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Friday, April 04, 2008

Hinting at Something

So things are moving right along on the old laundry room. In fact, in some ways they’re moving more than they should. I got the room sanded, primed, and caulked, and tomorrow I paint. If all goes well, I should have the water heater hooked back up Sunday and maybe even get some trim on.

I went with SW’s Hinting Blue for the color. The name is very apt for the color. Sometimes you get color names that don’t seem to mean anything, like “Serano Mist”, or something like that. The Hinting Blue really is hinting blue. It is a pale gray with just a hint of blue in it. The more I look at it, the more I like it, but I haven’t really seen it in a large scale yet, so I may be singing a different tune come Sunday.

I have not decided on a trim color, but right now I’m leaning towards doing the whole room in Hinting Blue. I’m concerned, given the level of trim in there, that the room will look too formal with a high contrast between the trim and walls – or any contrast, for that matter. This is a small room and it is just a laundry room.

There is also something to be said about being historically correct. I’m not talking about period correct here, but historically correct. I have many dreams, but one of them would be to own a well cared for 1890s Victorian home that is virtually untouched except for regular maintenance from the day it was built. Part of this regular maintenance would be painting. Most likely, if a utility room like this had gone virtually untouched except for the occasional paint job, it would be painted all one color.

I know its an odd concept to even think about, but this is the way my brain works sometimes. Really, when you get right down to it, being historically accurate means taking in to consideration the entire life span of the house, not just the decade it was built in. I’m either being excessively neurotic here or I’m trying to justify a reason to not spend hours painting trim a different color than the walls. I’m not sure which it is, but I’m willing to bet it’s a little of both.

Anyway, we’ll all go nuts if we try and figure that one out. Instead, I’ll just move on to the bit about “things moving more than they should”. Think back to how this all started. I pulled down a 100 year old beadboard ceiling in a machine shop. I threw in the truck. Then stacked it in the garage. I scraped it. Pulled nails. Stacked it in the dinning room. I flipped through the stack dozens of times looking for “just the right piece”. I then nailed it all up and finally sanded it down. Then yesterday, when I was ever so gently painting it with primer, one of 3 knots in all of this wood popped out and fell back in to the wall.

Plink!

Suddenly I have a 2-inch diameter hole in what is otherwise 4 monolithic walls of solid wood. Grrrrrr! It is not even it a good spot where I can hide it with something. It is like 7 feet up on a wall and off to one side. I need to fill it with something, though. This is not one of those things were only I will notice it. Its a freakin' hole in the wall! I have a few ideas percolating in the noggin, but nothing definite yet.

For now, I’m not going to worry about it because tomorrow I paint. I’ve been working towards this goal all week and nothing will steer me from my course. To goal is to be able to take a shower Monday morning and in order to do that I need to get the water heater hooked back up.

So tomorrow I paint!

9 comments:

Jan Marie said...

How about glueing the knot back in place??? Do a little filling and sanding afterwards.

I think your idea of all one color is good. Small room with alot of contrasting trim might appear too busy and might distract from that fab ceiling and light fixture.

Anonymous said...

You know I have always found laundry rooms to be kind of depressing. I don't think I would have chosen the color blue. I have thought of using tinfoil to wallpaper my laundry room and pantry, I would use the side thats less shiny though.

Greg said...

Jan,

Unfortunately the knot fell IN TO THE WALL, so....

Reallycoolplacetolive,

I've never really placed an emotional attachment on a laundry room, so I can't say whether the pale, blue/gray color will make it more or less depressing for me. Maybe I'll try the foil in the parlors.

Anonymous said...

I like the idea of the blue gray and think that it will be peaceful. Do be prepared for it to look more blue than you think. I have had this happen when painting a bathroom a gray with what I thought was a hint of purple. Ended up with a purple bathroom.

I would paint the trim a contrasting color, but perhaps not white or cream, rather a lighter version of the color that you are using. Sorry, know that this is more work...

kingstreetfarm said...

oh MAN that sucks about the knot!! Are you gonna use Plastic Wood? :S (how's this for weird, the word verification on the post I am typing right now is eknotl)

I followed your logic about the trim not being a contrasting color historically. Not sure I agree, but I followed it! ;) That being said, since the color isn't a super-saturated one from the sound of it, it will probably look really nice. And besides. It's a laundry room!

The-Reno-House-Restorer said...

Hi Greg, I working on a house restoration project as well and loved reading your blog. I found your site by searching for diamond plaster finish. I have a plasterer coming tomorrow to apply diamond finish plaster. I have a few questions...would you be up for a phone call? It appears you used this product in a bathroom project to share on your blog. Thanks Shane from Spooner Wisconsin. My email is sevenson@charter.net

Greg said...

Hey, Shane. I can't see doing a phone call before your plasterer comes. To be honest, I may sound like I know what I'm talking about, but sometimes it just sounds that way. If you take my advice and anything goes worng, your plasterer will tell you, that's what you get for taking advice from some guy on the internet.

John said...

That sucks about the knot. We have more than a few holes like that in the Devil Queen. I've been thinking about taking a thin, long strip of corigated cardboard and folding it in half. Then, I'd poke a small hole in the middle of crease and thread a wire through the hole and knotting it on the backside. I reason that I could slather the carboard in a wood glue, insert it into the whole, and pull it flush with the back side of the wall. I can tie the wire off until the cardboard patch dried in place. Once it has dried I can patch the hole will wood putty, cut the wire, sand the patch smooth and paint.

I think there is a similar technique for patching drywall if I remember correctly, so maybe it would work. I have not tried it yet, so I don't know if it will actually work.

If you come up with something better, please post it. I'd love to know.

Jennifer said...

Could you cut another knot (of similar size) out of another peice of beadboard, and then glue it in?

I think the grey will look great... and I agree with maybe leaving it all one color. The beadboard is going to add a lot of interest all by itself!