Painted Lady

Painters have been working on our building since May, giving it a much-needed new coat of paint. We changed the color scheme too--now the building is a blue gray "October Sky" and the accents are white, navy blue, burgundy, and a bunch of other blues. We have nine colors on the building in total, including a lot of real gold leaf on the woodwork.

Here’s what she looked like before:

On Monday the scaffolding came down. Here she is!  It was a long road to completion, but we are immensely happy with the finished product.

Tick Up the Bathroom Count to... 1.5!

This blog is about the design and finishes of our new ½ bath. Later Dean will regale you with construction stories.

Our new half bath! (Thanks to my sister Val for these towels--a gift!)

The big news: we are done with the inside of the bathroom! It took a long time to turn a closet into a ½ bath and was not heaps of fun at different points in the project. We worked on it for 8 weekends in January, February and March, and on every one of those Saturdays I would wake up and think, “I wish I could go on a hike/to brunch/to yoga today.” But it is finished and we think it is the most beautiful ½ bath on the planet. Sometimes I open the bathroom door and just stand there and admire it, like a prize pony or precious gem.  This is definitely a result of building the bathroom with our own four hands. Very satisfying.

The closet before we turned it into a

bathroom. Yes, this is the same space!

The Villeroy & Boch sink.

The ½ bath is a mix of high and low. We were on a budget and so we had to pick our splurges judiciously.

The “Highs”:

The Sink: We found this white porcelain Villeroy & Boch sink online for $510.30 (on sale, regularly it is around $760). In case you ever want a similar sink, I think our Google search term was “very small sink.” It had to be no more than 15 inches deep to preserve the 24 inches of clearance to the toilet that San Francisco building code requires.

It was a leap of faith to order the most expensive bathroom element sight-unseen (at $510.30, the sink was over 30% of our budget for fixtures and finishes). But honestly there were not many choices on the teeny-tiny sink market and this one is unusual, well-proportioned and modern all at the same time. It reminds me of a bubble, a lily pad or Camilla Parker’s hat at the Royal Wedding. We get lots of compliments on it. We added a contemporary exposed plumbing below the sink for $75 in parts.

Shopping Tip: I always did Google Image searches when shopping for bathroom finishes. It is much easier to scan pages of images rather than click through hundreds of links to see the actual sink, faucet, tile etc. I imagine this technique would be good for shopping for many different items.

Farrow & Ball colors: Borrowed Light and Oval

Room Blue for the ceiling.

The paint: We splurged on Farrow & Ball’s Borrowed Light for the walls and Oval Room Blue for the ceiling. They are absolutely beautiful. In House Beautiful one designer said, “Borrowed Light feels as if you've taken the roof off the room and the sky and the clouds have mixed together.” After my fiasco in the hallway trying to match Farrow & Ball paint, I went straight for the brand name in the bathroom. We are super happy with the result. Cost: $100 for a small room.



The “Middles”:



The "Santa Rosa"



The faucet:  We bought this Danze faucet for $159. We needed a single handle faucet and liked the lines on this one. It is a good compliment to the circular sink and floor tiles, and provides good contrast with the boxy mirror and light fixture. Faucets can be really expensive ($500+ at Waterworks) and really cheap ($30 at Home Depot). We thought this was a good compromise.



Ann Sacks Savoy Cottonwood penny tile.



The toilet:  We picked the Kohler “Santa Rosa” and paid $293 at Home Depot. I don’t think too much about toilet design. I didn’t even know toilets had names like the Santa Rosa. To me, it is utilitarian. We choose Kohler’s Santa Rosa because it is on the modern side of things and it meets San Francisco’s strict environmental requirements for low water flow.  It also accommodated the clearance space we needed between the toilet and sink.

The tile: For the floor we picked a penny tile from Ann Sacks at $10.98 a square foot. It is called the Savoy Cottonwood penny tile. You can certainly get cheaper penny tile, but this tile has a ring of faded blue and brown on the outer edges, which is an important design element in the room. Total tile price was $179.48.

We love that the tile is a traditional shape for an old Victorian home but the faded border brings a pop of modernity. Also, we decided not to tile the walls—a cost-savings measure and it seemed unnecessary in such a small room with no possibility of steam. Dean laid the tile himself and he will tell you more about that adventure. His takeaway was that anyone can lay tile and achieve a B+ product! Good enough for us.

The “Lows”:

The mirror: It is from Ikea and was hanging in the bedroom in our old apartment. The wood frame brings nature into the room, which is important. Without the touch of natural wood the room could feel more like a pharmacy and less like a spa. Cost: Nothing because we already owned it.



