Bedroom Picspam: The After Party
And here come the results!
Feel free to skip the details below, they're as much for my memory as anything else. ;)
After the sanding (my hatefullest part), we cleaned up and started staining. We did two coats of stain, (Minwax brand Red Mahogany first with Jacobean as a second coat). We barely let that dry before starting in on the shellac. The trim got two full coats of Zinsser amber shellac (2lb. cut), but the door and the flat areas of the trim got an extra third coat. The door looks the nicest, but that's because it got the best sanding attention.
Then we put up some plastic over the wood and started on the painting. There were a few spots on the ceiling tiles that needed to be primed with something that would block water stains, along with some weird spots on the walls. Then the ceiling got repainted white, and the walls got primed with regular primer. We chose to buy, with the exception of the spot-blocking primer from Zinsser (shellac-based), all zero-VOC paint. Better for the environment and our breathing. We used a Dutch Boy odor blocking brand. Though thankfully not because the place needed odors removed. :P
Then we got to the real paint. The night before we had taken all of our paint chips (::is a paint chip packrat omg::) upstairs and held them on the walls and uhmmmmed and pointed a lot. I knew I wanted something greenish to really set off the red of the bed, but not something too bright. We finally decided on a neutral-ish yellow-green called "New Life". It sounded so promising! The next morning I grabbed that paint chip, and we went out to the car to go buy paint. And then I sat down in the car in the sunlight.
Me: "Er."
GG: "What?"
Me: ::shows him the paint chip::
GG: "Huh."
Me: "I don't like it anymore either."
Both: ::get out of car, go back upstairs and pick out a new color in under two minutes::
The new one was called "Swamp Fog", as I may have mentioned, hee, which entertained me muchly. So we got our paint, and were walking around the store picking up a few other things. And every once in a while we'd look at the little green dots on the top of the paint lid and share nervous giggles. And say things like, "Boooy, that sure is green, huh?"
Then we went home, primed, and cracked open the fresh paint.
Both: ::slow laughs that quickly turned a little hysterical::
Both: ::start putting it on the walls anyway::
Me: OMG it's split pea soup greeeeen! I haaaate split pea soup! (I have childhood issues, ok! I'd probably like it just fine now!)
GG: It's drying darker I think! I'm pretty sure I like it better when it's dry!
Me: OMG we're painting our room Exorcist vomit greeeeen!
We soldiered on anyway, but not without various moments of panic from both of us. And lots of cracks about having our paint-color picking-out privileges taken away after this and only being allowed to paint rooms white or beige. It was a dark time, hee.
Eventually, with two coats of paint on, and generous drying time, it didn't look so scary. We even got hopeful that it would look nice with the bed again. It did take us most of the day to get it done though. This day being Thursday--Friday being the day pipsqueaky was coming to visit.
And of course I got a migraine Thursday night which knocked me out, leaving G. the lovely task of cutting in the paint along pretty much all of the trim in the room. He was awesome, I tell ya, awesome. He even practically killed himself to get a first coat of clear shellac on the floor before he stopped to get some sleep.
We sort of changed our floor idea at the last minute. Instead of staining a lighter (but still pretty dark) color than the trim, we decided to just do clear shellac. Why shellac for everything? I like that it's non-toxic and renewable, but I think it really makes wood sparkle. It also doesn't have the same plastic sheen that polyurethane has. And the orange/redness of the pine ended up popping really nicely under just the clear. It isn't as durable against things like sitting water or alcohol (it's dissolved in denatured alcohol for applying), but it can be patched very easily--the new shellac will soften and re-wet the older stuff and blend in nicely.
But rather than just several coats of shellac, we got adventurous and decided to try a wax-over-shellac finish. Instead of one coat of shellac though, we did two. And then sanded as per the instructions, followed by a coat of floor wax and buffing. All of which had to be done by G. because I was still recovering from the headache. I was in the basement shellacking the quarter rounds and cove moldings instead.
