Nursery Planning: Painting

I am very pleased to say the Nursery painting is complete (well a little door & trim touch up is still needed but no sweat)!! John and I went back and forth on whether to do wallpaper, plain walls or a pattern and we ended up getting inspired by a nursery that was featured on ProjectNursery that used a lattice type design. While it was time-consuming it came out exactly how we wanted it. We couldn't have done it without the help of our amazing friends Tim & Megan Johnson, who have a little more experience in the paint department than we did. The DIY project saved us a ton of money with the only cost being paint, supplies and of course beer, pizza and snacks for our painting party. Only water for me of course!

BEFORE PICTURES

Approx. Cost for paint & supplies: 

$150 (bid from a couple local painters for the same job = $300-450 before supplies)

Approx Time: 10 hours

Details:

I won’t bore you on the exact proces of how we did it (you can find some instructions here) but basically we painted all the white trim and primed the walls first. We let that dry for a few days and then painted soon-to-be lattice wall that the pattern yellow. We also allowed that to dry for a few days since it was going to be taped off. When that was dry, the boys painted the ceiling yellow and the walls grey, while Megan and I (and Tim when he was free to hold the lazer level) measured out the diagonal lines, marked reference point from the level and taped. We did the same thing going the opposite way. After all tape was applied and rubbed down very firmly, the boys painted over it in grey (2 coats). Before it had dried we ripped the paint off to expose the yellow lines. Megan and I touched up any spots that stood out.

Pointers:

1. It is worth it to buy the expensive tape! The $4 tape we got from Walmart ripped off the white from the baseboard. The Scotch blue painter tape (retails at $10-13), ripped off clean. It also has sealed edges so paint doesn’t get in. We had to buy 2 rolls of it to make it through the lattice pattern. We did 2 inch stripes but it comes in a variety of sizes.

We have bought all new door knobs, hinges and handles for the closets and cabinet and also are updating the ceiling fan and blinds. I will continue to post our progress. We hope to have everything done in the next 4 weeks in preparation of Hamlet’s arrival.

John and I started by painting the whole room white

doors and all

no more yucky fading wood, everything is white

getting ready to paint the ceiling

Look at that teamwork!

First few stripes down, a lot more to go.

First set done now on to opposite diagonals

Tim finishing up the last few lines and John finishing the Grey

Megan trimming the edges

Time out for a little Peter Paul & Mary "Lemon Tree"

Stripes painted over with grey, now time to peel and pray!

First peel....and phew, looks good!

So much quicker to peel than place

Finished room! Yep, it's dark outside (we started at 10 am)