The mirror and Dean's work of nature art.



The vintage door, salvaged from another

Victorian.

The door: This is a long story, but the Victorian four-panel door that was originally on the closet could not be reused when we moved the door to the adjacent wall. It had to do with the stud spacing and the giganticness of that door. So we took that door to the architectural salvage yard (Building Resources) and picked a smaller used door, also Victorian and four-paneled. Total cost: $75.

The light fixture: It is from Lamps Plus and cost $92.44. Nobody is going to write home about this light. I had a hard time picking a light fixture and decided that I would buy this as a placeholder. I might upgrade the light in the future if I decide this one is too boring. Switching a light fixture is simple, unlike ripping out tile, a sink, or a toilet.  For now I think it is fine—not the highlight of the room, but it also does not compete with the design elements that are more important to me.

The light fixture and ceiling design.

The hardware: I love the towel bar, toilet paper holder, and little glass shelf we bought at Home Depot. They are from the Innova Jameson line, and seriously look as nice as products from Restoration Hardware that cost 3X as much. Total Cost: $80.00.

The ceiling fan: I qualify this as more of a mechanical element than a décor feature. There is a plastic cover on the ceiling that hides the fan, so it is visual in some way. A fan is required for every bathroom per building code. We chose this charcoal ductless fan—the used-Hyundai of fans (Nutone 682NT).  It is fine, necessary, whatever. Dean bought it on Amazon.com for $32.57 because I am not that interested in it.

The Trim: Dean bought the trim and crown molding at Home Depot. It is a good size for the room and covers the craggy corners. Cost: $60.

The staging: I put a candle in a cool saucer that was my Grandmother’s. Cost: Free.

Dean picked up some rocks on Baker Beach and stacked them himself to create a rock sculpture. Again, bringing nature into the bath is soothing and exudes a spa feeling. Cost: Free.

I stacked some toilet paper on the shelf. Cost: Not pertinent because it is functional.

I hung a watercolor that I painted of Dean on a hiking trip to Tamarac Lake in the Desolation Wilderness. Cost: Free because I already had the frame.

And there you have it! All of our bathroom fixtures and finishes. Total cost: $1,656.89. It is astonishing how many design choices you have to make for a room that is 15 square feet.  



Architectural detail in the spot where the former

door was placed.



The 1/2 bath!



 






We love our new bathroom and it has already brought more harmony to our home. Dean and I no longer get in arguments when one person spends way too much time in the bathroom. And now we can renovate our main bathroom in August without running to Popeye’s every time we need the loo!  



Staging and our cute new shelf ($39.99).



Clearance between sink and toilet: very important to San

Francisco building department.



Picking Paint Colors for a Challenging Space

I tested 12 different paint colors for our hallway over the past 4 months. Nothing seemed quite right.

The hallway is long—about 70 feet from the front door to back bedroom.  Every room in the apartment is off this hallway, so it has to be complementary to the other rooms. We didn’t want the hallway to be boring either. I took my time with the decision.

Adding to the conundrum is the textured, floral wall covering that decks the halls from wainscot to baseboard. Grandma has arrived, and she is floral and textured and in my hall! Any paint with the slightest tint of rose or peach or cream channels a Poconos B&B when applied on this surface.  

Don’t get me wrong—I like the textured stuff. But it is a design element that needs to be properly handled.

When we demo-ed the powder room door, this textured material appeared to be pressed cardboard. A recent This Old House article proved it to be Lincrusta, a mix of linseed oil, wood paste, and other natural products. Covered with ~10 layers of paint. In Victorian times they would also make this product out of tin or pressed leather.

White paint samples on the wall and textured flowers.

First I tested a bunch of neutral whites (Benjamin Moore’s China White, Powder Sand, Linen White, and Ivory White). All were too drab in our narrow & dark hallway. It was astonishing how whites could be so different, though. Side by side you saw that some had startling yellow undertones, other whites were pink, others were grayish or bluish or brown.

Benjamin Moore Colors: China White, Linen and Powder Sand respectively.

I went back to my favorite blog, Apartment Therapy. I read that if you have a small space and you paint it white, then you have a small white room. If you paint a small space a more unexpected color, however, then you have something different on your hands. I also watched an online tour of Farrow & Ball Color Consultant Joa Studholme’s home. Inspiration!

Next I tried some deep brownish-greens that the color consultant at G&R Paint recommended. They were nice, but the look was too camouflage for me. The flowers had a military moment.

