Door painting

Finally! I can share one of the doors in my house TOTALLY finished... The bathroom one. I mean, I have finished more doors, but, this is the one I had taken some 'during' pictures. Still have some doors left though, but I am getting closer to have them all painted!

Actually, the doors were painted a cream/beige/sand/ivory/light yellow color... I do not know what to call that ugly color (for doors). In addition, they had been painted with a roller and in a glossy finish, and they had several coats of paint under that last one: white, black, blue, red, orange... (depending on the room); so, they looked pretty bad. I did not want to get something worse than I had, so I decided I would strip the paint to paint them the correct way.

Stripping the paint is the hardest step. It is not difficult at all, but sometimes it is really boring and it takes a lot of time. However, if you do this with patience and get to strip all the paint off perfectly, you will get a perfect final job: the door will look just like it had not been painted or even varnished.

After stripping the paint with two different scrapers and a scurer (for smaller areas and moldings), it is necessary to clean the door with paint thinner, in order to remove all the grease of the previous products. The next step is sanding the door and clean again with steel wool, so we can get a soft finish for the wood.

The last part is the fun one: priming, sanding; painting first coat, sanding; painting second coat and sanding, in case you need to apply a third coat. I just needed two coats of Valentine's Valenite in a satin finish to get to the result you see. I also used an enamel blender to make it look less 'glossy'. The color is an off white called "coco" (coconut).

I had planned not to paint the original door hinges; but, after cleaning them I realised that I would get a "cleaner", more even look if I painted them, too. And, I am happy with the result.

So, now I have a fewer number of doors left (four, exactly), since it takes a lot of work. I will try to have them finished for September - October, though! Oh, and just ignore the UGLY floor in the hallway, please; it is still waiting to be replaced/painted/covered (I am not sure yet, hehe).

What do you think? =) Thanks for visiting!

Lamp makeover

Hi!

I am going to show you something I did several weeks ago... I did not feel like sharing it until now though, hehe.

Remember how my entrance sideboard used to look? Well, I had been planning on buying a new table lamp/a new pair of lamps for that place. Nevertheless, I cannot (still) afford their price... Just yet. Lamps are something I like to "splurge" at, I love them and I think they can actually do a lot in a room.

So, I decided to give a new opportunity to the one I have at the moment via a new coat of paint.

This is how the lamp used to look before the makeover.

I remember I loved it when we purchased it. I really liked its classic and traditional look. It has turned a little bit old-fashioned since then, in my opinion. So, what about a new color for the lamp base and a new shade?

This is the golden bottom of the lamp base. The previous "gold color" looked more like copper-colored, and I was tired of it.

The top of the lamp base is also gold, and I chose a black satin-glossy finish paint for the main body. For the shade, I thought of a black cotton exterior and a gold satin/silky interior, which creates a warm atmosphere and light and a contemporary look.

And finally, this is the result! What do you think, do you like it? I hope so! I can really feel the change in the room. It is not a new lamp but it actually works there... At least for now, hehe.

Thanks for visiting!