Painting progress

So it's been a week since my last post and guess what? We still haven't moved in!

As we are learning, painting is all about the prep work if you want to do a good job. We didn't just spend pretty much all the money we've ever had on a house to not at least try to do a decent attempt. 

So have we made any progress this week? I am absurdly pleased to announce that we have completely finished our first room!

That's right everyone, the kitchen is DONE. Wow Amber, you're thinking, it took you a whole week to slap some paint on the walls of one room.

But let me tell you, it's not as easy as it sounds. Especially when you have no clue what you are doing and learning from a mixture of google, YouTube and advice from friends and family. We both work full time and only have a couple of hours each evening and during the weekends to get things done.

The main issue we have discovered is as soon as you decide to make a start, you immediately begin to notice more and more areas that need attention. 

For instance, when we first bought the house, we were only planning to paint the spare room as it used to be the kids room and is currently several different colours. We decided we were fine with the rest of it, we were just relieved to finally have the keys. 

But then we decided to tackle the holes left in the wall. Once they had been filled in we decided to do the same with all of the (many) holes in every room in the house. But the walls then looked patchy. So then we thought, we'll just paint the walls. But that made us realise the ceilings would look a bit grim if everything else was freshly painted. And then we noticed the many scuff marks on the skirting boards so decided to tackle them too. But then we realised they were gloss, which means they all have to be sanded down. Then, once we actually started to paint we noticed that a lot of the sealant round some of the doors and windows has become cracked and messy with time so it needs pulling out and redoing... literally the list is endless!

So yes it is taking us longer than we thought because every time we start something we notice all the little things that make the overall job bigger than was first expected. As I've already mentioned, my parents have spent 15 years building their house from scratch, so none of this is a surprise to me but it is still pretty frustrating. You think you're finally on track to just get on with it and then you notice yet ANOTHER thing that you need to fix first. 

But still, those little things are what makes the overall finish high quality, and even though we are beginners we have no intention of doing a bodge job.

So anyway, back to the kitchen. In theory this should have been quick to do as most of the walls are covered by the kitchen cabinets but in actual fact it made it really tricky. All of the cupboards and counters had to be covered up, then all the walls, skirting boards and ceiling sanded and washed down. Because of the way the cupboards, windows and doors in this room fit together you can actually only roll a small section and the rest has had to be done by hand, which is time consuming and difficult.

The time it takes is pretty much entirely spent in doing all of the above. Once you have finally finished cutting all the walls in and its time to pick up the roller and actually paint most of the wall...well it's all done in a few minutes once you get the hang of it!

My dream kitchen is a contemporary farmhouse style, pale cabinets, wooden surface, flagstone floors, large welsh dresser, Belfast sink... everyone who knows me is probably thinking, wait Amber, this sounds JUST LIKE YOUR PARENTS KITCHEN. But as I've already said before while it was my Mum's dream kitchen and her vision, I had a lot of input into it. 

So it's no surprise that I've taken the aspects I like most and recreated them in my own kitchen. We can't afford to replace the units, the floor, or the work surface and the kitchen isn't big enough for a full size welsh dresser. But I have recreated the colour scheme with a soft, neutral undertoned cream (Dulux 'Fine Cream') on the biggest walls and then a soft greeny gray on the two smaller end walls (Farrow & Ball 'Mizzle'). 

This was for two reasons, one is that the kitchen is very long and thin and by painting the two end walls a darker colour it helped improve the proportions of the room. The other is that Farrow & Ball paint is eye wateringly expensive. The 5L can we bought was £43. And it was the only colour that there was no tester for, so it was going on the wall once I had opened it even if I hated it!

Luckily though I absolutely love it! It's exactly the colour I wanted (I spent forever deciding) and it has completely changed the whole feel of the room. Before it felt bland and empty and now it has it's own character. Although it was expensive the quality of the paint itself is fantastic and it is extremely matte. Not only does this make it easier to work with, but the end result is very striking. It was worth spending the money because it has made such an impact. 

We have also decided to do the skirting boards and door frame in satinwood rather than gloss and this has had a surprisingly big effect on the room. Personally I think gloss looks quite dated and the satinwood has definitely made the room seem fresher and more modern. Plus it ties in with the F&B paint as it is *so* matte that gloss skirting boards against it would look pretty odd. So the extra effort it took to sand them and repaint them was 100% worth it, even though the change is not that obvious.

Maybe one day we will be able to afford to replace the actual kitchen itself but for now I'm going to recreate my farm house look with the accessories, now that I've got the colour scheme I wanted. I'm also on the look out for a small dresser to upcycle as my next project once we've finished painting...

We've also completely sanded, washed and prepped the front room so we're ready to paint that today. As long as we stay disciplined and keep working on it every evening and during the weekends we will make steady progress. Once the front room is done we will be halfway there! Plus the two upstairs rooms will be easier as they are both just going to be one solid colour, which will reduce the amount of cutting in we need to do. Cutting in corners in the absolute worst!

Hopefully it'll be worth it in the end!