Farrow & Ball Colors: Down Pipe, Lamp Room Gray, Green Smoke and Fawn respectively.

Finally I went to San Francisco’s only Farrow & Ball dealer, Fregosi Paint in SoMa. There we took home samples of four paints (Down Pipe, Green Smoke, Fawn, and Lamp Room Gray). The color consultant at Fregosi advised us on the choices and gave us some sound advice: In a room that is divided by a wainscot or trim, paint the upper field the darker color. It will make your artwork pop. Dark colors also visually recede, making the room feel bigger at eye-level.  Farrow & Ball paint is not cheap ($85/gallon, and you need multiple coats) but it is clay-based and touted for its rich color and high-quality finish.

We went home and tested the colors. Together, Dean and I picked the boldest combination: Down Pipe—a dark charcoal—and Lamp Room Gray— a light gray for the textured flowers on the bottom. The grays are really modern so Granny will not take up permanent residence in the hall. And they match the off-white trim we have been using throughout the house: C2 Paint’s Halo.

Painting a room Down Pipe is a plunge—it is essentially one shade lighter than black. I went online and searched for Down Pipe, hoping to see some images of rooms painted that color. I came across these images at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s J.M. Turner exhibition. I was sold.

The adventure did not end here, sadly. I went back to Fregosi and ordered 2 gallons of paint. Unfortunately, they did not have those Farrow & Ball colors in stock, and we had to wait 5 days to receive them. Drat. I started thinking about our upcoming weekends (A weekend in Tahoe, followed by two weekends in Mexico, followed by a weekend visit from Dean’s parents from Michigan, followed by another weekend in Tahoe).

We have some major schedule issues, of our own creation. I needed that paint now, so I could use it that weekend—my last free weekend in over a month.

This was a mistake. Listen here: Never rush renovations! Renovations always take 3x longer than you think.

The paint guy at Fregosi offered to “match” the Farrow & Ball colors, using Benjamin Moore Aura paint ($65/gallon). I used Ben Moore Aura in the living room and really loved how easily it went on, and have enjoyed its finish and depth ever since. So I agreed to this solution.

The Gray on the left is the Farrow & Ball sample, and the field on the right is the "matched" paint that

I bought. The tan background is the hall's original color.

Alas, I brought the paint home and realized that the paint did not look anything like the F&B sample that we tested and chose. Three shades darker and way muddier. Drat again! A weekend lost.

I went over to Fregosi at lunchtime to return the paint and extend some constructive criticism on their color matching. Much to my surprise, the paint that they mixed for me matched the color card, which matched their sample pot. So why does the sample on my wall not match these other identical paints? Did I get the wrong sample pot? Was my sample pot defective? Are those flowers plotting against me? Who wants to deal with this anyway.

I will wind up a long story now: My sample pot was Lamp Room Gray, but the differences between the textures of the two paints caused a huge color difference when on the wall. With the Farrow & Ball, the white primer shined through two coats of paint. So the effect was much lighter than the thick Benjamin Moore stuff.  On their website, Farrow and Ball recommends a specific “undercoat” to this paint, which may have made it match the color card more precisely.  

Lesson learned: If I want the color to precisely match the sample pot, buy the same brand. “Matching” colors is a inexact science.

The hallway looks good—we are happy with the end result.

Where the hallway bends toward the back of the apartment. One reason the dark gray works so well is

that the ceiling is still white and there is lots of white trim.

The flowers are a little more modern in Lamp Room Gray.

The front hall.

The view to the front hall from the living room.

Dark colors make your artwork "pop."

-Andi

Potential Paint Tips

Andi and I have now painted about half of our apartment. We've used a spray gun, rollers, brushes, little detailed paintbrushes, fingers, etc. to paint different portions of the unit. As a result, we've learned a thing or two that may or may not help someone who is about to paint their own apartment and who may or may not be looking for tips. I am going to err on the side of too much information is a good thing and do my part to overload the information super-highway. Here are 10 painting tips that may or may not be useful. Or even applicable to painting.

Tip #1: Spray guns are finicky. Theoretically they paint a surface smoothly and quickly. Practically, they paint a surface. And not always smoothly and quickly. Most commonly, the paint is too thick and clogs the spray nozzle—especially primer. Primer usually contains filling and binding agents that make spraying through fine spray nozzles very difficult. I was told that you could “thin” paint and/or primer with water, but I also read water reduces the effectiveness of the paint and/or primer. What to do?!?! So I loaded the gun sans thinner and hoped for the best. That meant I stopped and cleaned the gun about every 50sf of wall area or so. Or about 5 minutes of solid spray time before the gun started spitting like a llama.

