Paint Colors Used in House #2

I love a good paint job to tackle because it really does change everything! But I’m sad and happy that I haven’t had to paint a thing in this house. I picked colors that I have been happy with, but it’s mainly because we already did the trial and error at the last house.

Now, just because it worked in the last house does not mean it would work in the new house. I learned that lesson when I used the master bedroom paint from my condo to paint the master bedroom. I loved it in the condo, but not in the new house. I’m pretty sure it was because the trim color was not the same.

Condo Master Bedroom

But I used the paint color in our old living room as the color for the entire new house (living, halls, playroom.) Valspar – Fairmont Penthouse Stone. It is a great color that I have really loved. I've lived with it a while and not have not grown tired of it.

Old House Living Room

Current Living Room

All of the bathrooms were the same color, and the color was also used in our Master Bedroom. Benjamin Moore – Revere Pewter. This color is popular for a reason! It is a chameleon and changes with its surrounding. Very versatile color.

The boys’ bedrooms were the color I used at the old house for the spare bath. I used the color again when I changed Little JCrew’s room. It’s a fun grey that is warm. Bonsai

The Office was my bold color choice. I picked the darker shade of blue from our old bonus room. I really like blues and this one was my favorite. “Antique Tin” by Behr. I love seeing the deep blue color from a distance. It is such a moody color that I love so much that I want to put it everywhere, but then that would take away from it's magic.

The kitchen was the only color choice I wasn’t sure of. I knew the color of the cabinets and that decision was set and I did not want to change, but I didn’t think my ‘Fairmont Penthouse Stone’ color I chose for the whole house, would go with it being right next to the cabinets. I pulled the swatch that had the color of my cabinets on it. Since the swatches have the “family” of colors on it, I knew if I picked one from the swatch, it would go with the cabinets. However, I still have to go with the “whole house color” as some walls would be touching. I ended up with 'Barren Plain' on the kitchen walls. It’s a barely noticeable transition to the ‘Fairmont Penthouse Stone’ color.

That’s it for all the wall colors. I tried to keep the amount of colors down but did not want to be limited. When you buy a spec home, the builder usually only allows you to pick two colors. If you build a spec home, the builder has a budget for two colors and you are charged for each color change. I get it! It’s a much simpler task to just have one color to paint everywhere.

Now I can’t stress how important the trim color is. It can make or break a color for you. I learned this the hard way. I ended up choosing 'Simply White' by Benjamin Moore after seeing it used by Young House Love. It wasn’t stark white, but looked like it. Our old house had an off-white trim color, but it really was off from being close to white. (Sherwin Williams 'Pacer White.') It was like a dirty white. Nothing wrong with it, but it limited my choices in picking coordinating colors.

We used Simply White on the ceilings, trim, plantation shutters, closet walls and the laundry room walls. The laundry cabinets are also Simply White.

The fun color on the ceiling is Cooled Blue. I almost used it as the interior of the closet that is now Pfitzer’s, but decided against it. I’ve really enjoyed it being somewhere I see every day. 

As for paint colors on the outside, this decision scared me the most. I could repaint an interior room with no problem, but if I messed up on an exterior paint color, it would be an embarrassment all would see until I hired a painter to fix it. And who knows if my fix would be the final fix?

I had seen the color “Dragon’s Breath” painted on an interior door in a picture on Pinterest. I loved the color. It looked black, but had brown undertones in it. I loved it so much that I hung on to that picture and knew I would use it in the new house some how.

Inspiration

I went to the store to get the swatch and see the family of colors that coordinate with ‘Dragon’s Breath.' I then came back with my brick sample to make sure it went with the brick.

I picked Gargoyle for my exterior trim color (columns, facia, door trim).

Plymouth Rock was used on porch ceilings and siding.

Dragon’s Breath was used on the exterior doors, shutters, and lapboard siding.

I am so lucky that it worked on the first try. It could have been a disaster.

There you have it! Our paint colors at house number two.