The wax finish looks fairly nice, but holy crap is it slippery. It's possible I was skating all over it in my socks once I felt a little better that morning. Then I quit screwing around and helped G. install the quarter rounds and cove moldings. We'd cut them to size before we put any finish on them, so they went in super quick. (Note: Remy has the *hardest* time trying to walk on that floor. He'll concentrate on his front feet, keep them doing fine, and then, fooop! out goes a back leg. Even the *cats* slip. Which is actually pretty hilarious. Fortunately a rug covers most of it.)
After that we raced to the airport, picked up pipsqueaky and then dragged her along to buy a rug, a comforter set, and some curtains and curtain rods. And then the next day she was awesome and helped us actually assemble the bed and get our curtains up and everything. Though we did at least insist on doing most of the heavy lifting. *g* And now I will finally get on with the pictures! The sun wasn't exactly *out*, but you take what you can get in the winter. This summer I'm sure I'll take pictures with pretty light just for myself. ;)
Oh, and the bed. We got it off of eBay from a Chinese antique dealer. It took several months for it to ship over here by boat. I can't believe I didn't save the info off the auction, but if I did, I hid it really well. I don't remember which province it was from, but it's supposed to be about 120 years old. I'm still kicking myself for not saving the info before the auction got deleted. For some bizarre reason I thought I'd have plenty of time to do that after the room was done. :P
Looking through the doorway towards the bed.
Same angle, but stitched together from two photos so I could get more height.
We surprised ourselves by picking out a rug and curtains with pale blue in them.
A very dark picture to show the sheer blue curtain underneath--they're really long and I wish I'd hung them a couple inches higher, but that's for dealing with later...
You can see the discoloration on the floor since we decided not to stain it, but in person it has a warm worn feel.
Didn't touch the door to the addition, but the white works fine with the ceiling--the missing closet door got a curtain that matches the ones on the window for the time being.
Super dark, but the only one I took with much of the rug in it--eventually we'd like to pick out a real hand-woven carpet, but for now this silk-look one from Bed, Bath, & Beyond will have to do.
Spooooky. (OMG look at all the fuzz that's already on the rug!)
Another stitched together one to show off more of the bed.
And stitched again from the other side--lovely matching humidifier, yes? :P.
The bed from below--you can see the post we have under the middle of the bed for extra support as well as the Moroccan star lamp I got from a Turkish seller on eBay to hang from the center of the canopy.
Looking from the corner of the bed next to the window towards the closet.
Looking at that corner from *in* the bed.
More in the bed. So you can all feel like you were there. ;D
Probably my favorite little picture--looking at one of the demons on the entry posts.
Nighttime with the lamp turned on. I freaking love that lamp. Bonus Lily in the corner.
I think the bed needs some cute little pillows with some blue or green or whatever on them. I like the cream comforter alright, because it brightens it up, but it's sort of missing something. And the sides on the bed mean I wouldn't have to pick the pillows off the fuzzy floor in the morning, just kick them to the end of the bed at night. ;) And the curtains are a little poofy, but they're growing on me.
The cats would like me to not change a thing about the curtains, please. They find the curtains make an *excellent* playground where cats can either hide from other cats, or take running starts and slide through the slinky fabric. Loudly. But only in the middle of the night.
G. also wants to put sheer drapery inside the bed. You can't see it from these pictures, but there are inch-sized holes in the top corners of the top shorter side panels. Presumably for dowels of some sort, which we're assuming would be for draping fabric on. I'm also thinking of taking the cheap brushed metal from the light fixture and redoing it in a dark bronze to match the other hardware in the room. Maybe in the summer when I don't have to deal with fumes in the house. /o\
The kitties couldn't summon a whole lot of disapproval for us actually finishing the room. ;) Mostly...I think they were just too shocked.
Blurry little Corki at night with an even stranger blurry G.--he's that alien looking thing to the left.
See, total shock on that little face. I'm positive it's because of our accomplishment and not because she's being ignored in favor of the little black box again.
Corki: "Wut? U wants a medul or somefin?"
Lily: "So. Green. Greengreengreengreen."
And now for some detail photos of the carvings on the bed, and other things in the room.
Front side panel.
One of the little demon guys. I think that's what they are anyway--more info I forgot to save.
Back of the little guy on the opposite side.
One of the little Fu Dogs that live in the upper corners of the opening.
A couple of the many bats that are carved into the lower rails.
