Laume's Studio

Here are a couple more photos of the living room after I got the base coat on all three walls. (The fourth wall is an accen wall and already painted a dark brown.)

In the photo above the differences in color are just from the light coming through the window and falling on the wall.


This photo shows the paint more evenly. It all looked so clean and fresh, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to "attack" it with more colors. I procrastinated for hours before I could get up the courage. I finally rallied just about sunset.


Oops, that's not a photo of the walls. How did this sneak in here in the middle? Rosie sleeping on top of a stack of pillows - she's such a princess. The pillows show my color scheme quite nicely.


So, here is the room with the first wash layer applied. This photo was taken with a flash. ( The "color" you see on the ceiling is just a reflection, by the way.) This layer is a chocolate brown flat paint (it's only a flat paint because I happened to find a can of it already made up and discounted - the next layer is a satin finish, like the base coat, so the whole thing should be scrubbable) mixed with a glaze. I applied it with a brush and then immediately rubbed it in (rubbing some of it off and some of it stretched and thinned into the wall texture) with a damp rag. None of this "blotting" with a rag - I don't really like that effect. And no sponges - blech - the sponge techniques I've seen all looked dated to me. When I say rubbed in immediately, I do mean IMMEDIATELY. The paint/glaze mixture seemed to dry almost on contact. I worked in small sections at a time and quickly.

I hadn't realized how much texture there was on my walls until it showed up with the wash coat. I knew it would look different on the wall than it had on the brick and I wasn't sure what to expect. I was pleased at how well the original texture worked with the wash. It was a lot closer to what I pictured in my head than I thought I'd get.

Here's the other wall, this photo taken without a flash. I got tired and didn't get the third, and longest, wall done. I was surprised at how much muscle it takes! So I'll do the last wall today and then, since I don't have to spend the afternoon at the market like I did yesterday, I am really hoping to continue right into applying the next layer.

I was so nervous, but I really like the way it looks, even now only halfway done. William looked skeptical as he watched me working. He didn't say anything until I declared I was finished for the night and then he looked around and announced "It looks Mexican." If you'll recall, he made a similar comment earlier in the project. And since teens aren't known for their subtlety - he would have had no problem announcing it flat out ugly - I'm taking this as a compliment.

I know from having done the brick walls, applying the second wash makes a huge improvement, so now I'm at least as excited as I am nervous to do this next and last stage.