Tip #2: Spray guns cover a lot of stuff. Pipes, conduit, ducts, sheet metal, mouse traps, redwood siding, cloth and windows are no match for a spray gun. If the target surface is properly prepared, the spray gun will give you the best, and quickest, paint cover over odd obstructions. Painting nooks and crannies with a brush is labor intensive, and pretty much just sucks.

The painted pipes, duct, sheet metal and redwood siding.

Tip #3: Latex paint does NOT bind to oil-based paint very well. When we prepped the trim for new paint, the existing uppermost layer of latex paint pealed away in large swaths of failure and disappointment since it was applied directly to a layer of oil-based paint. To avoid this feeling of paint rejection you need to remove the top layer of latex paint with a scraper or your finger nails, sand the jagged edges or corners and areas where the latex was too stupidly stubborn to peel off, and prime. That is the only way you’ll get the final coat of latex paint to bind to the existing surface adequately. And look decent. Painting over areas where the original paint has peeled looks like you painted over areas where the original paint has peeled.

Tip #4: Oil-based paint works best on trim since it goes on in one coat and self-levels itself, removing any indication of brush strokes. We did not learn this from experience—I saw it on a 30-second infomercial on HGTV. That tip would have really come in handy when we painted our trim.

Tip #5: When using a roller, first brush the paint out 6” from any trim, corners, and areas where the color changes. This allows you roll away with little repercussions, kind of like high-roller on a hot craps table. In addition, a brush stroke looks a lot different than a rolled stroke. I prefer the aesthetic of a rolled stroke so rolling after brushing blends the two techniques better.

Tip #6: When painting with a brush, apply the paint in long horizontal or vertical strokes. Follow these directions:

1.     Apply copious amounts of paint to the brush but not too much that you’re dripping all over your hand, the floor, or anything else that you want to avoid getting paint on (maybe your Harry Potter book collection?).

2.     Apply the paint evenly in one direction (maybe a 3’ length).

3.     Flip the brush over and apply the paint over the same area in the opposite direction, starting just past where you ended your first stroke and extending just past the spot where your first stroke started.

4.     Repeat steps 2 & 3 about 1-2 more times until you need more paint on the brush.

5.     GOTO 1 (and move down, up or over on the wall).

Do not start a stroke in the middle of a wet area. Latex paint starts drying pretty quickly. You will just remove some of the paint from the area and will have to touch it up later.

And don’t forget to breath, Daniel-san.

Tip #7: This may be obvious to most but was somewhat of a surprise to us: rolling uses a helluva lot more material than brushing.

Tip #8: Paintbrushes and roller covers have a shelf life. They are not immortal, like the great Gary Busey, especially if cared for poorly. So take care of them! Wash thoroughly.

Tip #9: Everything always looks better after a second coat.

Tip #10: Blue painter’s tape does little to stop the paint from creeping under the tape. Touch up at edges is always necessary. If someone has a tip on how to seal the tape to an edge better, we’re all ears.

Dean

Color Schemes for Victorians

The paint on our building is chipping and old. Unfortunately there are 14 different paint colors on our building, and estimates range from $60,000 - $100,000 to repaint! Who knew it was so expensive?



Our building. There are greens, purples, blues, whites, creams, golds. It all adds up to 14 colors.

Luckily there are four apartment owners, so we get to split the cost four ways. Consensus is that if we are going to drop $100K, we might as well pick a color that we like. One of my neighbors identifies the current color as “blue-green-gray” and another said we need to “bring the building color out of the early 90s.” Dean and I agree.

Because Victorian homes have so many colors, and painting is so expensive, it behooves everyone involved to hire a color consultant. These people help pick your color palette and painting plan, preventing a $100,000 disaster. I have heard that color consultants charge a one-time fee of about $500. Seems like a bargain, but I guess we will find out!

A few weekends ago Dean and I took a walk in our neighborhood to look at other Victorians and see how they are painted. We identified some that we like.

This home is a simple seafoam green with white trim and gold accents. I like.

A light gray house with lots of white and ivory trim, and a navy blue crown. Very tasteful.

Simple whites and creams. A timeless way to go.

Yellow with coral accents is so cheerful. But I worry that I would grow tired of it. Maybe in lighter shades

it would have more longevity?

Navy blue seems to be the only dark color I gravitate toward.

Everyone likes light blue.

Tan, red, brown and white is attractive. But this is the road to 14 colors on your home!

What colors do you like on ornate Victorian homes? If you have pictures, send them our way!

-Andi