Wood Paneling FREE!

Sorry about our brief hiatus. Busy work + busy life = no time for blog.

Back to the work that has begun. We were supposed to have some semi- major stuff happening in the kitchen (not done by us, obviously, but our contractor keeps rescheduling). Itching for some change, we pondered what to do… then we both had a day off. Boom. Time for a project, but what can we do? We don’t want to mess with anything too difficult. Then I suggested painting the wood paneling in the kitchen. Since we looked at the house the first time, I’ve been itching to change that. I HATE WOOD PANELING- me and most of the world I’m sure. B didn’t quite get it. He pointed to the floors and said “but you like wood floors?”. Not the same thing! But then the next obstacle came- we don’t have a car. That makes getting to Lowes or Home Depot quite difficult. Thank god there’s a hardware store down the block from us- quite convenient, though it is definitely overpriced. So off I went to the store in search of a treasure, and by treasure I mean paint and supplies. I skipped home (not really, but I was definitely in a happy skipping mood) along with a gallon of primer (really heavy, I must add), a roller, a brush, painters tape, and a paint tray. I got to work after a quick tutorial from my favorite blog, Young House Love.

Prepping the kitchen

I have painted before. It was when I lived in Chicago and I convinced my parents that I should paint the basement (a gross outdated space that we never used). My father and I found paint in the garage, got to work, got tired, and never completed the basement.  It was a sad sad story. I’ve been nervous about painting since then. I know how tiring it can be. B convinced me that we can get it done. After all, it wasn’t a whole basement we were trying to paint! So, we taped off the area, cleaned the wood with vinegar and started painting.

Here’s B taking the plunge!

Our first coat took about 2.5 hours. It was tedious work and by the time we were done we were exhausted. After a short break, we went back to it and 1.5 hours later we were done! 

Progress

This is just the primer though. Being that we were painting wood, it’s definitely advised that you prime the walls first since a dark wood can seep through paint. We have two layers of white primer done. Now’s the hard part. What color paint do you suggest? We might want to wait til our kitchen work is done (hopefully this week if the contractor comes!). Once that’s done, we do need to decide on a color.

TA DAAA!

This was so exhausting. I’m dreading the painting that’s going to have to happen. It makes me realize that painting a bigger room is probably too big of a job for us to do. I’m pretty impressed though. I did not think we’d do such a good job. We’re officially DIYers!

So now we need help… what color do we paint the walls?

Comment and help us out!