you'd suggest?

 

I'll preface my answer by saying I'm very biased when it comes to paint brand. I've used a lot of different brands over the years and the best one (for me) is Diamond Vogel. The paints are all nice and thick and cover great. If you have a DV store nearby, I'd probably go there first. DV employees are also very knowledgeable about their products so they can point you into the right direction. Short of that, Sherwin Williams is probably about the same... just a little more expensive and less personal service sometimes. PPG has great products as well. Even True Value has some good products but those can be hit or miss.

 

Also, is there a company like Lowes or Home Depot, etc that has a better understanding of specific color variations?

 

Yes, there are and they are called dedicated paint stores like Diamond Vogel, Sherwin Williams, PPG, Kelly-Moore etc. They have personnel who know their products inside and out and can provide you with service and knowledge to get the job done right. If you aren't lucky enough to have a dedicated paint store nearby and only have Lowe's, Home Depot, Menards etc, well, go to them. I'd say Home Depot is probably the better out of the three, but it really depends on who is staffing the paint department when you visit.

 

The reason I ask is because I have a third kid coming soon. I want to paint his room sky blue, but then there's Baby and Powder blue.

 

Congrats in advance. Paint each wall a different blue and when the little guy is old enough, let him pick the one he likes best, then repaint? I kid. (It's just too easy)!

 

Seriously, grab some color chips, bring them home and hold them up to the wall and pick the ones you like the best. If there are a bunch, try to narrow it down to 2-3 top contenders. Then get some paint samples for each color and apply it to a wall to see how it looks in the room. You should be able to pick the best one from that. If still no, just pick any of them and go with that. I mean, blue is blue to a kid. He isn't going to care what shade of blue are on his walls. (Your wife might though). My recommendation is to go a lighter blue first as it's easier to cover over white. So maybe powder blue?

 

--------------------

 

So I applied a couple more coats of paint to the vent covers and remembered to take a pic of them this time.

 

 

The big one I consider done. The little one needs to be sanded and another coat applied. Maybe. Depends if I have time.

 

I went over to the lower flat to take some pics of the texture. but it seems the tenant has two guests sleeping in that room right now. So yeah, I gotta wait to do anything until I hear from the boss on what is going on over there. It's fine with me though as it's way too hot over here to paint comfortably in an un-airconditioned apartment.

 

- Zombie

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

Thanks Zombie for the advice, my wife and I went to Home Depot and Sherwin Williams. We (she) decided on Smoky blue, which I had no idea was an actual color. Then again she's task master of our household so who am I to complain?

 

-n0x

 

https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW7604-smoky-blue

[Space Voyager]

NoX, just a thought on two or even more colours in a room... I did that in both rooms the children occupy and vowed to never do it again. If you're only redecorating that one room, it is doable, but painting a room or several in more than one colour is a pain when this is just a part of a bigger project. I spent hours just cleaning the gear (rollers etc) when changing the colour.

 

It does look somewhat nicer, more lively, but nowhere near the level of work input. Go white and declare all walls a surface for painting. This way you won't care for all the drawings that will end up on the walls anyway. Not that you wouldn't know, already having two.

[Zombie]

Yesterday I snuck into the apartment to take a couple pics of the texture job I did. To the top of the pictures are the areas with the old texture and as you go further down the texture changes to the new type. I had to over spray a little bit to hopefully make the transition less apparent. It's not perfect obviously, but it's better than no texture at all.

 

 

Today I got the green light to continue painting, so I huffed it over there when I got the chance. Recall that I had already painted the baseboards and the frames around the main door and closet door. Typically I would never paint the baseboards and frames first, but I figured I'd be using the same color so it wouldn't matter. Well, the new color I mixed up is darker than the old color and I'm also running out of the old color so I'd never be able to paint all four walls and have any leftover for touchup. That's kinda an issue, so now it turned into a two-color paint job. Not a huge issue, I just have to be a little careful. To see how much darker the new paint color is I started cutting in along the baseboard, ceiling and frames.

 

 

The color is darker than the baseboards and frames, that's for sure, however, it's not too far off in terms of color scheme which just means that if it was a couple shades lighter it would be very similar. If I had some spare white paint to dump in there I could probably get it pretty close, but I don't and I'm not buying a gallon for a budget paint job. This new color does have a tiny bit of a greenish hue to it (at least, that's what it looks like to me in the low light conditions of the room) - I could probably mess around with colorants, but here again, this is a thrifty job.

