Our pretty new patio doors

Well hello and happy Friday! 

I'm back with an "after" of the project I mentioned earlier this week. If you missed that post you can see my tips on picking out the perfect paint color and how I worked with Sherwin-Williams to find a fun new color for our exterior doors: 

(The winner of the giveaway is announced at the end of this post!) That spot was looking a little sad, right? I'm so thrilled with it now! It's beautiful! 

I used a new paint for this project called SnapDry and it was AWESOME: 

This paint is perfect for painting doors because it dries SO fast. You don't have to worry about taking the doors off the hinges or keeping them propped open to dry. There are things to consider when painting with this paint though and I'll cover those in a second. 

Before you do paint any door you'll want to do two things -- first, make sure it's not painted in oil-based paint. I tell you how to determine that in this post -- it's a very simple check but important. You may have paint peeling off of your door if you don't check that first! 

I knew these were painted in latex so I was good to go. Before painting you'll want to either do a light sanding or at least clean the surface well: 

This is especially important outside where things get dirty easier. Let it dry and then start taping off anything you want to avoid painting. I am pretty good at cutting in nowadays but I did tape off some of these doors.

I was a little giddy when I opened the can -- this color (called Refuge) is so pretty!: 

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I picked this color to work with our outdoor rug and accent colors on the deck and patio:

It also works beautifully with the wood stain on the deck and the dark brown trim color. But more than anything I wanted to break up the expanse of beige siding on the back of our house and I'm so glad I did! 

I did NOT paint the plastic mullions on the doors. I've given that up because of the disastrous first time I tried to paint them on a door and then when I painted them on the interior of the doors it was a total pain in the butt. Never again will I attempt that -- they look fine as they are. ;) I am good at cutting in but I did tape these areas off:

Even if you are good at cutting in I recommend taping this off -- you'll need to be able to work somewhat quickly and having the tape there makes that possible. 

Here's a few tips and things I noticed as I used this SnapDry paint: 

• The staff at the Sherwin-Williams store were super helpful and recommended that I brush and then roll right over immediately to avoid brush marks. This helped a ton -- I would brush the areas next to tape or along the sides and then immediately used a sponge roller right after to smooth it all out. 
• You do need to work fairly fast with this paint but not so quick that you can't adequately do the job. I focused on one part at a time and moved on -- no going back over something a few minutes later. 
• It was a SUPER hot and humid day when I painted (and in full sun) and it didn't dry too fast. If it was hot and dry and sunny you may have to work a little bit faster. 
• I did one section at at time -- side, top, side, bottom. Here's a graphic that shows you how I do paneled door: 

What I LOVED about this paint is that it was dry to the touch literally within minutes. I was able to get subsequent coats on much faster than usual because of that. 

When I stood back I was so happy with it, but the sore thumb of a light was looking awful. We went super cheap with the exterior lights when we moved our doors around a couple years ago and they had not held up well. I grabbed a new coach light for by the door: 

It's so much bigger and makes a statement unlike the other one. 

I filled the pots with new flowers and now this spot has been transformed!:

The color on the doors is such a good match to the outdoor rug nearby! 

A few of you asked about brush strokes with this fast dry paint, and as I said, if you brush and then roll you shouldn't have any problems: 

I ended up touching up a bit next to the plastic mullions and you can't see where I brushed there -- the paint still levels out nicely. 

I'm so happy I went with COLOR for these doors!:

I have big plans for the exterior here but it will wait till next year. They will look even better when I get that done! :) 

Here's the new light fixture up -- it's so much better than our little washed out lights: 

We have two more to replace on the bay window but that will have to wait till the budget allows: 

Moving our back door from the bay window to this spot is one of the best changes we've ever made in our house. The flow is SO much better and the amount of light they let in is awesome! 

