Paint

Entryway

/ Pink Bronwstone / Leave a comment

The entryway in our parlor floor has a lot going for it, yet is suffers from a constant malaise of gloominess. Brownstones are notoriously dark given the lack of side windows, and even though our front door is about 50% glass, this is still a dark and moody part of the house. The skylight above the staircase helps a lot, but whatever it contributes, the current wall color sucks away.

Yes the paint colors matches the cat.

Right now, I’m thinking this will help fix it:

Granny Smith White and Pure White

Before painting the wall needs a skim coat, since the plaster is cracking in some places and you can see paint drips from previous paint drips throughout. Paint drips are my nemesis!  I figured once I have the colors picked, there will be no more excuses to get this project underway (ha!). After two trips to the BedStuy Home Depot (first time I forgot the paint chips and couldn’t remember the name of the color), I’m painting a section of the wall with  Granny Smith White as the main color (in a satin finish), with the picture rail Pure White (in semi gloss) and the area above the picture rail and the ceiling Pure White (in satin finish). Off to apply the second coat (and yell at the paint drips some more). I’ll post pictures in a few days.

Alas! The Interwebs!

/ Pink Bronwstone / 1 Comment

It took 2 separate trips by Cablevision and four sets of technicians, but we are fully connected to the world outside now. Woo hoo!

During our 27 days of cable/internet hiatus, we did things the pioneering way: went to bed early, read books for entertainment, attempted to watch TV on our cellphones – OK, that right there? Neither old fashioned or effective. In any case, some actual work on the house also got done.

After much hemming and hawing about paint color, we decided on a combination of dark/light gray and pure white for the garden level hallway and staircase. The wainscoting and the spindles will be light gray, the banister and the steps charcoal gray. The doors and door moldings semi gloss white and the walls flat white, like so:

The new floor will be going in this weekend and I will post full before and after pics – from muppet flesh tone orange, to monotone awesomeness.

This is actually really out of character for me, since I’m a fan of color. I have no idea where this love of muted monochrome tones came from. For the third floor, I’ve been debating the finer points of way too many shades of white, something that I will get to as soon as we deal with the cracks in the plaster: