Progress continues with the camper. This week we took the first step in replacing the floor that we had to take out due to severe rotting :(

While Peter was doing that, I got busy removing the cabinets, priming, and painting. I used the oil-based Zinsser primer, which I brushed on initially. After doing several of the cabinet pieces, I ended up buying the spray paint version which went on a million times faster.  I am interested and hopeful with how it will hold up on those lovely laminate cabinets!

(My station all set up as I primed)

I found a really nice shade of white/off white, which is White Dove by Benjamin Moore. This is the shade I am using on the cabinets, although I don't have pictures yet of them all finished with that shade. 

Finally, I laid out all of the hardware and primed and spray painted it with a nice oil-rubbed bronze.

Above is what the rusty/off colored brass handles looked like before spraying! 

My raised Jenny Lind bed: A year later

A year ago, I wrote about finding an antique Jenny Lind bed and raising the headboard to a more standard headboard height of about 52 inches. The bed has been finished and in my house for over nine months.. I think it's about time to post a few pictures!

The bed turned out great and has held up exceedingly well. I am currently using it in my guest room, which is not quite decorated at the moment, but definitely serves its purpose.  

Camp Ave & the technicolored dream house

The exterior of the house is sad, in a chipping-paint, leaning-sideways-porch kind of way. Of course, there are a lot of grand plans that we have for the exterior, but they have not been the priority. However, we have been thinking about paint colors. We have been hoping for a mud color--something darker than the current color, but not too dark. Possibly with a hint of green.

So obviously, we had to try out a bunch of colors...on the front of the house. 

We tested several colors. On the left side, from top to bottom, is 1) Benjamin Moore Victorian Garden at half strength; 2) B.M. Senora Gray at double strength; 3) B.M. Victorian Garden.  On the right, I am not quite sure of the colors--one of them is Sherwin Williams Curio Gray, and the light green shade is Senora Gray by B.M. at regular strength. 

Up close, we really liked the Victorian Garden at half strength. It has the green tones, and was not super dark. 

So my parents decided to paint the whole front of the port part in order to see how the color looked and to cover up that patchwork. 

At this point I was really liking it!

So the next day, I came back during my lunch break to check on the house. I was shocked, I seriously could not see the difference between the old light color and the new! In the pictures, it is visible (albeit BARELY visible). 

(hello, color, are you there???!!)

So in the end, Victorian Garden at half strength is probably not going to work. It is a tad too light, and we want to see a bit of a change...something a few shades darker. Not too dark, but not this light tan. My suggestion was getting the Victorian Garden at 75% strength? 

At least the front porch looks a lot better now that the paint patchwork is cleaned up! 

Have you ever painted a stucco house? If yes, did the paint dry a lot lighter than you expected?