Exciting Orange

The call for support came from Scott the “cabinet guy” early Friday morning. The kitchen was ready for painting and he wanted to know if we could get that done this weekend. Since being the painting crew was something Larry and I agreed to do to reduce our renovation costs, we packed our painting clothes, jumped in the car and made our way to Edenton.

Larry Tests Colors
and Primes the Walls

While I had already explored color options and declared I wanted to paint the kitchen orange, now it was time to execute on that plan (yikes). Larry and I went by the local Sherwin Williams store, selected two colors, bought a quart of each and went home to see what they looked like on the walls.

Larry painted an 8-inch square of each color side-by-side on three of the kitchen walls and it was immediately clear which color I preferred. However, as time went by watching those two patches of paint change color was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Well maybe not THE MOST amazing, but it was remarkable how much the colors changed. As the sun set and the kitchen darkened we fluctuated on what our choice would be.

In the light of day, we changed our minds one more time before settling on “Exciting Orange”. But before we could go there, we needed to get a couple of coats of primer on the walls. While I stripped red wallpaper off the family room walls, Larry applied the primer. Two coats and half a day later, we were ready for the color! Larry had barely painted one wall when I began to think I had made a big mistake. A few minutes later I spoke the unspeakable, “Stop, I think I made a mistake.” Larry kept painting and said “It’s gonna be fine. If you decide you don’t like it, in a few years I’ll change it.” I decided to trust his instincts and returned to the family room to scrape more wallpaper.


Is This Going to be "Too" Orange?

After an hour or so of scrapping wallpaper, I returned to the kitchen and was amazed to see the color looked okay. I’m not sure whether it was seeing more of the walls covered, or that the lighting in the room had changed, or the foreboding look in Larry’s eyes when he asked, “So what do you think?” that caused me to change my mind. Whatever the reason, I was slowly convincing myself my “Exciting Orange” kitchen was going to look just fine.


We Painted the Mud Room Orange Too

The next day I returned to Sherwin Williams to purchase another gallon of Exciting Orange so Larry could finish the job. Since paint was on sale, we also decided to buy what we needed for the family room, master bedroom and bath. As Matt the salesman rang up those 7 gallons of paint he said to me, “I sure can tell you aren’t from around here, nobody ever selects the colors you’ve chosen." Hmm, something tells me this won't be the last time someone figures out I’m not from around here. I just never thought it would be my choice in paint colors that would give me away!

Rebuilding the Kitchen Begins

It’s was just Larry and me at the house this weekend. We had lovely weather so Larry headed up to the attic to open some windows and was greeted by what he thought was a dead bat on the stairs. Following a quick retreat to the 2nd floor and a slammed door, he found a shovel and ventured back up to retrieve the creature. Upon closer investigation it turned out to be a bird which he scooped up, bagged and tossed in the construction dumpster. I made a mental note to add another task to the ever lengthening list of projects: Figure out how the bird got into the attic and close it up.


Making Full Use of the Area
Under the Stairs


Since we haven't been at our big yellow house for almost two weeks, we were anxious to see what work had been accomplished in our “new” kitchen. We weren’t disappointed. When we came through the back door we were greeted by the beginnings of a center island and a wall of custom cabinets designed to take advantage of the unique storage space that lurks beneath the back stairs.

 

A brief discussion with Scott later that day revealed the kitchen floor was “sinking slightly” and we “really should” consider having it propped back up while they are under the house anyway. A second discussion led to the decision to add an external light to the area around the back steps since “we are going to be doing some wiring in that wall for the mud room anyway”.



The Makings of a New
 Center Island



We chatted some more about the complexity of  the tin ceiling installation before wishing Scott luck in gaining approval from the Historical Society for the planned changes to the back porch. We are keeping our fingers crossed that they approve a style change request for a couple of doors and windows in the kitchen/mud room area that are more in keeping with the home’s historical style while also bringing some more natural light into these areas.

  

The New Mud Room

Other than checking on Scott’s progress, Larry and I had some work of our own to get done. Prior to arriving, we talked about the need to set some priorities on what we want to accomplish before we move in. We agreed we need to focus first on those areas where we will spend most of our time; the kitchen, family room, and master bedroom and bath.


By the end of the weekend, Larry had painted 2 ceilings (3 if you count the master bath) and 1 closet. I kept busy stripping wallpaper in the family room and many layers of paint from the master bathroom closet door. It was fun trying out my new heat gun, but we’re going to have to reassess the reality of doing this more widely across the house. It took me almost a full day just to do one door. With more than 15 doors and 35 windows, I don’t have the patience to do that!


Larry Painting a Closet

 



Stripping a Closet Door



Stripping Wallpaper in the Family Room