Color My World

Last Monday, the finish coat went on the sheetrock, and we are ready for primer and paint. The finish coat upstairs is a Venetian plaster finish, which is lighter and a little more complicated than a skip trowel finish. It should trap and reflect light, and at this point the plan is to put on a base color and then a glaze coat over that.

So down to the paint store I went. Used to be, you'd buy a quart of the color you thought you wanted, take it home, slap some on the wall and it would be too dark, or too light and you'd go buy something else. Now you can buy several little cans for about $3.00 each and go home and toss paint everywhere! To create a Venetian plaster look I will paint the walls a base color, then mix the contrast color 5 to 1 with glaze, to just barely tint the glaze, then sponge and wipe the glaze with dry rags.

The plan is to paint the living areas a tan/toast color and the bedroom a very soft yellow.I decided to try different color combinations of base coat and glaze before painting half a wall the wrong color, so I made a color board. I brought home 6 little cans and went to work. These are Valspar colors. The good news is..it showed me what I didn't want. The bad news is, I didn't hit on any combinations that just wowed me. The light yellow is a good base, as is the medium tan, but I'm not happy with the contrast. Surely it isn't my technique!

I'm still working on trying color combinations and reading about the application technique, so if anyone has any advise please leave a comment.

We began painting the downstairs garage Sunday. We got it all primed, then painted with Sherwin-Williams Summer White. Looks good!

See that stove? That is my pride and joy.. a Magic Chef 1000 circa 1920s , six burner, two ovens and it's going in the new house.