Yard Spiders

We like to decorate for the holiday's, but Mr. JCrew and I differ on how far to go. He likes to go all out! I like to keep things simple. Part of this is because I know the work that goes into those elaborate scenes.

Mr. JCrew has always wanted to decorate for Halloween. I never celebrated Halloween growing up so it was never a big to-do I was experienced with. But Mr. JCrew got excited when I said I was ready to decorate for Halloween this year. I immediately said we had to have a theme. Our theme... SPIDERS!

We plan to put up cobwebs around our porch and relatively "small" spiders hanging from the porch vine, but the big effort was going to be from our huge spiders in the yard. I found a tutorial and made three! We are on a corner lot, so the main spider is on the corner to grab your attention. Then a second spider is right in front of the house, and a third spider is at the driveway on the side of the house for those that turn the corner, down our street.

No escaping!!

I appreciated the tutorial I found because he laid out exactly what to buy. I am going to change a couple things for my list.

Supplies for 1 Spider:

• 6 – 10’ lengths of ¾ inch PVC pipe
• 8 - ¾ inch PVC caps
• 16 – ¾ inch PVC 45 degree elbows
• 8 – ¾ inch PVC 90 degree elbows
• 2 – ¾ inch PVC 4 way T connectors
• 2 – ¾ inch PVC T connectors
• PVC cement
• Black spray paint
• Bouncy Ball (head)
• Pillow (body)
• Black yard trash bag (body)
• Black duct tape (body)
• Black Zip Ties (body)

He used different parts for the body, but I didn't like how it turned out in his pictures. So, I changed it on the cuff. While in Walmart, I saw pillows and grabbed three. They would be the body. Then I grabbed bouncy balls. They would be the head. I would stick those in a yard trash bag and I'd have my spider body.


I stuck the ball in the center end of the trash bag and tied it off with a zip tie.

I then left the pillow in its protective wrap it was bought in and placed it in the trash bag and tied it off with another zip tie.

This left a tail that I taped flat onto the body.

Mr. JCrew said we could use this technique to make "bodies." :/

The tutorial I found also told you how to cut the PVC pipe into the lengths you need. Having this already planned out made things go much faster. Longest part of a project is the planning!

I cut the PVC pipe and assembled the legs and 'backbone."

 

I glued the legs together and the backbone together. NOT TO EACH OTHER! I want to be able to reuse these, so I can hang the legs and it take up less space. The legs will stay assembled and the backbone assembled while in storage.

TIP! **** I glued the 45 degree elbows to the backbone and if I could change that, I would glue the 45 degree elbows to the legs instead. Gluing the 45 degree elbows to the backbone restricts the movement of the legs. When putting the legs on, you may have to adjust positioning to find balance for the spider and the 45 degree elbow is what helps you.

I used Mister Pfitzer's tricycle to hold the backbone as I attached the legs. You definitely need something to lift the backbone up as you insert the legs.

Now, my list says 2 4-way connectors and 2 T-connectors, but that is not what is shown in the pictures or what was on the tutorial I followed. I bought the materials as the list stated, but those 4-way connectors are expensive and I really only needed 2. The T-connectors can be the ones on the end.

At first, the weight of the pillow would make the legs crumble. I had to make sure the pipes were fully inserted. The boys helped with assembly, and they said it was frustrating. You'd get one leg in and another would fall out.

Once together, I spray painted. Spray paint was much faster than exterior paint I'd have to roll on. I made sure to get the kind with Primer built in. And I didn't sand the PVC pipe before painting. The paint I got said it would adhere to plastic.

With the spider bodies, I also taped the head "up" on the body. I used the black duct tape to make a "collar" that assisted in holding the head up closer to the body. Otherwise, the head would kind of fall down.

The boys then said the spiders were missing eyes, so I took their advice on four red eyes for the spiders. Scary!

This only took one morning to do and the spiders were on display by lunch time. I was so tickled with the results! Come Halloween night, the spiders will move to be closer to the walkways so that the trick-or-treaters have to be brave!