No Pain(t), No Gain

THE RAVENNA HOUSE

Well this week marks a fresh new look for the Ravenna House. Cracking, sooty, dingy walls no more. That's right. She's been painted!

I went for classic Benjamin Moore colors: Simply White for the ceiling and trim and the lovely Revere Pewter for the walls in full and 50% tint (more on that later).

All in all, we went through 9 gallons of primer and 7 gallons of paint. For 830sf of house (we only did the upstairs since the basement isn't even drywalled yet). Yeah. I know. That's a lot of paint! And in case you're wondering, yes, it took us forever. About two weeks of nights and weekends in all. But it's amazing how transformed the space feels.

The future backsplash only got a coat of primer since it will get covered by tiles and the plastic has to stay up until then - I'm not tolerating any grout on my new marble countertops - but you get a feel for how the kitchen is shaping up.

Is that a refrigerator in the living room? Why yes it is.

Remember this pink window?

Well it's pink no more...

Sure there's still some touch up to do and the hardwoods need refinishing. But don't those Revere Pewter walls look great? I've heard it called the best paint color ever. Who am I to argue? And while we're playing favorites, mine are the living room's fireplace wall and the kitchen ceiling. They look ah-mazing (well if you disregard the plastic, blue tape, and those dirty, dirty floors)!

The house is really coming along, don't you think? It's really amazing what paint can do!

So let's talk about it. The paint. I used Sherwin Williams paints because there's a shop just down the street and they were happy to match Benjamin Moore's colors. Plus they are always offering coupons. Seriously, always.

Trim/Doors/Cabinets: Sherwin Williams ProClassic Alkyd Interior Enamel, Semi-Gloss, matched to BM's Simply White
Wall: Sherwin Williams Harmony, Eggshell, matched to BM's Revere Pewter (both full color and 50%)
Ceiling: Sherwin Williams basic ceiling paint, Flat, matched to BM's Simply White

Luckily we had a 25% off coupon (see what I mean) because that trim paint was expensive! $79 a gallon. But it was 100% worth it, because that trim has an enamel-like finish. It's that good. Of course using a paint sprayer helped out a lot but I'll save that story for another day.

As I mentioned earlier, I ordered both full strength and 50% tint Revere Pewter for a little variety. We painted the bathroom and nursery in full strength and the living room, hallway, and master bedroom in the 50% tint. It turns out there's not a huge difference between the two. The full strength is a little bit darker but it's barely noticeable. Can you even tell in the photos? The 50% is a beautiful color but it's just a tad darker then I was hoping for. Not dark enough for me to even think about redoing the walls, but next time I might opt for a 25% tint.

So that's it. The whole paint story. In the end, it was a long project. And a ton of work. But what they say is true. No paint no gain!

xoxo

p.s. Revere Pewter was my second pick for wall paint. I found it during a midnight raid on Pinterest. Before that, I bought 4 gallons of something called "White Duck". Didn't like it. Now we have 4 unused paint cans sitting in our basement. Someday I will paint a test swatch before buying the paint!

p.p.s. Hey who's that? Oh yeah, it's me in a men's shirt ;)