Color Me Home Episode 3: Curb Appeal on a Budget, 1

This week, in honor of the beautiful weather we all experienced over Spring Break, Betsy and Dan discuss some simple exterior projects that will help you increase the curb appeal of your home without breaking the bank!

Episode Outline

  • Front Doors (1:55)
  • What If I’ve Got a Storm Door? (7:34)
  • Careful With Your Color, Though! (12:12)
  • Garage Doors (12:39)
  • Shutters (13:40)
  • Vinyl Safe Paint and Colors (15:20)
  • How to Paint Your Shutters (18:20)
  • A Quick Miracle Fix to Revive Faded Shutters (21:51)
  • Mailboxes (25:40)

Before and After Homes with Shutters!

As we mentioned in the podcast, adding shutters to a home can make a tremendous difference. And while I’d love to share a large gallery of photos making our case, I don’t have the rights! So, I’m doing the next best thing: Here’s a google image search that will allow you to see exactly what we’re talking about!

Check it out! And we’re betting that if you don’t already have shutters on your home, after seeing those photos, you’ll move that project to the top of your list.

Vinyl Safe Colors

Benjamin Moore’s Revive is available in a wide variety of vinyl safe colors. Check out the full palette!vinyl_safe_colors_revive4

Penetrol Fix for Shutters

We talked about this at the 21:51 mark on the podcast and if you didn’t hear it, you should listen in to know exactly what these notes refer to. At any rate, I was able to dig up the photos that I took when I applied Penetrol to my shutters early last Spring. The first photo shows the shutter before application–faded and chalky. The next two obviously show the shutter in process. The final photo of the house shows the shutter finished and the surrounding trim cleaned up.

It’s definitely a project to try if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to restore the color of the vinyl. Just be aware, it’s not a long-lasting fix. You’ll typically get anywhere from 6 months to a year out of it. A full paint job is going to last much longer!

 

Color Me Home Episode 2: Choosing Colors You’ll Love

Welcome to Color Me Home! This week Betsy and Dan discuss how you can make sure that the next colors you choose are colors you love! See, in our first episode we talked about ways to find inspiration for your next color scheme. That’s all well and good, but finding interesting, intriguing color schemes is one thing . . . finding colors you LOVE is a little different. Today, we’re going to discuss some concepts that you can use to make sure that the next gallon of paint you purchase looks perfect in your home.

Episode Outline

  • The Color Folder/Portfolio (0:50)
  • Online Tools  (7:00)
  • Schedule Yourself Time so You Don’t Have to Rush! (10:40)
  • Brush Out Some Larger Samples (16:24)
  • Don’t Forget About Your Lighting! (24:46)
  • The Danger (and Importance) of Asking for Opinions (35:30)

Some Great Blog Posts That Delve Into the Topics Discussed Today!

Start With a Color Folder
Start With a Color Folder
Paint Colors and Lighting
Paint Colors and Lighting
A Little Color Here...
A Little Color Here...
The Eyebrow Incident
The Eyebrow Incident

 

 

The Eyebrow Incident

The wheels started to come off right away this morning when I moved a little slower than normal while getting ready. A little delay here, a little delay there and I found myself in a time crunch. And that’s never a good thing.

But, I figured I’d be OK. That I’d make up for lost time by moving a little more quickly than usual. And that’s when the wheels came off entirely.

See, here’s what happened: I was shaving. Quickly. And as I stood there in the bathroom, whipping the razor over my face in manic, almost jack-the-ripper-like fashion, I happened to catch a glance of something curious in the mirror. I brought the blade to a standstill, leaned in and, sure enough, there it was: a long, wispy hair shooting out of my eyebrow at a crazy angle. Hmmmm. Getting older seems to produce more and more of these.

Anyway, normally, I would have attempted a more precise method for removing the offending hair. Possibly a tweezers, maybe a scissors. You know, an implement with a little precision. Something with accuracy.

But, I was in a hurry. And hurry is the enemy of precision. And common sense. And a lot of other things. And so I looked at the razor in my hand, looked back at the eyebrow hair just standing there, taunting me, and I made a snap decision:  “Why don’t I just use this razor to mow down that one non-conformist hair? It’ll be quick and easy….”

And so I did it. And it worked remarkably well. I took that hair off at the base–right where it met the skin. A clean, precise cut. And then I looked in the mirror and realized that there was a white patch just a little smaller than a dime in the center of my eyebrow.

Shaving cream?

I looked closer and saw no shaving cream. Just a lot of skin. Pale skin peeking out around a dark ring of remaining hair, making my eyebrow look the head of a medieval monk.

