My redecoration project started out simply enough. All I wanted to do was give myself an adult bedroom. I thought I deserved it. After all, I'd been living like a college student since the age of 18. So I wanted to paint my bedroom, get a new bed, and hang some art on the walls. While I was trying to accomplish those things, though, everything went wrong.
My parents were good enough to come down to North Carolina from their home in Michigan during a pretty hot part of the summer to help me (and by help me, I mean do everything, because I'm totally useless when it comes to redecorating, although it turns out that I'm pretty handy with an Allen wrench). They painted the walls of my bedroom, but the color was wrong, which wasn't anyone's fault, really--it was just about two shades lighter than I expected, and while I definitely don't HATE the color, it will still take me awhile to get used to it. We tried to put my bed together, but a piece was broken, so we had to make a four-hour (round-trip) journey to replace it after I had already made that same trek with my friend Melissa just days before. We got all the way back home to find out that I was missing an essential piece, and my dad almost got into a fight with customer service over it, but the good news is that the part is now on its way to me. My brand-new comforter turned out to be way too big for the bed, but I'm making it work, since I really do like it. My (three-room) apartment was a holy wreck right up until the night before Mom and Dad left. Everything was in the wrong place. My bedroom reeked of paint fumes. There was a spider living in my curtains. I couldn't open my closet door. My new throw blanket hasn't even been shipped yet. I'm still finding packing Styrofoam all over my living room.
But the upshot is that I have a much more mature bedroom now. Of course, there were some logistical problems. The building in which I live is constructed of concrete block and has drop ceilings with hideous tiles, like the kind you see in classrooms. There is a window air unit that makes furniture placement kind of a challenge at times. The floors are institutional tile over slab concrete. It's never going to be the prettiest place. But for right now, it's mine, and while I did have to ask permission from some higher authorities to paint the walls, that, at least, was a relatively painless process. And my room strikes me as more peaceful now that it's been updated.
So what I really want you to take away from my post is this: paint can do amazing things, even when it turns out that the shade isn't what you expected. We used Valspar paint, which was purchased at the local Lowe's. The color I chose is part of the Eddie Bauer Home collection; it's called Stonewashed, # EB42-3. It went onto the walls relatively well, considering the texture; I can only imagine that it would be stellar on drywall.
And if you absolutely need another point to this story, I would have to say that you shouldn't let the troublesome parts of your project get you down. The end result will (probably) be worth the effort.
Explore Valspar at Lowe's.
-Cate-
My parents were good enough to come down to North Carolina from their home in Michigan during a pretty hot part of the summer to help me (and by help me, I mean do everything, because I'm totally useless when it comes to redecorating, although it turns out that I'm pretty handy with an Allen wrench). They painted the walls of my bedroom, but the color was wrong, which wasn't anyone's fault, really--it was just about two shades lighter than I expected, and while I definitely don't HATE the color, it will still take me awhile to get used to it. We tried to put my bed together, but a piece was broken, so we had to make a four-hour (round-trip) journey to replace it after I had already made that same trek with my friend Melissa just days before. We got all the way back home to find out that I was missing an essential piece, and my dad almost got into a fight with customer service over it, but the good news is that the part is now on its way to me. My brand-new comforter turned out to be way too big for the bed, but I'm making it work, since I really do like it. My (three-room) apartment was a holy wreck right up until the night before Mom and Dad left. Everything was in the wrong place. My bedroom reeked of paint fumes. There was a spider living in my curtains. I couldn't open my closet door. My new throw blanket hasn't even been shipped yet. I'm still finding packing Styrofoam all over my living room.
But the upshot is that I have a much more mature bedroom now. Of course, there were some logistical problems. The building in which I live is constructed of concrete block and has drop ceilings with hideous tiles, like the kind you see in classrooms. There is a window air unit that makes furniture placement kind of a challenge at times. The floors are institutional tile over slab concrete. It's never going to be the prettiest place. But for right now, it's mine, and while I did have to ask permission from some higher authorities to paint the walls, that, at least, was a relatively painless process. And my room strikes me as more peaceful now that it's been updated.
So what I really want you to take away from my post is this: paint can do amazing things, even when it turns out that the shade isn't what you expected. We used Valspar paint, which was purchased at the local Lowe's. The color I chose is part of the Eddie Bauer Home collection; it's called Stonewashed, # EB42-3. It went onto the walls relatively well, considering the texture; I can only imagine that it would be stellar on drywall.
And if you absolutely need another point to this story, I would have to say that you shouldn't let the troublesome parts of your project get you down. The end result will (probably) be worth the effort.
Explore Valspar at Lowe's.
-Cate-
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