Flowery vase thingy that I don't know the symbolism of from the center of the back bottom piece.
Close-up of one of the medallions on the front side pieces.
The medallion from the other side piece.
Macro of some of the figures.
Macro of the figure in the first medallion photo.
Trying vainly to capture the sparkle in the door with a macro.
One of our favorite pieces of woodwork from above the addition door. Guess it was good for something. ;)
Just showing off the wonderful linoleum that's glued over the maple floor in the upstairs hallway.
G. won't let me cut stepping-stone-shaped holes in the carpet until we're ready to tear it out. ::pouts::
Original cast iron heating grate. Technically taken from G.'s study room, because he'd already refinished it.
We haven't had time to sandblast and repaint the one from the bedroom, but it's identical.
A hat G. needed to own from the local Asian market, and a jewelry box he bought me for my birthday a couple of years ago that I hadn't seen since then, what with it being stored next to the bed pieces.
Cast iron door knobs! Front of the door on the left, back of the door on the right.
The door knobs I salvaged from a certified crack house in town that was being torn down by the city. The house was about 10 years older than ours--1898 if I remember right. My bid was for 5 knob sets and I got them all for like 20 bucks. They were covered in so much paint that when we went to get them on the designated haul-away day, we couldn't dig the screws out to take them off. So they let us take the doors they were on for free. And now one of those doors is already being used in G.'s study.
I found a technique online to remove the paint from the hardware. You put it in a crock pot with enough water to cover and a little dish soap. Then heat it on low for a while, pull it out (it's hot!) and quickly start brushing/peeling/poking the paint off. Took a few times to get it all off, but didn't need any chemicals and after some very light brushing with steel wool, the original finish looked pretty good. Then I just put a light coat of floor wax on them to protect the finish and buffed them up. I luuuuvs them. And I have enough to do the whole upper floor so the knobs will all match. They're actually nicer than the pretty pressed metal brass ones downstairs, that are supposed to be fancier than what's upstairs. ;)
And that's it! That's everything I can think of to ramble about concerning the room for the moment, so I'm going to go to bed before I think of anything else!
Feel free to skip the details below, they're as much for my memory as anything else. ;)
After the sanding (my hatefullest part), we cleaned up and started staining. We did two coats of stain, (Minwax brand Red Mahogany first with Jacobean as a second coat). We barely let that dry before starting in on the shellac. The trim got two full coats of Zinsser amber shellac (2lb. cut), but the door and the flat areas of the trim got an extra third coat. The door looks the nicest, but that's because it got the best sanding attention.
Then we put up some plastic over the wood and started on the painting. There were a few spots on the ceiling tiles that needed to be primed with something that would block water stains, along with some weird spots on the walls. Then the ceiling got repainted white, and the walls got primed with regular primer. We chose to buy, with the exception of the spot-blocking primer from Zinsser (shellac-based), all zero-VOC paint. Better for the environment and our breathing. We used a Dutch Boy odor blocking brand. Though thankfully not because the place needed odors removed. :P
Then we got to the real paint. The night before we had taken all of our paint chips (::is a paint chip packrat omg::) upstairs and held them on the walls and uhmmmmed and pointed a lot. I knew I wanted something greenish to really set off the red of the bed, but not something too bright. We finally decided on a neutral-ish yellow-green called "New Life". It sounded so promising! The next morning I grabbed that paint chip, and we went out to the car to go buy paint. And then I sat down in the car in the sunlight.
Me: "Er."
GG: "What?"
Me: ::shows him the paint chip::
GG: "Huh."
Me: "I don't like it anymore either."
Both: ::get out of car, go back upstairs and pick out a new color in under two minutes::
The new one was called "Swamp Fog", as I may have mentioned, hee, which entertained me muchly. So we got our paint, and were walking around the store picking up a few other things. And every once in a while we'd look at the little green dots on the top of the paint lid and share nervous giggles. And say things like, "Boooy, that sure is green, huh?"
Then we went home, primed, and cracked open the fresh paint.
Both: ::slow laughs that quickly turned a little hysterical::
Both: ::start putting it on the walls anyway::
Me: OMG it's split pea soup greeeeen! I haaaate split pea soup! (I have childhood issues, ok! I'd probably like it just fine now!)
