Lofty celebrations: The Reveal! (A PARA Paints Blog Crew project)

In yesterday’s blog post, I told you the “Before” story of our loft makeover. And today is the “After” – a day I’ve been looking forward to for almost twelve years! Who says I don’t have any patience? ;-)

So the story left off with Charles the orange sectional and some blue colour chips. And what colour did I decide on? The loft is primarily a home theater, so I wanted to go dark on the walls. I decided on PARA Paints Rainy Skies. The trim is Climb The Mast.

 

I have to admit, I had an “OH MY GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE?!” moment when the painter (a friend of ours)started rolling on the first coat. But as the old colour disappeared under Rainy Skies, I loved the transformation more and more. The dark blue went onto the walls and right up onto the vaulted ceiling – which you might think would make the room feel small, but the dark ceiling actually makes it feel like there’s no ceiling at all – it’s like you’re looking up at the night sky.

Click here to read the railing saga, complete with a fire at the paint shop!

When the painting was done, it was time to have some decorating fun! Which was a bit of a challenge, because I really couldn’t condone going out and buying new stuff when we already have so much stuff in our house. The only things I bought are the cushions and orange throw and a piece of art. And we bought a few pieces of furniture at Ikea to hold the media components. Otherwise, everything in the loft came from somewhere else in the house.

I slightly modified my plan to create a reading nook with a chaise:

And opted for a leather arm chair, cow print foot stool, and small side table. I prefer to buy original art, but the colours in this piece were perfect and for $15 at HomeSense, it was too good a deal to pass up :-)

I put my telescope in the opposite nook.

This little seating area in the corner has two more leather arm chairs, an orange ceramic drum stool (originally bought for the back patio), and a floor lamp. I couldn’t resist buying the orange bicycle cushion :-) A triptych I bought years ago from my friend & artist Matt LeBlanc will go on the wall above the chairs.

When we bought the sectional for our family room a couple of years ago, we needed to put the sofa somewhere. Of course, it ended up in our loft, the home for wayward furniture :-)

My $7.00 lamp on a craftsman desk that I bought on sale at Pier 1ages ago and never had a real use for – till now :-)

Originally, the colour scheme was going to be navy blue, orange, and purple. But I really liked the bright green on the floral cushion, and decided to add more bright green. This green & black plaid throw that I bought last summer in PEI at MacAusland’s Woolen Mills is the perfect addition :-) And it keeps me warm when I’m watching a movie!

A couple of years ago, I convinced hubby to make a metal & wood table like the Brickmaker’s tables at Restoration Hardware that are way out of my price range. My original plan was to use scraps of wood that we already had for the top, but then we found a beautiful piece of live edge spalted maple at KJP Select Hardwoods that I loved. It wasn’t quite wide enough for the metal base that hubby already made, so he added a strip of a dark African hardwood down the middle.

A few years ago, I bought four chairs and a pedestal table from Kijiji. We refinished the table and refinished & reupholstered the chairs, and now they have a new home in the loft as a games table.

Click here to read about the chair makeover and click here to read about the table makeover

Of course, you can’t have a home theater without a big-screen TV, right? Well, hubby grabbed the motto go big or go home and ran with it – he bought a projector and used Screen Goo to paint a HUGE 12’ wide screen on the wall. To hold all the components, we bought three tables at Ikea – a LACK TV bench and two LACK coffee tables – and lined them up together. The bench in the middle was shorter than the coffee tables, so hubby added pieces of oak to the bench legs to make it the same height.

Projector off:

Projector on:

With a dark colour on the walls and ceiling, you really get an experience similar to watching a movie in a theater (especially at night when there’s no sunlight in the room).

She approves ;-) (Sorry the picture is crooked, but it was too funny not to use it :-) )

It took 12 years, but our loft has finally been transformed from a big empty unfinished space into a room that’s perfect for watching  movies and sports and entertaining friends. Who wants to come over on Saturday night for a game of Rock Band? ;-)

Thank you PARA Paints and Bonds Decor for providing the paint :-)

Coincidentally, Rachel at Hue recently wrote this blog post about why it’s best to paint a media room a dark colour. Rachel, I couldn’t agree more! :-)

Linking up to…

Lofty expectations: The Before Shots (A PARA Paints Blog Crew project)

You could say that our loft makeover has been a work in progress for 12 years. When we moved into our house in 2001, it was an amazing but unfinished 500 sq ft empty space above the main floor. Electrical was roughed in, drywall was mudded & sanded, subfloor was installed… it was the one major undertaking that I wanted to start on right away. But stubborn hubby insisted that we wait till the mortgage was paid off. He’s very pragmatic and annoying that way ;-) I would have gone ahead and started working on it anyway, but there was one little obstacle in my way – no stairs.

See that rectangular opening in the ceiling? That opening taunted me for five years. I walked by it every day, and it laughed at me and mocked me and wouldn’t let me go through it. Mean hole!

I did go up into the loft a couple of times, after I perfected my levitation skills ;-) No, actually, it required putting a long extension ladder on a basement step and climbing up the ladder and through the hole. Not fun if you’re like me and don’t like heights.

This is what the naked loft looked like:

Totally sweet space – what a bummer that we couldn’t use it!

And then the magical day arrived in 2007: Stair day! Some guys showed up at our house with the staircase all made and ready to install. It was a surprisingly easy and fast job. Well, it looked easy to me, anyway – I’m sure carrying that sucker and then putting it into place wasn’t a whole lotta fun ;-) The stair guys must’ve thought I was loony, the way I was going on and on about how excited it all was!