 

Because I do not have enough of the old color left, I'm going to paint the two door sides that face the room with the darker color. As an added benefit, the darker color on the doors will not make scuffs and wear be so apparent. The semi-gloss nature will also make it easier to clean in the future (well, technically this is more of an eggshell or satin finish rather than a pure semi-gloss due to my mix job). The closet door is in really tough shape, I'll have to take a before pic of that as the change will be dramatic.And for some reason, the door knob is missing. I have no idea where that went. Worst case scenario I'll go to the resale store to pick up a period similar used door knob. Is it absolutely necessary though? No.

 

The bad news: the two walls with the dark contrasting color will absolutely need two coats to cover properly, that's almost a given at this point. I'll dig around in my paint collection to see if I have a lighter color I could use as a base coat. That would be the easiest option. The good news is that the other two walls will cover in one coat assuming I apply it thick enough. Gotta take the good with the bad sometimes.

 

I only managed to cut in along two walls as I was running out of time (we closed up early today). I was able to paint the frame around the window and the window itself with the old color so at least that part is done. Hopefully I can cut in along the other two walls and perhaps apply a base coat to the two darker walls tomorrow. We shall see how much time I'll have.

 

 

NoX, just a thought on two or even more colours in a room... I did that in both rooms the children occupy and vowed to never do it again. If you're only redecorating that one room, it is doable, but painting a room or several in more than one colour is a pain when this is just a part of a bigger project. I spent hours just cleaning the gear (rollers etc) when changing the colour.

 

It's not terribly bad with a two color paint job for a single room assuming you do what I did with the frames one color and the walls a different. But yeah, doing multiple rooms all with different color schemes is borderline a nightmare scenario. I suggest only doing one room a day because as you say, cleanup can take a while. if you have colors that are similar between the rooms, you could always paint the lighter color first, partially clean the roller and continue on with the darker shade. Just make sure to thoroughly work the next paint color into the roller and also get the ends of the roller as clean as you can get them otherwise there will be streaks. Two is bad, but just imagine a three color job... I helped on a few of those and that can be really problematic as you need multiple paintbrushes wet at the same time for all the colors.

 

It does look somewhat nicer, more lively, but nowhere near the level of work input. Go white and declare all walls a surface for painting. This way you won't care for all the drawings that will end up on the walls anyway. Not that you wouldn't know, already having two.

 

I should also mention to use a paint that can stand up to scrubbing with soap water to remove scuffs or stains as then you will not have to repaint. And also a semi-gloss finish for a kids room is almost mandatory in my book as it'll keep many stains (like crayons and ink) from soaking in. A good primer as a base coat too.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

When going for the right texture - with Zombie you actually feel the difference!

 

From your snaps I suppose there's no denying the new spray makes things a bit more "lumpy", as there are more substantial rises but who are we kidding - to the naked, roving eye that's not going to be noticeable.

 

What is, and bears retroactive mentioning, is how sexy that big vent cover became with your deft coating. Awesome sauce! The little one is another matter, as it does seem it would be a candidate for some sanding, but, as you say, may not merit extra attention given you're working on the cheap.

 

As for the wall paint issues (darker paint / lighter) some initial reservations may apply but actually looking at the outline trim you've painted already and mentally projecting full coverage I think it might turn out alright after all, as the contrast might ultimately work favourably.

 

Besides, it will have to do, won't it?

[Zombie]

I took your advice and sanded down the smaller vent cover today. Then "washed" with paint thinner (was worried there was some of that waxy stuff on it) and finally lacquer thinner to soften up the paint and allow another coat to stick. Here's what it looked like after 2 coats:

 

 

It's just okay. Not a perfect job, but maybe if I sand again and apply another coat it'll improve.

 

After that fiasco I decided I better rummage through my stock of old paint to see if there was anything I could use as a base coat for the two darker walls. I found a gallon which was about 1/4 full of a satin paint with the color name of "Vannilin". It looked lighter and maybe a bit more yellow but that should work. I had no idea if it was still good anymore as the date on the can was from June 2002! Opened it up and I'll be damned, it was perfect. It obviously settled out so all the latex base was floating on the top, but once I mixed it all back in it looked fine. A quarter of a gallon isn't a lot to work with when you need to paint two walls though. But I don't need it to cover perfectly, all I want is to cover over the dark color and fill in the pores.