Here's my favorite part -- where we look back at the before shot: 

And see the difference some color makes!: 

It was totally worth sweating buckets while I painted them! Another good reason to use SnapDry -- if you are painting outside you'll finish up much sooner! ;) 

The winner of the $200 Sherwin-Williams giveaway is Alyssa who will visit the #8147 location in Dublin, CA! Alyssa please email me by the end of the weekend (thriftydecorchick @ gmail dot com)  to receive your prize! :) 

Have a great weekend my friends! 

This post was sponsored by Sherwin-Williams but all experiences and thoughts are my own. I only work with products I use and trust. 

SaveSave

Finished shiplap walls and farmhouse door trim in the loft!

Oh MY. I've been nailing, filling, caulking and painting for what feels like weeks. It's only been three days but I am worn OUT. :) 

I've been focused on the "hallway" part of our loft for the past week or so. This is the open space at the top of the stairs and I want to make the most of it. Here's how it looked back in June before I started replacing the door trim: 

This space isn't big but took a lot of work! Gah. I'm SO HAPPY this part is done. 

Here is the pretty DIY farmhouse door trim installed (just not looking so pretty yet): 

I've added this trim to almost all of the doors in the house and it makes a BIG difference. They look so much more custom! 

I showed you how I add the look of shiplap for less on this wall: 

But I still had a lot to finish up. Most were smaller walls but it just takes a ton of time. As I've mentioned, this is not a hard project, it's just very time consuming. Painting three coats on everything takes eons, for real. 

I had to finish up the planked walls along the rest of the hall and then add trim and baseboards everywhere. I also finished up the baseboards around the stairs and over on the other side of the room (that I still haven't shown you because it's kind of boring right now). 

This is how the luan looks before painting: 

As you can see all of our security system stuff is on this wall. Not pretty but not much I can do about it. I do need to patch a small hole up there but that will have to wait. 

The first day I finished up the wood walls, the second day I filled and sanded all the holes, the third day I painted (forevvvvver) and caulked, and this morning I finished up with one more coat on everything and a little more caulk. 

Thankfully I'm THRILLED with it!: 

I can't even tell you how much it brightens up this space. I told you before that these white walls have me considering doing it everywhere but I'm not sure I could take that leap. I do love contrast -- though the dark floors against the white walls sure is yummy. 

By the way, speaking of white walls, those stairway walls will go light sometime next year. I have a big project in mind for the entire staircase but it will be some time before I start it. I think it will pull everything together beautifully. 

I am looking forward to adding art up here and can't wait to see how it will add some pops of color and fun to the space. I think the white walls will make the art stand out even more. And now I cannot WAIT to paint those doors black. I've done the rest of the house but still have the upstairs to do. They are going to look so amazing!: 

I'm not sure I'll get that part done for the reveal but I'm going to try! I still love it just as is so I'm not going to be in a huge rush. 

I took the trim down around the "hall" to the book nook -- this is the closest we come to a hallway in our open concept house: 

I think the new door trim and wall treatment make that little closet shine even more. :) 

I'm just so happy with how this has all come together -- these walls have completely transformed this room. All for just a couple hundred bucks and a lot of sweat equity. Now I am getting really excited to get the room done and start decorating: 

 

Today I'm finishing up the caulk and paint on the baseboards in the rest of the room -- this is the tedious stuff that is not much fun. Although sometimes if I have the time and a good show on TV it is kind of relaxing. 

I've made a deal with myself that I MUST finish up this small stuff before I can move on to the last few bigger projects in here. I'm so excited to start the one that will go above the cabinets: 

I also plan to at least prime those cabinets and doors this week. The final painting may need to hold off till the weekend. 

After the cabinets are done I can move on to the desk and one more small storage spot I'm incorporating into that. I had a goal to finish this before school started but that didn't happen. I do think I can get it all done by the end of the month though. Then I can focus on other smaller projects and FALL! Heart eyes. :) 

For now I keep standing back and enjoying the pretty white walls I've finished up. Here's a reminder of how this spot looked with just the new door trim: 

And here's how it looks today: 

Love it! Hopefully I'll have another loft update for you next week! 