GG: It's drying darker I think! I'm pretty sure I like it better when it's dry!
Me: OMG we're painting our room Exorcist vomit greeeeen!
We soldiered on anyway, but not without various moments of panic from both of us. And lots of cracks about having our paint-color picking-out privileges taken away after this and only being allowed to paint rooms white or beige. It was a dark time, hee.
Eventually, with two coats of paint on, and generous drying time, it didn't look so scary. We even got hopeful that it would look nice with the bed again. It did take us most of the day to get it done though. This day being Thursday--Friday being the day pipsqueaky was coming to visit.
And of course I got a migraine Thursday night which knocked me out, leaving G. the lovely task of cutting in the paint along pretty much all of the trim in the room. He was awesome, I tell ya, awesome. He even practically killed himself to get a first coat of clear shellac on the floor before he stopped to get some sleep.
We sort of changed our floor idea at the last minute. Instead of staining a lighter (but still pretty dark) color than the trim, we decided to just do clear shellac. Why shellac for everything? I like that it's non-toxic and renewable, but I think it really makes wood sparkle. It also doesn't have the same plastic sheen that polyurethane has. And the orange/redness of the pine ended up popping really nicely under just the clear. It isn't as durable against things like sitting water or alcohol (it's dissolved in denatured alcohol for applying), but it can be patched very easily--the new shellac will soften and re-wet the older stuff and blend in nicely.
But rather than just several coats of shellac, we got adventurous and decided to try a wax-over-shellac finish. Instead of one coat of shellac though, we did two. And then sanded as per the instructions, followed by a coat of floor wax and buffing. All of which had to be done by G. because I was still recovering from the headache. I was in the basement shellacking the quarter rounds and cove moldings instead.
The wax finish looks fairly nice, but holy crap is it slippery. It's possible I was skating all over it in my socks once I felt a little better that morning. Then I quit screwing around and helped G. install the quarter rounds and cove moldings. We'd cut them to size before we put any finish on them, so they went in super quick. (Note: Remy has the *hardest* time trying to walk on that floor. He'll concentrate on his front feet, keep them doing fine, and then, fooop! out goes a back leg. Even the *cats* slip. Which is actually pretty hilarious. Fortunately a rug covers most of it.)
After that we raced to the airport, picked up pipsqueaky and then dragged her along to buy a rug, a comforter set, and some curtains and curtain rods. And then the next day she was awesome and helped us actually assemble the bed and get our curtains up and everything. Though we did at least insist on doing most of the heavy lifting. *g* And now I will finally get on with the pictures! The sun wasn't exactly *out*, but you take what you can get in the winter. This summer I'm sure I'll take pictures with pretty light just for myself. ;)
Oh, and the bed. We got it off of eBay from a Chinese antique dealer. It took several months for it to ship over here by boat. I can't believe I didn't save the info off the auction, but if I did, I hid it really well. I don't remember which province it was from, but it's supposed to be about 120 years old. I'm still kicking myself for not saving the info before the auction got deleted. For some bizarre reason I thought I'd have plenty of time to do that after the room was done. :P
Looking through the doorway towards the bed.
Same angle, but stitched together from two photos so I could get more height.
We surprised ourselves by picking out a rug and curtains with pale blue in them.
A very dark picture to show the sheer blue curtain underneath--they're really long and I wish I'd hung them a couple inches higher, but that's for dealing with later...
You can see the discoloration on the floor since we decided not to stain it, but in person it has a warm worn feel.
Didn't touch the door to the addition, but the white works fine with the ceiling--the missing closet door got a curtain that matches the ones on the window for the time being.
Super dark, but the only one I took with much of the rug in it--eventually we'd like to pick out a real hand-woven carpet, but for now this silk-look one from Bed, Bath, & Beyond will have to do.
Spooooky. (OMG look at all the fuzz that's already on the rug!)
Another stitched together one to show off more of the bed.
And stitched again from the other side--lovely matching humidifier, yes? :P.
The bed from below--you can see the post we have under the middle of the bed for extra support as well as the Moroccan star lamp I got from a Turkish seller on eBay to hang from the center of the canopy.