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The above is a recreation of the actual event. The results have been exaggerated in order to better reflect my humiliation….

I looked down at the counter and there it was: the rest of my eyebrow. It was scattered everywhere. Hairs here, hairs there.

Now, I have to be honest, my first reaction when I saw this was to carefully brush the counter with my (now shaking) hands and scoop the remnants up. And as I stood there, staring at all those hairs in my cupped hands, I began to wonder whether or not I could glue them back in place somehow. I’m not lying. My first thought was a reattachment procedure of some sort. But then sad, brutal, terrifying reality set in: you can’t glue your eyebrow back on.

And so I let the hairs fall back to the counter and I turned back to the mirror. Surely, it wasn’t as bad as I feared?  I leaned in, examined it closely, and discovered that yes, it was truly as bad as I’d feared. Possibly worse.

With only minutes before I had to march out the door, heading to work to deal with all the ridicule I was bound to receive, I started trying to get creative. Sure, the gluing it back on idea was dumb, but maybe I could just comb over the remaining hairs? It works for bald men, right?

I tried that for a minute, brushing and brushing, but the hairs were stiff and stubborn and refused to fan out to cover the bald spot. I thought about washing them and conditioning them to make them a little more manageable, but I discarded that as another dumb idea.

With my nose pressed nearly to the mirror, I stared at my eyebrow. Time travel would be awesome. But not possible. Yet. What else? Time was ticking. I needed answers. What to do?

As I stood there, staring, a seemingly reasonable voice filled my head: “I bet if you just removed that section over there, things would even out?”

I looked at the spot to which the voice had referred. Maybe he had a point. It could work. So, without thinking, I picked up the razor and went back to work on what was left of my eyebrow. Yes. I’m serious. I was in a fight or flight mentality and I needed solutions. Thinking things through never solves any actual problems, right? I needed action!

Well, it only took a couple more swipes to realize that now I’d removed another section of eyebrow further down. I think I heard that voice in my head chuckle a little.

Things were getting worse quickly. I set the razor down and looked back. And even now, in the midst of the situation, that same voice whispered enticingly: “you know, if you’d just hack off that other side, I think it would all balance everything out nicely . . . .”

I had the blade halfway to my face when a new voice sounded from the other part of my brain–the non-insane part.  This voice told me, in an authoritative tone, to put the razor down and step away from the mirror. I instantly listened because that part of me sounded like he knew what he was talking about. His tone was no-nonsense and I was honestly relieved. Finally. Someone was here to take charge of the situation. Someone was here to help.

“So,” I said to the sane side of my brain. “What do we do?”

“Let me think for a minute,” he said, strumming my fingers on the counter before snapping them in a gesture of inspiration. “Makeup! It solves every problem.”

And so I yanked open the makeup drawer and started digging through all these strange bottles and powders I didn’t understand. Finally my eyes fell upon an eyeliner pencil.

With shaky hands I colored over the pale bald spots where my eyebrow used to be and assessed my work in the mirror. Passable. As long as I kept my head turned slightly to the side while talking to people, I figured I’d get by until the hair grows back.

So, feeling somewhat relieved, I walked out, got dressed, and then found my wife in the kitchen. I relayed the story to her and then leaned in for a quick inspection. I figured I’d let her look me over to make sure I was alright.

So she leaned in and I stood there. Her eyes flicked from eyebrow to eyebrow before finally settling on one. I watched her fight against a smile that tugged at the corner of her lips and then, finally, she gave up and burst into laughter, shaking her head.

“Well, people may not notice, but you sure did a number on your eyebrow, that’s for sure!” She laughed, her eyes still focused on the eyebrow she found so hilarious.

I just stared at her. Watching the tears well up in her eyes as the laughter poured out of her mouth. Finally, I cleared my throat: “That’s the eyebrow I didn’t even touch.” I turned and walked briskly away to the soundtrack of my entire family cackling in a very immature manner.

And so, I sit here today, writing this post. I’ve got one eyebrow that I’ve nearly shaved off and another eyebrow that is apparently so naturally malformed as to be utterly hilarious when submitted to close examination. I’m sure the story will live on in in the family and will likely be used at my funeral someday.

At any rate, the scariest thing is that every time I step into the bathroom here at work, I stop by the mirror and give my eyebrows a once over. And every time I do, that same voice–the insane one–fills my head: “You know, if you would just razor off a little bit over here and a little bit over there, I think you’d have them both looking really, really good.”

I’m trying not to listen to him. But he can be very convincing when he wants to be….

