Painter's advise wanted/needed.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

I started painting but my original plan was put on hold because I'm not sure it would look good.
I was going to paint the back kitchen wall the same tan, along with the column...then a pale blue or a pale or dark teal on the accent wall.
But I'm open to your suggestions.
Also, the door, window area(inside/moldings) and ceiling and floor moldings I don't know what to do with.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Anyone know of any sites that could help if I posted with pictures?
I posted on about.com and yahoo, but figured I'd ask if there were better places?

[MatrixDweller]

If you paint the ceiling anything other than white you'll get a lot of funny looks and would have very low WAF I suspect. Best thing for ceilings, that's not hard to do is use the white orange peel textured ceiling wall paper (or an orange peel stucco but that takes a pro).

I would paint the kitchen walls though. The contrast between the ceiling and the walls will make the ceiling look higher. I would just continue on with the lighter brown all the way around. Make sure to use an eggshell or satin paint. Too much sheen in the paint brings out all of the imperfections in the wall. You should also take off the HVAC return grill and spray paint it white to match your trim.

Give the walls a good wash before you paint too. Are those grease stains on the one wall? TSP (trisodium phosphate) is pretty good for getting all kinds of stuff off a wall. That will help the paint stick better and stop grease or other stuff from coming through the paint.

Getting picky you could change out your switch/outlet plates for white to match your trim also. If you're comfortable with electrical, change the actual switches and outlets with white spec grade outlets (much firmer connection) and decora switches. That will modernize it a bit.

Changing the baffle trim on your pot lights and using halogen bulbs will also make a nice improvement. The temperature of light given off by halogen bulbs is so much nicer than incandescent.

As for websites...how about http://forum.doityourself.com/

[Space]

Color is a very personal part of your living area. It is in all you do from your vehicle to your choice of professional sports team A current trend, feng shui( http://fengshui.about.com/ ) could actually help. But it could just as easily gray the otherwise bright edges of your selections. But it could help

For me, I have several ways that I choose colors. Looking at the homes of friends or family is always a good inspiration. Nothing helps me to make a decision more then saying the colors out loud to my wife. Then she sets me straight about how wrong I can be

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

MatrixDweller wrote:

If you paint the ceiling anything other than white you'll get a lot of funny looks and would have very low WAF I suspect. Best thing for ceilings, that's not hard to do is use the white orange peel textured ceiling wall paper (or an orange peel stucco but that takes a pro).

I would paint the kitchen walls though. The contrast between the ceiling and the walls will make the ceiling look higher. I would just continue on with the lighter brown all the way around. Make sure to use an eggshell or satin paint. Too much sheen in the paint brings out all of the imperfections in the wall. You should also take off the HVAC return grill and spray paint it white to match your trim.

Give the walls a good wash before you paint too. Are those grease stains on the one wall? TSP (trisodium phosphate) is pretty good for getting all kinds of stuff off a wall. That will help the paint stick better and stop grease or other stuff from coming through the paint.

Getting picky you could change out your switch/outlet plates for white to match your trim also. If you're comfortable with electrical, change the actual switches and outlets with white spec grade outlets (much firmer connection) and decora switches. That will modernize it a bit.

Changing the baffle trim on your pot lights and using halogen bulbs will also make a nice improvement. The temperature of light given off by halogen bulbs is so much nicer than incandescent.

As for websites...how about http://forum.doityourself.com/

I used flat paint so far and most likely will continue with that.
No, check the "spots" sentences in my original post....no grease or dirt.
Believe it or not that white with the cream grills and wall plates was how it came originally.

So you don't think I can/should do the accent wall in a thrid color?

I will paint the plates and the intake vent the same as the floor moldings.
Two of the overheads are incandescent and three are compact flourescent, I can paint the cans the same as the plates and etc if that is what I should do.

What do I do with:
front door
kitchen cabinets
window trim and molding

Thanks so much,
Matt

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Space wrote:

Color is a very personal part of your living area. It is in all you do from your vehicle to your choice of professional sports team A current trend, feng shui( http://fengshui.about.com/ ) could actually help. But it could just as easily gray the otherwise bright edges of your selections. But it could help

For me, I have several ways that I choose colors. Looking at the homes of friends or family is always a good inspiration. Nothing helps me to make a decision more then saying the colors out loud to my wife. Then she sets me straight about how wrong I can be

It's funny you say that, as this scheme(the original plan) was one I saw just recently at a friend of a friends home and I loved it, but my space is much more difficult and less straight forward.