I'm off to wrap my right arm with a heating pad and then get back at it. I think a massage may be needed as my reward. :)

SaveSave

Another door goes black! (And how to do it.)

Hey all! I'm back today with a quick post about a project that's not so quick. ;) As some of you know, I have painted most of the doors in our home in black. I haven't started upstairs yet (I know it's going to look so good!) and I thought I had finished them all on our main level and basement.

I keep forgetting about a couple -- one in our powder room and one in the basement laundry room. I'm determined to get those done before I move upstairs.

I'm going to try spraying them when the weather gets nicer, but of course this week we have temps in the 20's and snow when the past two months were 60's and 70's. 😡 So...I had to work on it inside.

I think this makes SUCH a big difference and it's not a hard project at all, but it does take some time. I've shared how to paint your doors (interior and exterior here) and you MUST find out if they are painted with oil or latex paint before you start. Most doors are painted with oil so if you paint without primer, it will come off later. Sometimes it will flake, sometimes it will peel. But it will come off and really annoy you. ;)

So I always prime our doors first:

The great thing is there is no need at all to sand -- just clean it well before starting. And I don't take mine down when painting by hand -- there's no need. (You'll need to tape around hinges if you will see that side of the door.)

I go into detailed instructions on how to paint a door in that link above, but this is the primer I use: 

Because I go dark I have this tinted to a gray. This primer is awesome and is my favorite -- it's super thin and easy to apply, but watch for drips. A small quart of this will last a very long time, you don't need much. It also dries incredibly quick so that speeds up this process a bit. 

Our doors are all painted in Graphite, it's a very dark gray instead of super black. I have it mixed in Sherwin Williams paint just because I love their stuff. This enamel paint is what I use for our doors: 

I use eggshell or satin but most prefer shiny doors, so the finish is your preference. 

One coat of primer, two coats of black and some touch ups and it was done: 

I am totally in love with the look of black interior doors. Every time I do this I fall in love with them all over again! LOVE!:

Here's more about the powder room makeover and how I planked these walls (that's what us old folks called it before "shiplap"). We went with hardwoods in here to work with the rest of the main level and I have loved them. 

I used a piece of art our son painted as the inspiration for the room -- the accent colors all come from that art: 

The white door looked absolutely fine, but after some time I knew I wanted it to match the rest of our interior doors. Black doors are a classic and will never go out of style: 

Have you painted your doors a color? I love any color on a door -- blue and gray are another favorite of mine. They add dimension and interest to your home for very little money! 

If you'd like to see what this contraption is behind that black door, you can see it here: 

Chalkboard wall and open shelving in the basement!

I finally got back into the DIY groove again and it feels great! I usually take a minute (or a month. Two.) and give myself a break over the holiday and new year. But when I'm ready to go back at it...I'm ready! 

I wanted to get this project done back before December, but you know how that goes. I was excited to tackle it and yet again was thrilled to work with Minwax on this because I love their products. LOVE! I'm soooo happy with how this came together. It's just like my vision looked in my head. 

We started with a blank wall where our boy's basketball hoop used to be: 

You can see that after years of it hanging there it started to dig into the drywall from numerous dunks.  😉 

I showed you how we reconfigured the kitchenette in our basement so this area that used to be open below now has cabinets and a wine fridge. 

My first step was to patch those holes. The smaller ones I fixed using this method. The bigger stuff I filled in with putty. Not gonna lie, the final result wasn't perfect because I knew it would be hard to see later anyway. And because I can be crazy impatient. 

But I got them filled and while I waited on the compound to dry, I started marking off where I wanted my lines on the wall: 

You can use a laser level for long straight lines, but for a smaller area I prefer a regular level. Just mark your lines with pencil and then you can tape off using that as a guide. 

