The Power of Three:

Three Girls, Three Rooms, Three Hundred Dollars.  
This is a story about the Power of Three.  
About new beginnings, friendship, and a short stretch of hard work.  
What it equals = change, some peace, and lots and lots of love.  
Jennifer and I have known each other since I dated her brother in college.  She was 11 years old at the time, and I was the object of her affection.  She is the youngest of his 3 siblings, and when he and I parted ways - she was determined to hold on - and I am so glad she did.    We are no longer friends - we are sisters.    
Jennifer has lived in her home for about ten years.  She had done a lot of work on the house already - but there were rooms that had yet to be done.  This is an adorable 1950's house.  The living room, dining room, and kitchen have been redone.  But the bathroom, den, and upstairs dormer-ed bedroom still needed attention.
She had spent the summer away - and when she returned - it was time...
Off to Sherwin Williams to find some paint colors - and a call to me that said "Too many color choices - I have them narrowed down but I'm not sure I can have the paint ready - because I'm not sure which colors to go with"!
DAY 1:
The chips were taped all over the den and bathroom walls when Ginna (my daughter) and I arrived, around 11 am on Wednesday morning.  Perfect!  We chose wall colors for each of the rooms, and a ceiling color for the den and bathroom.  After our color decisions were made - we went to Sherwin Williams to buy the paint and necessary supplies.  Then off to the grocery to buy lunch and breakfast food, back home again for lunch - and then to get started!!!   

   The bedroom was a dark cornmeal color - it was the deadest yellow I have ever seen in all of my designing days.  Who knows how long it had been on the walls.  It didn't reflect one ounce of light!  You can see it here on the right.  It didn't photograph quite true to color - but close...      

At opposite corners of the room, knotty pine closets had been built.  Very functional, but they stuck out like a sore thumb.  The top layer of flooring is a 9" x 9" tile - we believe there is heartwood pine underneath.  We'll deal with that another day.
We started with the walls.  Be forewarned - I am NOT a taper.  Don't even show me that blue stuff.  When I get ready to paint  - I want to paint!  We threw some drop cloths over the bed, the antique dresser was safe over in the other corner - it would be a while until we got over there.
The color we chose for this room - Watery SW6478 in a satin finish.  The white trim is the SW stock white in a semi gloss.  I am a die hard Duration fan for house, wall and trim paint.  It was the first of the paints on the market 8 or 9 years ago (they actually call it a 'coating') to have primer already in it.  It is marvelous.  

Yes - we painted wood - ack!!  Sorry for those of you who don't like painted wood - sometimes a girl's gotta do what girl's gotta do!  It took three coats of our trim color SW stock semi gloss white to cover the knotty pine.  This is coat number two.  I did the cutting in of the wall color, and painted the trim work.  Ginna and Jennifer were the super rollers for the day - 2 coats of paint turned those drab walls into fab walls.  
*** Just FYI - as much as you may be tempted - don't stop at one coat of paint for your walls.  No matter what color you are covering - the new color you chose, will have so much more depth and be so much richer, when you do coat number two.***  It also goes on faster than the first coat - no kidding!

Okay - isn't this just the prettiest thing??  Turn on the ocean sound from your white noise machine and you would think you were beach side!  I'll show more photos when we put the finishing touches on the room.  We finished this about 11:30 pm - not bad considering we didn't start until around 2 that afternoon!


DAY 2: 
We were on a mission this morning - we wanted to get at least one coat of paint on the ceiling in the den before our 9 am. 'appointment' to surprise my Mom at crafts.  Every Thursday from April through November, the 'craft' ladies meet at St. Mary's Church.  They will hold their Christmas Bazaar this November on Saturday the 12th from 8 to 5 and Sunday the 13th from 8 to 1.  It's the best!  We had to get moving - we were going to spend our next three hours being creative with the crafty stuff!

 The den was a painted a pale peach color.  It didn't have a lot of personality - and felt 'cold'.
Our colors du jour in the den are Recycled Glass  SW 7747 for the walls and Snowbound SW 7004 for the ceiling.  This is a great white - it is not too white - but it really isn't pink, gray or yellow.  The same trim white that we used upstairs was used in this room too.

While we were painting, Jennifer was clearing items out of the bathroom.  Ginna was a brave soldier and started to roll the ceiling - my job - start 'cutting in' again.  Then it was off to 'crafts'.  It was great fun surprising my Mom.  I helped her decorate a candelabra, and created a forest scene with some tiny deer and a tree.  Ginna made a gilded wreath and an arrangement.  Jennifer folded pages in a book and just soaked up some craftiness.

Jen doesn't know this - but we painted some some love on her wall...with a teddy bear  :)

 Here it is - we need some more furniture in here - but the color is lovely!

 These pictures were originally up in the bedroom - as was the black cupboard.  We were busy shifting furniture all over the house!  Nothing was safe.

The bathroom  is quintessential 50s.  The wall tile is a pink that has the slightest bit of peach tint.  Some of the tiles have a 'doily' or 'spirograph' pattern on them.  Adorable!  Jen's dream was to paint the walls a chocolate brown - I seconded the motion.

We took the shelves out of this shallow 'closet' to make it easier to paint.  Jen had taken the door off years ago - a great space saving idea for a small room!


Time to clean up and go out for a LATE dinner at The White Rose downtown.  We were going to meet my friend Kerri.  Our 'perk' for all of our hard work today.   Good food, good friends and laughter.  The perfect end to a day filled with accomplishments! 


DAY3:  
Up early - coffee and a quick bowl of cereal.  We did a second coat on all of the brown, finished trimming out the white, and painted the ceiling.

The color we used here is Cobble Brown SW 6082.  We tried for a pale pink for the ceiling - but it had too much blue in it.  So we went with the Snowbound in here too.  The trim is the semi gloss stock white that we used in the other two rooms.  

 We have plans for brown and pink towels.  As you can see in the shallow closet - we are working on a vintage pottery collection in pink and white to hold all those bathroom necessities!


We also rearranged the living room, shifted some furniture in the dining room, and reorganized Jen's candle collection - which was quite a task all in itself  ;)


We still have finishing touches to put here and there - but the bulk of the work is done.  It just goes to show what you can do with a little help from your friends!  Oops - sisters!  ;0