Color Me Home Episode 1: Finding Inspiration

Welcome to Color Me Home! As a quick introduction, Color Me Home is a podcast about painting, decorating, creative projects, and whatever else happens to come up in the conversation. It’s hosted by Betsy Thompson and Dan Hansen from RepcoLite Paints.

This week Betsy and Dan discuss how to find the inspiration for your next color scheme. It often seems overwhelming to pick colors when you find yourself standing in front of a color display that offers over 3,000 varying tones and shades! But the good news is that finding inspiration is much easier than you might think!

Episode Outline

  • Nature (1:24)
  • Our Expanded Neighborhoods (3:24)
  • Our Existing Decor and Furniture (12:20)
  • Our Closets (15:54)
  • Magazines (19:07)
  • Your Own Photos (21:43)
  • Online Tools and Sources of Inspiration (25:15)
  • The Unusual and Unexpected (35:30)

Links for Online Tools and Sources of Inspiration

We spoke about a number of sites that we recommend for finding inspiration. Here are the links for everything we mentioned!

  • Design Seeds (browse 1000’s of photos/color schemes)
  • Houzz (browse 100’s of 1000’s of photos for inspiration)
  • Pictaculous (upload your own photos to create color schemes)
  • Easy RGB (to convert web-specific colors into Benjamin Moore color numbers!)

And here’s one more site we strongly, strongly recommend:

Palette Generator.com

palettegenerator
This site completely replaces Pictaculous (mentioned above). If we’d known about this one before we recorded our podcast, we’d have included it and left out Pictaculous. And here’s why: it’s way easier, it provides much better information, and, best of all, you can mark off a section of the photo you uploaded and only draw colors from that location! It is easily one of the best online sources for finding inspiration you’ll ever use–especially when you use it in conjunction with the EasyRGB site mentioned above. Below are just a few examples of color schemes Betsy put together based on her own photos and the color recommendations from palettegenerator.com!

The colors above came together quickly! And it was fun to do. Sure, the colors recommended by PaletteGenerator.com needed to be adjusted and toned down somewhat, but it still gave us some direction to get started. In fact, we both agreed that using the website was much quicker than even taking the photo to the store and trying to find colors to match. It’s a powerful tool to help you go from 1000’s of options down to just a few in literally seconds!

Dress for Success: 3 Tips for Your Next Paint Job!

bigstock-Man-s-Legs-83108792_webA number of years ago, in the middle of the night, we heard something that sounded like gunshots outside our window. Well, needless to say, the second I heard the “shots”, I hopped out of bed, ready for action. Fight or flight, right?

Anyway, I was standing there, running through all the potential scenarios in my head when I looked down and realized I was in my underpants.

Well, this wouldn’t do.

See, in all of the scenarios I’d imagined–fighting off burglars, bustling my family to safety amidst a hail of gunfire–in none of them was I dressed in my underpants.

And so I went straight to my dresser and started rummaging around for my jeans.

“What are you doing?” My wife’s whispered voice cut through the darkness.

I could see her sitting in the bed, staring at me. “I’m looking for my jeans.” Duh. I closed the drawer I’d just searched and opened the next one down.

“Why?” her whisper was sharp and cutting, laced with anxiety and a little bit of fear. Gunshots, you know.

“Because I’m in my underpants,” I said without turning around. Time was of the essence. “Do you have any idea where that one faded pair with the hole in the knee is?”

There was a sudden thud on the floor next to me and she said, “There! There’s the pair that was sitting on the nightstand.” Her words were tense, strained.

I picked them up, but they were my fancy jeans. They were stiff and a little uncomfortable. And, like I said, a little too fancy.

“Nah. I want my faded pair.”

There was silence for a second and then her whispers filled the void: “Seriously? You need a specific pair of jeans to go fight off a burglar?”

I just shook my head. She didn’t get it. But everyone knows you can’t fight off a burglar in fancy pants or underpants. You need action pants. It’s really not that complicated.

And that’s when I found them. Relief washed over me. I yanked them out of the drawer and stepped into them, instantly feeling cooler and much more ready for whatever was happening.

Ten minutes later, it was clear that there was no burglar lurking. Nobody shooting. It was just fireworks. It was honestly a bit of a let down.

As I pulled off my action pants and placed them back in my dresser, it hit me that there was a paint point in all of this. I just never knew what it was until now.

See, I’ve been discussing a number of painting tips for the Do-It-Yourselfer on our daily little radio blurbs. (You can click here to listen!) And one of the recommendations I’m making is to dress for the part whenever you paint.

