Know thyself. Know thyself. Know thySELF!

This is a humbling post, but also one that will tell of a lot of growth.  I posted earlier that I was working from a "mood board" for the first time, and it was like being a "real" blogger, etc.  making all my choices in advance and working through them like a plan.  Here's the problem: I don't work that way.  Every time I have tried, it goes badly, and then I forget that it doesn't work that way.

I get carried away with making new and exciting choices and being 'bold'... but it just means i make increasingly bad choices.  What works for me, is making one choice at a time... *maybe* preconsidering the next one, but that's as far in advance as I can go. I have to see how each choice works with the previous ones.  I hope, by writing that, I will remember that I can only do work as myself.  And it has all worked out (except for the choices I haven't made yet).

 

Here's what happened. I chose my trim paint colors based on the "inspiration" photo, and hunches, and I boldly steered into the new path.  I got the whole ceiling and 75% of the trim painted and realized, I didn't like it. Not even a little bit.  It seriously looked like a gothic teenager chose all the colors. It was dank. So, I took stock, I mulled.... and I dove headfirst into a 180 degree change of course.  

I had gloss white paint left over from the entry, that I used to repaint the ceiling and all the trim, except for the crown molding.... which did kind of work.  Then, only then, did I think about the doors. 1 entry door, and 2 closet doors.  What would I do with them?

For the entry door, I did what I call "faux-faux-bois"  Meaning, i used paint and gel stain to make a wood like effect, but not with the precision that actual faux-bois would need.  it works. It's "theatre cute".... which means, it looks good from a few feet away, and the close-up is kinda like a Monet. 

 

 

Process: Put down a solid 2 coats of paint in a brown that more or less matches the unstained wood species.  This will show through where the gel stain is thin, so you want it to be a good color. then use a chip brush to drag the gel stain over top. This door is a hollow core with a molded grain. In theory you can make the gel stain stick in the texture and highlight that molded grain... I have never been able to pull that off, so i just let the drag pattern create a decent illusion of grain. 

Hardware:  I hate painted hinges. These were some VERY painted hinges.  I could have stripped them, but under the paint was just boring grey basic hinges.  So I replaced them with brass. Antique brass on the entry door, to match the hall outside, and regular brass for the closet, to match the doorknobs (kinda).  I also replaced the cut blue glass doorknobs I installed 4 years ago with a nice antique brass knob in a retro shape (Kwikset Juno style).  The glass knobs are gorgeous, but never really worked because they are made for a thicker door. Even on the narrowest possible position, they wobbled badly. (these are interesting in that the shaft is not threaded, it has threaded holes for the set screw to go into, so you can only put it at designated widths.)  I will re-use them somewhere as robe hooks, I think. I haven't nailed that down yet. 

For the closet doors, the only original doors and hardware in the house, I didn't feel right faux-ing them.  These doors have always been painted. so paint was the right choice... but not white. I had some grey paint from the kitchen... which worked awesome.  

 

So here's a gratuitous naked hinge shot or two.  Nice.  

I, of course, had to move Eugene (what I call my supine asian man painting) to the bed wall. 

I moved the big dresser from the guest room in here (it doesn't make sense to have an empty storage piece for my infrequent guests and an over-flowing one in my room).  

The hard parts of the room are done, now i just have to do some more shopping. I want different night stands (these will go to the guest room), new lamps, new duvet cover... curtains... rug.  Then it will be done, ish. 

On to my next projects.