Here's what we have to start with (excuse the mess, we're working on it!):
Not awful but not cute. And I want cute! The walls of the apartment were already painted white with an accent wall in a sort of dark beige (with a hint of peach) color. It was alright, but not my idea of a cute apartment. The little entertainment system was free (always great!). Our old professor moved to a different city and he didn't want all of his old furniture so, since we helped him moved, he let us take the things he didn't want. So free entertainment system it was! Our couches came in a great package deal from American Freight (along with our coffee table, two end tables, and two end lamps). Then we've got Magic's (our cat) stuff and a few decorations. Pretty bland and boring if you ask me. So time for a makeover!
Day One
A day for painting!
We cleared everything out of the way of the accent wall. The plan is to base it gray and then add a stenciled pattern in two shades of blue. So today we wanted to tackle the gray base.
First we removed all of the blinds from the doors to the patio and the window to get them out of our way.
Then we taped off the areas we didn't want to paint.
And then we got to work! Since we have awful natural light in our apartment (the only source for the living room is the patio doors and the one window) it was not photographing that wall very well. So unfortunately I did not take get a picture :/ But, take my word for it, it's already looking so much better!
The other project for today was to prepare the wooden entertainment system for it's makeover! Here it was in all it's wooden glory:
It's really a nice piece. The wood is pretty and it's in great condition. It just did not fit in our space. Our coffee and end tables are also wood but they are a very dark wood. So this piece just did not match. But it was free!! So we definitely wanted to keep it. It just needs a makeover to fit in our space :) And we decided that for us, that meant paint!
So step one was to coat the whole thing with primer. We went to Walmart and picked up some Zinner Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer. Our Walmart had limited selection of primer and this was the only one that specifically said it was good on glossy, finished surfaces. And we could use it without sanding :) Perfect! So one coat of primer later...
Goodbye wood! And that was it for day one :) We left everything to dry over night since it would be getting dark soon anyway.
Our accomplishments:
- Base painted the wall gray
- Primed the entertainment system
On to day two!
Day Two
More painting!
After looking at the wall in the morning it looked great! Only a few spots needed to be revisited with the paint brush. Again, no pictures :/ But this time because I forgot! You can see the walls in the background of the entertainment system pictures to get an idea of what it looks like. Then it was time to paint the entertainment system! Since we knew the wall would end up looking mostly blue once it was finished we decided to paint the entertainment gray. So one coat of the gray paint and it's already looking perfect for the space! But you can definitely see brush strokes and some of the primer sneaking in. So that will need another coat.
A few hours of waiting and hanging out with friends and we were back to work! A second coat of the gray paint and I'm in love with it!
SO much better than the wood! I know what you're thinking "But Corley! You forgot to paint huge sections! You can still see the primer! Are you blind?!" Nope :) I've got something planned for those areas. But that will be a job for a different day. Unfortunately I probably will not have time to get anything else done for the living room until Friday :/ Work does that to you. But this is what we've got for now!
Our accomplishments:
- Touched up the walls
- Painted two coats of gray on the entertainment system
What do you think so far?
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