Here’s what I mean:

1. Wear old clothes.

This is a no-brainer. I get that. And yet . . . it happens all the time. We tackle a small project thinking we’ll just be careful. 10 minutes later, we’re standing at the sink doing everything we can to rinse blue paint out of a nice shirt. Or a good pair of shorts. I’ve personally done this countless times and have resigned countless clothing items to the “can’t-wear-that-to-Church-again” bins. Instead of accidentally damaging good, expensive clothing, take the extra few minutes–even if the project is a quick one–to throw on some old clothes.

2. Wear the Right Clothes.

OK. The first recommendation was about wearing old clothes. What I’m talking about here revolves around wearing the right ones. And what I specifically mean is this: pick up a pair of painter’s pants or painter’s shorts at a RepcoLite, Port City Paints, or Snyder Paints store. These things come with extra pockets for putty knives, screwdrivers, brushes and other tools you’ll need when you’re working. If you’ve ever worked through a paint project and spent a fair amount of time running around trying to remember where you set your putty knife down or left your screwdriver, then check these out. They’re not very expensive and they’re definitely worth it if you tackle more than 1 or 2 painting projects in a year.

3. Dress your room appropriately.

Finally, the last tip that’s even remotely connected to my jeans story is this one: dress the room appropriately. And what I mean by this is simple: purchase some dropcloths and use them! Cover your furniture, cover your floors, protect your decor. Sure, it takes a few extra minutes, but the minute that first drip falls from your brush and lands on a plastic sheet instead of your couch, you’ll realize how smart you were!

And there you go. 3 Tips to help you dress for success on your next paint job! Give them a try! And if you have any other great ideas, leave them in the combox!

Paint Behind the Toilet Without Pulling It (Or Even Removing the Tank!)

030916_wb_5Years ago I tackled a bathroom remodel and in all my wisdom, I pulled the toilet out myself. At 10:30 at night. Before having the kids use it. It was a nightmare.

Oh, there were so many things that went wrong on that particular project, I can’t even really begin to list them. But most of the pain that I felt revolved around that stupid toilet. See, it was the only one in our house and the minute I pulled it, the kids started showing up at the doorway. The toilet, at that point, was sitting in the hall, and it wasn’t long before they were eyeing it with interest, or perhaps desperation, as they danced.

Suddenly, the pressure was on. I had to get the toilet back in ASAP. And of course, doing exactly that was, perhaps, the most painful home improvement experience I’ve ever had.

My wife was helping me and every time we’d try to set the toilet down, the toilet bolts would fall through the floor and land in the basement.  I’d run down, stuff them back up through the holes in the basement ceiling/bathroom floor and then, before I’d get 10 feet away, I’d hear one ping off the concrete. My wife’s muffled “Sorry!” would drift down from the upstairs and I’d do the whole thing again. And again and again.

We struggled like this for over an hour.  We argued.  We laughed.  We fought.  We nearly cried.  Maybe we did cry.

We cried. Let’s just be honest. At least I cried. All in all it was horrible and I resolved never to pull the toilet out again.

And that’s why this tip about how to paint behind the toilet without pulling the toilet or even taking the tank off is so intriguing to me.

After all, painting in a bathroom is bad enough. It’s crowded. Tight. And then, to top it all off, at some point in the project you’re going to need to find a way to wedge yourself alongside the toilet, hug the bowl, and then do your best to reach around with a roller or a brush and slop some paint on the wall behind the tank. If you’ve ever tried to do this, you know how much fun it is.

But here’s a tip that will make it easier the next time you try.

Here’s What You Need:

1. Replacement Pads for a Shur-Line Edger. ($3.45 for a 2-pack at RepcoLite)

2. Some double-stick tape (or duct tape, or hot glue, or something sticky).

3. A stir stick.

Here’s What You Do:

030916_wb_2b

1. Gather your supplies.

030916_wb_3

2. Affix the double-stick tape to the back of the edger pad.

030916_wb_4

3. Affix the stir stick to the edger pad using the tape.

And that’s it. Once you’ve done that, you’ve got a thin, easy to maneuver “paint brush” of sorts that will allow you to reach behind the toilet tank and apply your paint without having to remove the toilet or the tank! It’s a great time saver and it’s going to cost you, at most, $5.

If you’re going to give it a try, here are a couple other tips to make sure the project goes quickly and smoothly:

1. Don’t forget to clean behind the tank first. You could use a rag on a stir stick to reach back there and remove the cobwebs.

2. Wrap the tank with a garbage bag and tape it tight, so it’s not loose or in your way. Then, you can get behind there with the tools we talked about and it won’t matter if you bump the tank.