Weeeeehooooo!!!! The staircase is in!!!!

Next came painting the loft (BM Stone House, but that was destined to change – more on that a little further down). Given the fact that the ceiling is vaulted and the big gaping hole was still there and that I’m a klutz, we hired a painter friend to paint it for us.

Hubby and I installed the floor over the Christmas holidays in 2007. It’s heritage grade walnut in 4” wide planks and random lengths. The hardest part was figuring out the layout of the planks. Because of the variety in grain and lengths, we had to be sure to spread them out equally. It was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle – but with a great big power floor nailer! Here’s the unfinished floor:

After we installed the walnut, Luigi the flooring guy sanded the floor. The planks had micro-bevels that created small grooves. We wanted the grooves removed so the floor would be smooth. Poor Luigi had a LOT of sanding to do. He said he’ll never do anything like it again!

The walnut after being sanded and finished in a clear varathane to bring out the natural colour and grain:

Luigi also stained the oak staircase:

Looking down the stairs from the loft:

And now the reason why the wall colour needed to be changed… we bought a super-comfy sectional a year after the walls were painted. It’s the Charles by Silva. He came from the manufacturer’s warehouse in Toronto. I think whoever ordered him decided they didn’t like the fabric, so he became a reject. I just had to give him a new home :-)

Charles is a handsome guy, but with the tan walls and brown floor, the whole room was just too much of the same colour family. And as it turns out, Charles the Reject inspired the entire new colour scheme for the loft :-) I started with PARA Paints Designer Indulgence – a pretty teal, not too dark but not too light.

 Click here to read about the original plan.

And then after some colour suggestions from Kelly Berg at Story & Space and Dawna Jones at Dawna Jones Design, I moved towards darker blues.

Click here to read about the modified plan.

So what colour did I choose? Well, I’m going to leave you hanging! Come back tomorrow to find out… :-)

Linking up to…

Flamingo fun

A few weeks ago, Mikky at To Da Loos wrote a blog post about this super-cute Springkorn shower curtain from Ikea:

I was like, Oooooh, I want it! But where would I put it? The master bathroom is getting a glass shower door and the guest bathroom is purple and not flamingoy at all. But…. I do have this Jonathan Adler TP holder, which just happens to be pink & orange & white & purple…

And the walls are ICI Purple Granite…

And I could buy some towel in Orange Flame & Fiery Pink at Target in Charleston…

Yeah, that could work!

The before was nice:

But the after is way more fun :-)

Life’s too short not to have some flamingo fun :-)

Turquoisepalooza & a PARA Paints Blog Crew project

I didn’t get quite as much painting done on the weekend as I hoped to – but I did manage to get he front door painted (both inside and out) and the patio table painted. And everything is turquoise!

The outside of the front door got a fresh coat of the original colour…

And the inside got a couple of coats of a brand new colour – PARA Paints Tahitian Pearl from their new Colour Forecast Palette. Here’s a “before” close-up:

And an “after” close-up of Tahitian Pearl:

When I picked up the can of Tahitian Pearl a couple of months ago, I also got a can of Boysenberry, which I used to paint the cabinet next to the front door. I just knew the two colours would look great together! :-) And PARA’s Leek inside the cabinet finishes off my favourite colour trio – purple, turquoise, and green :-)

 

And then there’s the patio table – I started painting it PARA’s Lush Turquoise, but it turned out to be too light in the sunlight. Hubby suggested using the same colour as I used on the front door – either the inside or the outside colour. I decided to go with the outside colour because it’s an outdoor paint. The table was a PITA to paint, but I’m really happy with the final result :-) I can't show you the whole table yet because it’s not quite finished – I still need to get new tiles for the top. But here’s a peek…

I did get one coat of paint on the stool, but now I’m not sure what I want to do with it. I know if won’t be turquoise, though, because I don’t have any turquoise FAT Paint. Although I do have Indigo and Apple Green… hmmmm…. 

Getting my paint on

FINALLY, a warm & sunny weekend in Ottawa! And this weekend, I’m REALLY going to get some painting projects done that I’ve been thinking about for months.

1. Front door

The outside needs a freshening up with a coat of Sherwin Williams Oceanside. And the inside is getting a new colour – PARA Paints Tahitian Pearl. I love Oceanside on the outside, but it’s a bit bright on the inside.

  

2. Stool

This little stool has been sitting in the basement for years. I think my grandpa made it after I was born, so that makes it pretty old ;-)

I’m going to do a little something to it using FAT Paint. If you haven’t heard of FAT Paint, my friend and old blog partner Victoria started the company last year, She and her brother recently opened a shop in New Westminster selling paint and furniture – if you’re in the area, check it out :-)

3. Patio table

This project idea just came to me recently. The finish on our patio table is completely worn and faded, and it really needs some new life. It was already given a new lease on life once when wind blew the table over a few years ago and the glass top shattered. We replaced the top with tiles, which I’d already removed before I remembered I needed a “before” picture :-) Those are my furry supervisors circling the table ;-)

I’ve got this colour combo in mind…

Image via Fab.com

There are a couple of other pieces of furniture floating around the house that I might get my hands on as well – you know, when I get all these projects finished in a day and have nothing else to do ;-)

Has spring finally arrived in your corner of there world? Got any weekend projects planned?

Happy weekend!