Advertisement
Dutch Licorice. I’ve never tried the candy before, but I must say it is one heck of a pretty dark color. And it just so happens to be the navy paint color we chose for our guest room!
Last we chatted about this space, we had the wood wall up (part 1 & part 2) and had chosen our favorite color out of 4 navy paint contenders. Today, let’s discuss how we got the color up and on the walls in this space.
I’ve painted lots of rooms in my 27 (almost 28!) years, and have always found painting to be kinda fun. In fact, in college I was a “maintenance worker” for our town and my friends and I would spend our days painting offices, rec centers, and other buildings in town. I wasn’t the best painter, but I learned a lot over those summer months.
Bridget, on the other hand, had never painted in her entire life! Which does seem kinda crazy, but her father is a professional painter so there’s never been a need for her to ever paint…because he was always willing & able to get the job done perfectly. So I think she was a little nervous/anxious about painting a room in my house. Luckily, she is a natural. She must get the painting gene from her dad.
Back to the painting. Here are the supplies we gathered before starting…
Paint Supplies
- 2 gallons Valspar’s Dutch Licorice (Sheen: Eggshell)
- Paint rollers & covers
- Paint tray & tray inserts
- Drop cloths
- Ladder
- Paint Brushes (we love Purdy brushes. They’re the best!)
- Painter’s Tape
- Flathead Screwdriver
- Small “hot dog roller” & cover
Painting the Color “Dutch Licorice”
The first thing we did was remove all of the outlet covers. We recommend grabbing a ziploc baggie and throwing all of the covers and screws in there. That way you won’t lose them and they’ll be right on hand when you go to put the room back together.
With those off, we went around and started taping everything. Basically that meant the ceilings, baseboards, outlets, and around the window and doors. Because we were painting such a daaaaark color, we were both super nervous about paint bleeding through to the white ceiling or white trim. So we were very precise with our taping, and made sure to press it down tightly.
On the ceilings, we used this new Platinum painter’s tape from 3M. It’s a bit pricier than your regular painters tape, so we only got 1 roll of it. But because we didn’t want any bleed through on the ceilings…where it would be super noticeable and we would have to re-paint the entire ceiling white (ugh!), we decided to go with the good stuff. The tape reminded us of electrical tape, and was super strong.
So strong that the entire roll could hang from the ceiling…crazy right?!
Rookie Tip: Make sure your baseboards are clean before you apply the painter’s tape. If they’re dusty (I hate dusting…) then the paint won’t adhere and paint can bleed through to the other side.
With everything prepped, it was time to pop open that can of paint! I already shared our little time lapse video painting a portion of the room. Here it is again if you missed it.
You can see in the video, Bridget & I started on the wood wall and teamed up to get it done. We alternated with cutting into the corners, and using the small roller to cover the space in between all of the wood squares.
My mom then joined us in the afternoon and helped us paint the remainder of the room. Between the 3 of us, we knocked it out in just a couple of hours.
The first coat didn’t cover completely, but by the time we made our way around the entire room…the walls were dry and ready for their 2nd coat.
That one did cover. In fact it covered really well! So much so that we didn’t even do a third coat of the paint.
Looking back at the painting process, I would have done a few things differently. First, I would have brought another ladder into the room. Bridget & my mom focused on the bottom portion of the walls, and I slowly made my way around the top. But because you have to get down and move the ladder so much, I was way behind them. So having 2 ladders would have made things go even faster!
Also, I wish I would have remembered to get one of these little paint holders that has a magnet to hold your brush. Much easier to use this instead of going up and down the ladder to get more paint.
The good thing about going so dark is that any areas that weren’t covered were very visible. So it was easy to touch-up small areas as we went. Sometimes it’s hard with light colors to know if you’ve covered an area well enough, but the Dutch Licorice made our job easy.
2 coats, a couple of touch-ups, and a few hours later..the walls were dry to the touch! We cleaned up all of our supplies and left the room for the night to reaaaallly dry. Even though I desperately wanted to peel up the tape and get the room back in order, there was no way I was going to chance any wet paint from bleeding through on the ceiling or baseboard. So I shut the door and waited until morning.
At that time, I peeled off the painter’s tape (no bleed through!), put the outlet covers back on, and took in my new dark & moody space.
It went from this….
to this…
In the span of 24 hours. Pretty crazy, right?!
To say I love the new color would be an understatement. I’m honestly obsessed with it. I think it looks so good against the white doors and trim. Really makes the white pop!
The girl who was so afraid to make a bold move is now understanding why people paint their walls colors other than gray! Ha, who knew it would happen?!
With the wood wall up and the room painted, it’s now time for new lighting. But that’s next week my friends! This guest room is really coming along…
Casey
Advertisement
