Crack Addict / repairing cracks in walls

This is Caden's room so far....

at least he has a bed, 

and some toys and books...

but this room needs some color

and life brought to it!

(and something to keep those toys organized!)

 Before I could add any paint to his room,

I had to do A LOT

of prep work.

Notice all the cracks in the old plaster wall?

I became a "crack addict" after 

beginning this project...

I walked around for days

looking for cracks ALL over the house.

I wanted every crack gone!

 Any cracks, gaps etc must be fixed before you

paint the walls...

or it will look like a HOT MESS

when complete!

STEP 1:  fills gaps/cracks with spackling compound.

I just used my fingers, but you can buy tools

to apply the spackling compound.

STEP 2:  If the spackling compound is bumpy, or if it is

noticeable that you filled-in a crack,

than you will need to lightly sand over the 

DRY spackling compound to smooth it out.

STEP 3:  Paint over the DRY spackling compound.

If you are using the same color that the walls

are already painted, than just paint over the 

DRY spackling compound

(you do not have to paint the entire wall).

If you are painting the room a new color than simply

paint the entire wall/DRY spackling compound

 It's as easy as this picture looks!

 This is a gap between the trim and the wall

(pic on left),

which is very common in old homes.

Fixing this will take a few minutes and will

make the paint job look 100x better!

(pic on right is after I repaired the gap with Spackling compound)

 All the gaps and cracks are now filled and ready to be painted!!

Hallway before and After!

Before

After

 I love this hallway,

it is basically the main artery of our home

(in biological terms)

it goes to the kitchen,

the playroom,

the stairs to the upstairs,

the stairs to the basement,

and the family room,

but, I didnt so much like

the colors of the walls and that

itty bitty light

at the top of 9 foot ceilings....

I wanted it to stand out,

but not in a weird way!

I got some paint swatches and hung

them on the wall...

I knew I wanted a blue/gray color.

I wanted a color that would make the

large trim stand out.

large vintage trim isn't that cool unless

people can see it!

The color swatches hung on the wall for 6 weeks

before I picked one I loved.

I wanted to see them in all

sorts of lights...

morning light,

mid day light,

night time lighting turned on,

etc etc....

I got some new paint supplies from Home Depot:

*paint roller

*paint rolls to attach to the roller

*canvass drop cloth

*Paint brush

*paint tray

*paint stirrer

*paint

*tape (not pictured)

I got my paint from Sherwin Williams,

it is called "poolhouse"...

I waited until they had a 30% off sale

because one gallon of paint normally cost around

$50

I saved $15 on the gallon

and got it for $35

 The best paint brush is by the 

company "PURDY",

They have the smoothest finish I have seen!

They are hand made in the US,

and the person who makes it

signs the little yellow dot located on the 

metal part of the brush.

It's kind of like owning a piece of art!

(I got this at Home Depot for $15)

My favorite paint tape is 

"frog tape".

It's the easiest to attach to walls,

and also comes off smoothly when the painting is all done!

 Make sure the paint you are using

goes well with paint that is on adjoining walls.

the new hallway paint goes well with the

stairwell paint...and they both have a FLAT finish

(meaning it has the lowest amount of "shine" in the paint color")

I love how the ceiling curves above the door,

but wasnt sure where to have the blue paint stop...

so I made a "cut" where the corner of the yellow wall bends.

This orb light is from Lowes and makes the hallway 

look awesome!

I love the shadows it casts from the light shining thru the metal, onto the walls!

FINISHED!

"Poolhouse" paint by Sherwin Williams

"Poolhouse" paint by Sherwin Williams

"Poolhouse" paint by Sherwin Williams

Let there be light / Dining room Before and After

Our dining room was an interesting

project...

There was absolutely no light in the room 

(except for the natural light from outside coming in)

Thanksgiving dinner was over candle light,

and Christmas tree light which was 

awesome....but eventually the tree

had to come down.

So we hired an electrician to install

some lighting!

I found a light at lowes that was

75% off (YAY)

as the electrician began to do the install,

he cut into the ceiling and found old

electrical wiring

 that had been shoved up into the ceiling and

drywalled over...(?)

Why would you ever take down

a dining room light and cover up the hole?

A DINING ROOM NEEDS LIGHT!

Any way, he fixed the wiring and

put in a new electrical switch,

and voila!

Let there be light!

The Dining room still needs some color 

on the walls,

but until than I think it looks pretty good

COST BREAKDOWN:

curtains: $28

curtain rods: $24 ($12x2)

Clock: $29

Frames $36 ($9x4)

Cynthia Rowley wood rack $12

Light fixture: $44 (reg price $179)

Total $173

Before we did anything!

After...notice the change in  season thru the window

Before the nasty curtains were taken down (Fall)

After the clean curtains were put up (Winter)

Dining Room Before/during

The curtains in the dining room must

have been about as old as the 

mustard yellow oven

we had in the kitchen....

My son Shiloh started playing 

in them when we first moved in, and within 

about 3 mins was covered in hives.

They were so dusty,

they had to be removed immediately

(even if that meant living in a "fishbowl" until I found new curtains)

You can see how dirty they are in the pics!

besides them being full of dust,

they were also too "heavy" for the room,

(and a tad outdated)

look at the difference between the pics

of the room when the curtains are still up, 

and compare them to the ones when they are removed

dusty old curtains

before the curtains were removed

before the curtains were removed

before the curtains were removed

old school!

curtains gone!

curtains gone!

Now for some decorating and a table!

Vintage is not always cool!

The lighting of these pics is not that great,

but the color of that oven is

fairly close to what you see!

It was a vintage mustard yellow,

and although that isnt a bad color for certain other things....

it is a horrible color for an oven.

And that thing above the range that looks

like a microwave is actually another smaller

oven....and they are connected, so that is ALL.ONE.PIECE

It was probably 50 years old 

and probably had a few good stories to tell of the 

hippy years!

We had to have an electrician replace the outlet that

it was plugged into, because it was so old school...it was what 

you call a tombstone outlet

it could boil water in about 2 mins (not too shabby!)

but it would

cook a frozen pizza in about an hour (not so good)

We were going to buy a new oven, but did not 

want to pay $600+ for a smooth top range

So we did what we do best and bought it used....

Shaun found a stainless steel range on craigslist

and asked a friend who has a truck

to come with him to pick

up the oven,

(in exchange for a tank of gas and dinner at cafe rio)

We paid $75 for the oven.....and I spent about an hour scrubbing the nastiness off it, 

but check it out!! 

It baked our Christmas cookies beautifully!!