Our walls are pretty flat so it's not too hard to get a straight line, but I always make sure to push the tape down as much as possible. A flat edge helps a ton:

I started my four coats of chalkboard paint and because I didn't want to run to the hardware store, I improvised with my paint tray: 

I do this quite often. :) I grabbed a box that was going to recycling, put a plastic grocery bag over it (make sure any print goes on the opposite side!) and poured my paint in. Works every time. 

After four coats I was able to peel the tape off -- my favorite part -- and look at those lines!:

Beautiful! ;) 

While the paint was drying in between coats I started on the wood shelving. The wood was the only thing I had to buy for this project because I had the rest of the materials. I love cheap projects! 

One thing that is helpful when you stain, that I don't think I've told you about, is to open up the wood by wiping it down with a wet rag: 

This is called "popping" the grain and it allows the stain to really get into the pores of the wood.

I talk a lot about the Minwax prestain conditioner and how important that is too -- I think it's similar to what water does, but the conditioner also helps to even out the wood before staining too:  

You can stain immediately after using the conditioner and it's really easy to apply, so it doesn't take more than a few minutes. 

I went with one of my favorite Minwax stains for this project, Provincial: 

And with Beauty and the Beast coming out soon, I immediately start singing Belle's song every time I see it. (Cannot wait to see that!) 

I usually use a foam brush for my conditioner, stain and poly application but we were out and again...I didn't want to go anywhere. I didn't want use a good paint brush so I went with a rag, which is always a good option as well:

If you use a rag I highly recommend wearing gloves! 

When the stain had dried (I did this project over a few days to allow dry time for the chalkboard paint and stain) I was able to put a coat of polyurethane on: 

I love the Minwax fast drying poly because it really does allow you to move on much faster. Again, I applied it with the rag:

I love poly because it really brings out the beauty of the stain. 

While that dried I seasoned the chalkboard -- I keep hearing you need to do this and I always have with my boards, but I don't really know if it's helpful or not: 

You just rub the chalk on there sideways and cover the board. It's supposed to make it easier to erase later but who knows. I do it because it just takes a few minutes and I like that it leaves a slightly cloudy, "used" look to the board. 

I hung my shelves with the IKEA Ekby Bjarnum brackets that I had from years ago:

If you use these brackets -- attach them to the ends of your wood first...then hang. Last time I hung one bracket and then put the wood inside and hung the other. WAY more work that way. This time I just put the shelf up against the wall, made sure it was level and then marked my holes for anchors. So much faster!!

I grabbed stuff that we've had in a tray on the counter and started styling. I only purchased the little wood box and a small cutting board -- the rest we had and that's always nice!:

We USE most everything on the shelves that that's a bonus too. ;) 

I LOVE how the shelves look against the dark wall!!: 

I told you here how I think every room needs some black in it and every time I use it I'm reminded of that. I just love the contrast. 

I never wanted to put upper cabinets on these walls because we just don't need that much storage down here. And in our basement with eight foot ceilings I wanted to keep everything as open as possible. It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to do with this wall because I didn't want to compete (or duplicate) the wood wall I did last year next to it: 

I shared this photo years ago from Magnolia Homes and it was my inspiration for this project: 

I haven't added anything on the chalkboard yet but we will. I think it will be a fun spot to play around with for parties and holidays. :) 

Next I need to trim out and paint the rest of the cabinets. It shouldn't be TOO bad -- there's really only a few small cabinet doors and then two sides. 

We have a toaster oven and microwave to put out here too, but I'm loving the counters so clean!:

Here's a better view of the whole thing as it is now. I want to start painting this week and get this whole thing wrapped up!: 

If you have any questions about anything I used, please let me know! This was a simple project that really didn't take long -- the dry time is what you have to wait on. :) 

Here are some more projects from this spot over the years if you'd like to check them out: 

Stenciling a wall 

Wood planked wall (for cheap!)

Adding to the kitchenette