Mom's Living room makeover

When I updated my websites, I came across a blog post from back in 2017 where I said that Mom was wanting me to paint her fireplace.  Well, its 2020 and I finally painted her fireplace for her!  LOL.  To be fair to myself, I did other rooms for her first over the couple of years that she had wanted done first.  ;)

Being in mandatory self isolation due to our province's emergency mandate over the Corona virus, we had/have lots of time on our hands so it was time for this makeover, as Mom so sweetly & gently . . . and regularly reminded me.  LOL.  ​

What I did:

• painted the fireplace
• painted the end tables
• painted the shutters on the wall
• painted the one old bronze lamp black
• painted the frame of the fancy mirror
• bought new larger picture frames at the Dollarama
• printed off sepia tone family pictures on my printer for those frames
• bought the wrought iron wall decor off FB Marketplace for over the windmill
• painted the two off-white vases black
• painted the birds wings red
• painted the wrought iron wall bicycle red (There are no before pictures, but it was teal blue before.)

Here are the before & after pictures.

And a couple more 'after' photos:

Since I moved in here last October (after I sold my house, I moved in here until I can get back on my financial feet), my furniture came with me.  Mom had an older blue couch & chair set that she wanted to replace but hadn't yet so she gave it to my oldest daughter and we put my set in here.  So its my couch & chairs and rug but the rest of the stuff is Mom's.  Just thought I'd explain in case some of you noticed the same furniture here that was in my house I just sold.  LOL

I would like to point out that the walls are the same grey.  We did not repaint the walls. 

Mom has accented throughout the main level of the house with aquamarine blue and since Christmas time, has added in touches of red.  The two accent colours are pretty equally used in the dining room, predominantly red is used in the kitchen, and just a few small touches of red and aquamarine blue in the living room now.  I love her choices, don't you!

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Now for the details.
I started out using products on hand.  I primed the fireplace and end tables with Stix primer, which is white.  Then after curing and sanding, etc,  I painted the first coat with Dulux Diamond Matte in ready made white mixed with Chalktique powder.  

Primed & Sanded

First coat of chalk paint on the right, second coat on the left.

Although at a distance the second coat looked good, up close you could tell it would be still another coat or two away from being enough.  I didn't have enough Chalktique powder or paint on hand to accommodate that so I had to come up with another plan.  Mom was eager for me to try doing what a lot of other people do and that is to paint with regular trim paint.  So, I did a coat of Sico Door & Trim paint over the one coat of chalk paint that was on the end tables.  It covered well so I did the second coat and those were done.  I personally was not happy with the results, being a perfectionist, as it didn't look professional at all to me (it looks too much like cellulite to me, LOL).  Mom was happy, though, and wanted them left that way so since she is the boss . . . the end tables are done.   (P.S.  Mom told me to add in that she had to endure all my belly aching over how the furniture was not turning out how I wanted it to.  Poor Mom.  LOL)

For the fireplace since it had so many edges & nooks & crannies, it is very hard to paint and keep the paint from pooling & dripping.  It would have been extra difficult to use the trim paint because it tends to drip more (I found that was an issue on the end tables).  So, we ordered Benjamin Moore Advance paint over the phone and Mom & Dad picked it up outside the store in town (contactless shopping).  Again, having been so many years since I used that product, it was a learning/remembering curve.  It was difficult due to all those edges/nooks/crannies but I got the job done.  Again, its not a perfect job (in my eyes) but Mom was happy and so that is the main thing.  She loves the makeover!

What I learned from this whole experience is that when painting dark things white, I won't use my favourite chalk paint.  I will use BM Advance paint for sure.  It covers so well and its self-leveling properties help out big time on difficult jobs. 

Tools I used:

• Inslx Stix primer (sold at Benjamin Moore stores in Canada)
• Flock foam roller
• Sponge brush (I use the 1" with the wood handles as they are much better quality than the plastic handled ones.)
• Sanding blocks (medium grit with pressure after Stix cures, then very fine grit with a very light pressure between coats of paint)
• Cling On brush