Success! and a few lessons learned...

For those of you who know me you may not know that I have never in my life painted a room. I know, how could someone whose parents built their own house not have managed to paint even one wall? Two words for you: teenage angst. And let me tell you, I am kicking myself right now! Who would have thought one day I'd like to know how to tile my own bathroom...

But, with the help of my wonderful friend Amy (who used one of her rare and precious days off to help) I now have officially popped my painting cherry.

What do you think?

BEFORE

AFTER

(the color was all wrong for this one but I didn't have time before CJ came to get one in better lighting)

There are still a few things I'd like to do to make the room feel more finished. It is definitely in need of art for the walls and some more pillows for the bed but otherwise I'm happy with how it turned out. The color especially is absolutely fabulous. (The walls are Behr's Smokey Blue and the trim Behr's Magnolia Blossom.) I might have even convinced my husband that color isn't so bad!

My favorite part of the room is the dresser-scape. The dresser and lamp both are recent thrift store finds. check out the detail on the lamp:

Isn't that great? $7.99 at Goodwill! I love that place! It needs a new shade but again no time. I was thinking something like this:

 (from Destination Lighting)

Everything else in the room we already had on hand so it was a pretty inexpensive re-do. It is still a work in progress as I said, but it was ready when CJ showed up Sunday morning which was all I really needed.

Just think, you too could stay in this fabulous room if you come and visit me...

But now for the tough stuff. Things I have learned:

1. Painting is easier with two people (not to mention much more fun!) My friend Amy must be crazy, but she graciously volunteered to help with my project. Thanks Amy!
2. It really is worth your time to tape off the trim and ceiling (at least until you've made it past beginners level). You may think you are steady enough to get right up to the edge but it is better to tape and be safe than have to go back and touch up. (The nice folks at Young House Love have a great tutorial on painting trim and cutting-in but I think I'll stick to taping for now)
3. It's ok if you make a mistake. Paint is meant to cover. I'd like to think I will get better at this but as it was I had to touch up between almost every coat. Annoying as it may be you would never know when it is all done.
4. Sand before you paint. Now this is optional if you have a nice smooth surface to begin with, but if the previous painters of your house were like mine it will look much better if you sand down those paint drips first. I'm going to go back and redo this when my house guest is gone but until then I know I will feel the need to point out that those paint drips were not mine.
5. If you are painting over a dark surface with a light color be prepared to do multiple coats. Painting that dark brown trim white took me three coats (I was sort of prepared for this so I did the first coat with leftover ceiling paint that was left here by the previous owners). When I go back to do the doors I am removing them and spray painting them with primer before I even bother to paint. 
6. Fill your holes! I didn't realize until I started painting the brown trim but apparently the previous occupant of that room had a dart board. The door and trim was covered in tiny little holes that when the trim was brown were unnoticeable, but when white were glaringly obvious. Another extra step I never imagined.

All said and done it took me about 8-10 hours over three days to paint this one room (and I had help for the first four at least). Not exactly an afternoon project but totally worth the effort.