[MatrixDweller]

You can't really paint outlets and switches. Cover plates are really cheap (like under 25¢). You can't paint the baffles, but the trims should be ok to paint (with high heat paint). The housing would get warm and paint could pose a fire hazard. It would probably be more effective to replace them all together. A baffle and trim could cost any where from $4 to $40 depending on how fancy you want them ($7 to $15 average for something decent). The cans stay in place, it's just a plastic or metal insert and trim ring that get replaced.

The lights that are in there are probably just a hodge podge mix maybe to save energy yet have some lights that go fully on quickly (CFLs take a while to reach full brightness). They would all have the same standard E26 Edison base (aka type A). Replace them all with the same type of PAR halogen bulb and you should have more even light distribution. You can adjust the depth of the bulb inside the housing also so that it doesn't extend too far below the lip of the trim.

Spray paint the HVAC grill white.

If you don't like your kitchen cabinets but don't want to replace them all, you can reface them. Basically it's just new doors and drawer fronts. If you are handy you could reface them yourself using veneer.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

I put the 3 CF's in, just haven't gotten around to changing out the other two as they aren't exactly easy to reach.(I'm 5'8")
These actually do not recess back up into the holding, they can only be swiveled.

If I do the intake "white" then I need to paint the molding and outlet covers the same correct?
What of the door and ceiling?(color-wise)

I don't dislike them and if possible I'd like to avoid doing anything to them., is that o.k.?
(kitchen cabinets)

Thanks for your help,
Matt

[MatrixDweller]

If you take the baffle and trim off there are probably wing nuts up in the housing that, when loosened, allow the socket plate to raise or lower. Inside the housing it should also say what the maximum bulb wattage should be for different types of bulbs.

I should add that the benefit of using a PAR type bulb will be that the light will be focused downward so you will have less illumination of the ceiling. Regular bulbs shine light all around them where as PAR or BR shine it in a beam with less light wasted going in directions that do not need light. Regular A type bulbs should only be used with reflector baffles.

Looking at the spacing and height of your lights you'd probably want a beam spread of 25 to 40 degrees. You could use a BR type bulb also, but they don't provide as nice light IMO and are subject to humming if dimmed. A nicer BR light is the daylight type. They have a purple tinge on the glass which filters out some of the unwanted light spectrum. I find that they make everything in the room look nicer.

I would leave the door and window trim and baseboards white because the vinyl window is white and you can't really paint that. Are the baseboards and mouldings around not white? It's hard to tell in your pictures.

I can see that your wall plates are that yellowy beige colour. Don't paint receptacles and switch plates. You can buy plates for under 25 cents each and won't have to worry about the paint peeling off them. The wall plates and vents in your room should match the trim colour for best effect. You might be able to find a white replacement cover for your door bell. You could spray paint it as it won't be subject to wear. Most paints will peel off plastic. There are special paints however meant for bonding to plastic.

If your door trim is white and the door is off white you should paint the door white. You could use some TSP on the trim also to clean it up and repaint it to give it a fresh look. IMO if you were selling your house these would be things that you would do to get your asking price. Therefore doing those things any other time will just make your home look more polished and cared for.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

I will do all the extras plus the door in a new coat of white. They are all white or off white now.
I got the back wall in the kitchen wit hthe small slifing window painted in the tan today and the column's kitchen side wall. Also got the second coat done on the other side wall with the bigger window and front door.

So the ceiling needs to be done what with as well as the last long/accent wall?

Thanks so much!

[salvasol]

E-A-G-L-E-S wrote:

I got the back wall in the kitchen wit hthe small slifing window painted in the tan today and the column's kitchen side wall. Also got the second coat done on the other side wall with the bigger window and front door. So the ceiling needs to be done what with as well as the last long/accent wall?
Thanks so much!

Don't forget ...pictures

[MatrixDweller]

Your wife...if you have one...will be so pleased. If you don't have one then consider your bachelor pad a chick magnet now.

If you are looking for a blind to fit your arched window here's a cool one.
http://www.yourblinds.com/products/a...b/ybar0601.asp
You can also get venetian blinds that fan out.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Thanks for the link...I looked several times in the past with no luck in person to find something suitable for that arch window.

So you think the tan on the accent wall and just fresh white on the ceiling, moldings and door?(no third color on accent wall nor ceiling??)