Did it. Stripes.

They are done.   Mostly.  I have to touch up some spots.  I don't like when I finish a project and the biggest inspiration for writing is to share lessons learned while doing said project.  Oy.

Morning Glory

I love the color.  It is Morning Glory by Sherwin-Williams.  Goes on purple dries a bright dark blue.  Just what I wanted.  I love how playful and fresh the hallway feels now.  I chose the color because I wanted something that would pop against the dining room color....and help the dining room color pop.  I love the dining room color.  Rainforest by Martha Stewart.

I REALLY loved it until I went into an elderly person's home and everything was painted this color but it was peeling and with low lights.  Sad.  Since then I have been looking for ways to keep me from getting that visual every time I go into the dining room.

Below you can see that when you walk into the house (door on the right) you enter the hallway and can see directly into the green dining room. (Room painted green on the left.......)

{The Before}

When we moved in the hallways were....dark blue.  Sean pointed out the irony of now painting somewhat dark blue stripes.  "Too bad we didn't wait so we could just paint white stripes."  Har har.  I hated that blue.  It was so dark and sad.  So this is technically the {After the first blue but before the second}...or something.  Check out that mess!  Couldn't there be more beautiful baby gates??  Also, that chair is always floating around so B can get into ev-er-y-thing.  Keys. yep. My purse. yep.  The "hidden" chocolate. yep.  The MICROWAVE. yep.

{The During}

Lesson #1.  DO paint the wall color first and then the stripe color to avoid bleeding.  I know this.  I know this.  I KNOW this.  I forgot this.  So the lines are not sharp.  They have a tiny fuzziness to them at the edges.  I can live with it visually.  I will touch up as much as I can but I will probably do more harm than good if I try to get it too perfect.  Painter I am not.  I have almost no patience for paint which is terrible considering I have a dresser waiting to be finished in my garage....this dresser isn't a simple one color job.  Overly ambitious.

{Ta-Da - patience is not my thing...night pictures with stuff everywhere.}

 Lesson #2.  Don't get ahead of yourself and think you will only need two coats of paint.  By you I, of course, mean me.  I was so concerned with getting the tape off while the paint was wet that I didn't make sure that I wouldn't need a third coat.  All I needed was a little patience to do a test spot.  Instead, I had to go back with a brush and paint over almost every stripe...trying to get to the edge without messing up.  I didn't get paint on the white but I did leave the semi-gloss stripes with a textured surface (rather than a smooth surface).  Bad.  It kind of looks dirty when the sun shines on it.  At this point....I don't freaking care.  I will put up a black out shade so the sun never hits the stripes.  I am DONE trying to fix the stripes...except for a few touch-ups.  AH.

{The other wall}

I guess I should be thankful there were only two lessons that needed learning.  Anymore and this project wouldn't have been worth it.

So.  There are my stripes.  I really do like them.  Yeah!