 

I could have probably thinned the paint out with water to make a kind of "white wash" but that seemed a little extreme. In the end I decided on brushing it on with a 4" wide brush (got the big guns out for this project) using a "dry brush" technique. When I say dry brush I mean a brush with very little paint on it, then vigorously brushing that around till an area is covered. You aren't aiming for 100% hiding power, maybe 60-75% but still filling in the pores. The one wall I did looked like this after:

 

 

It's still a bit hazy in spots where the paint didn't cover completely so there are areas where the dark is peeking through. But that will not show through with the top coat. I'm hoping for a 1 top coat job here. I only did one wall as a test to see how much paint I would use. I was left with approximately half of what I started with so it's certainly possible I can extend it a little with a splash of water and latex paint conditioner. Dry time will be affected but maybe I can help it along with the fans.

 

You may be wondering what happened with the edge between the wall and the ceiling and why there is suddenly white paint over the area I cut in. Well, there was some dark paint from the walls on the ceiling and I needed to cover over them. I don't want to do the whole ceiling so I'm hoping this color is good enough and will blend in. Fingers crossed there.

 

Tomorrow... hmmm. I guess paint the other wall, take a picture of the beat up closet door and maybe paint both doors too. I'm aiming to be finished in that room next week sometime. I need another day to touch up the floor in the kitchen. Possibly paint the front entrance "room" with the same color scheme. I also need to address the front door as the glass is a little bit loose - I'm probably going to use caulk instead of glazing. After that, who knows.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Small vent cover restoration stage 2 approved, Zombie!

 

And if you don't mind my saying, you're a veritable paint hoarder, with stashes of a wide assortment of types from diverse years summoned seemingly just when you most need them. Squirrels would blush at your resourcefulness and ability to recall where your stored reserves are.

 

Then there's the matter of technique and making the most of what you have, as you've just exemplified.

 

On a parting note though - yeah, you may want to finesse that ceiling to wall divide covering a little more before it draws anyone's undue attention. Sometimes appearances really are everything.

[Zombie]

And if you don't mind my saying, you're a veritable paint hoarder, with stashes of a wide assortment of types from diverse years summoned seemingly just when you most need them. Squirrels would blush at your resourcefulness and ability to recall where your stored reserves are.

 

I guess I am a hoarder of paint... as long as it's still usable though. Keeping old/bad paint just takes up space. BTW: all the paint I have is sorted into stacks of three cans so it's pretty easy to find something. Sure, the sorting isn't perfect, but at least I only have to look through 3 pails at a time.

 

Okay, so yet another day of painting. The first project was mixing some latex paint conditioner into the rest of that old can to extend the amount. I started to apply that and could see it still wouldn't be enough. I really didn't want to add water to thin it out even more so I looked through my stacks. Found a plastic gallon pail without a label and an old lid. No idea what was in there, but I could see from the dried paint on the can that I had primer in there at one time so I assume I put some excess paint in there a couple years ago when I was getting the place ready to be occupied. Popped the lid and it was some more wall color. Great! Added some latex paint conditioner to thin it out as it was really thick and applied that to the final wall.

 

 

It's hazy and you can still see some areas where the darker color is peeking through but it's good enough for a first coat. I also touched up the dark paint splotches on the ceiling (which the picture didn't catch). Technically, the room is ready to be painted with the final color. But I still wanted to do the doors yet. Here's what the closet door looked like... pretty tough shape! Before:

 

 

Here's the money shot! After:

 

 

Spectacular! I did the back of the door going into the room too but unfortunately forgot to take a pic of that. When I was cleaning out my brush in the kitchen sink I happened to glance at the room and noticed that the darker color for the trim looked suspiciously close to the paint I just put on the doors in the bedroom. Dabbed a little paint on a cabinet door and its exactly the same color. What are the odds I recreate a color exactly with different paints two years later? I thought that was kinda funny. Not only that, but the kitchen has light colored walls and a darker trim color, whereas the bedroom will have the opposite: dark colored walls and lighter trim. I'm interested to see which one looks better.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Once neglected and abused, waiting for better days. It sure wasn't used to the way Zombie plays!

 

That closet door is nothing short of reborn. It's almost unbelievable.

 

As for that time travel paint matching effect it's just another sign of your consistence in delivery.

 

Just goes to show you can't get "tone deaf" even when you try!

[Zombie]

I didn't have any time for painting today, but I did take a pic of the back of the door into the room.

 

 

The paint looks a little gray and washed out in the pic but I think that was because the flash didn't go off. Nevertheless, you get the idea. Just with the two doors done and the walls all a similar color, it really makes the room seem "cleaner".

 

- Zombie