Looking from the corner of the bed next to the window towards the closet.
Looking at that corner from *in* the bed.
More in the bed. So you can all feel like you were there. ;D
Probably my favorite little picture--looking at one of the demons on the entry posts.
Nighttime with the lamp turned on. I freaking love that lamp. Bonus Lily in the corner.
I think the bed needs some cute little pillows with some blue or green or whatever on them. I like the cream comforter alright, because it brightens it up, but it's sort of missing something. And the sides on the bed mean I wouldn't have to pick the pillows off the fuzzy floor in the morning, just kick them to the end of the bed at night. ;) And the curtains are a little poofy, but they're growing on me.
The cats would like me to not change a thing about the curtains, please. They find the curtains make an *excellent* playground where cats can either hide from other cats, or take running starts and slide through the slinky fabric. Loudly. But only in the middle of the night.
G. also wants to put sheer drapery inside the bed. You can't see it from these pictures, but there are inch-sized holes in the top corners of the top shorter side panels. Presumably for dowels of some sort, which we're assuming would be for draping fabric on. I'm also thinking of taking the cheap brushed metal from the light fixture and redoing it in a dark bronze to match the other hardware in the room. Maybe in the summer when I don't have to deal with fumes in the house. /o\
The kitties couldn't summon a whole lot of disapproval for us actually finishing the room. ;) Mostly...I think they were just too shocked.
Blurry little Corki at night with an even stranger blurry G.--he's that alien looking thing to the left.
See, total shock on that little face. I'm positive it's because of our accomplishment and not because she's being ignored in favor of the little black box again.
Corki: "Wut? U wants a medul or somefin?"
Lily: "So. Green. Greengreengreengreen."
And now for some detail photos of the carvings on the bed, and other things in the room.
Front side panel.
One of the little demon guys. I think that's what they are anyway--more info I forgot to save.
Back of the little guy on the opposite side.
One of the little Fu Dogs that live in the upper corners of the opening.
A couple of the many bats that are carved into the lower rails.
Flowery vase thingy that I don't know the symbolism of from the center of the back bottom piece.
Close-up of one of the medallions on the front side pieces.
The medallion from the other side piece.
Macro of some of the figures.
Macro of the figure in the first medallion photo.
Trying vainly to capture the sparkle in the door with a macro.
One of our favorite pieces of woodwork from above the addition door. Guess it was good for something. ;)
Just showing off the wonderful linoleum that's glued over the maple floor in the upstairs hallway.
G. won't let me cut stepping-stone-shaped holes in the carpet until we're ready to tear it out. ::pouts::
Original cast iron heating grate. Technically taken from G.'s study room, because he'd already refinished it.
We haven't had time to sandblast and repaint the one from the bedroom, but it's identical.
A hat G. needed to own from the local Asian market, and a jewelry box he bought me for my birthday a couple of years ago that I hadn't seen since then, what with it being stored next to the bed pieces.
Cast iron door knobs! Front of the door on the left, back of the door on the right.
The door knobs I salvaged from a certified crack house in town that was being torn down by the city. The house was about 10 years older than ours--1898 if I remember right. My bid was for 5 knob sets and I got them all for like 20 bucks. They were covered in so much paint that when we went to get them on the designated haul-away day, we couldn't dig the screws out to take them off. So they let us take the doors they were on for free. And now one of those doors is already being used in G.'s study.
I found a technique online to remove the paint from the hardware. You put it in a crock pot with enough water to cover and a little dish soap. Then heat it on low for a while, pull it out (it's hot!) and quickly start brushing/peeling/poking the paint off. Took a few times to get it all off, but didn't need any chemicals and after some very light brushing with steel wool, the original finish looked pretty good. Then I just put a light coat of floor wax on them to protect the finish and buffed them up. I luuuuvs them. And I have enough to do the whole upper floor so the knobs will all match. They're actually nicer than the pretty pressed metal brass ones downstairs, that are supposed to be fancier than what's upstairs. ;)
And that's it! That's everything I can think of to ramble about concerning the room for the moment, so I'm going to go to bed before I think of anything else!