Dans le Lakehouse

I promise not to post an update about every miniscule detail of the basement makeover.  We work slowly and are easily distracted (especially since I now have so many great ideas for the fireplace mantle).  If I posted real-time, it would look like a less exciting version of this:

Day 1: Painted stairwell for five hours, got paint in hair
Day 2: Painted second coat in stairwell, got more paint in hair
Day 3: Gave up on painting, can't get paint out of hair
Days 4-9 Ditto
Day 10: Decided basement won't paint itself
Day 11: Started painting again
Day 12: More painting
Day 13: I hate painting, I quit
Day 14: Started painting in basement again
Day 18: Attacked by centipede, took well-deserved painting break
Day 19: Ignored basement, but then went to buy drywall supplies
Day 20: Put up drywall
Until the end of time: Put up drywall
Day 25: Put up drywall
Day 26: Drywall
Day 27: Movie day, screw the drywall
Day 30: Emptied laundry room
Day 35: Realized I forgot to do laundry before disconnecting washing machine
Day 36: Painted floors
Day 37: Painted floors
Days 38-100 Kept painting basement because it isn't done, I had just moved onto another task
Day 101: Crum, floor needs another coat
Day 102: Where is the washing machine? I can't remember where we put it

Sometime in 2013: Start decorating.

Gosh, I hope I'm being dramatic.  But it really did take me two FULL days to paint just the stairwell (and part of a third day to take down everything, putty and prime holes).  There was a lot of brushwork and not enough roller-work.  Plus, the extendable edger I bought was crummy, so I had to DIY my own extendable paintbrush:


And I really did get lots of paint in my hair.  I'm still finding paint streaks buried under the layers (how?!?):


This update, although not very striking (it's a plain beige-ish canvas now) is hugely exciting to me because it's the first bit of paint on the walls.  It has been started, and that's the hardest part of any job for me.  Even though I love to DIY, finding the time and energy can be a major challenge.

Ta da! (I tried to get photos of the new paint beside the white walls/trim, so you can see the contrast):



Because the basement will never be bright and airy (it has ONE tiny window and we cannot change that), I am going for warm and cozy, like a coffee shop.  So, like the all-white upstairs where we painted the ceiling and walls the same colour, the basement ceiling will also be this lovely beige-shade.  Yep, we're painting like this again.  Then I'm going to make the space pop with graphic black & white artwork, textiles and pops of colour (like my inspiration space).


It already looks so much better than the tired before.  Give me some time to spruce it up, and I'll be back with a real "before & after".


P.S. The colour is "glacial till," by Benjamin Moore and it is Brian Gluckstein approved:

Benjamin Moore