Red Walls and Stripes

So, as you all know I have pretty much "finished" the living room. That means next on the list is THE LAB! *happy dance* The lab (as it will be referred to) will be my office and art space where I'll do all of my project. Basically, the command center of my house. I am so excited about this room words can not describe! I finally have an art space. No more destroying carpet, floors, and tables all over the house. So, first things first. Painting the walls! Being that this was my art space my main objective was that the space had to be creative. I want to feel inspired and happy when I'm in here. The original color was a yellowish tan color, and it is officially starting to bother me.


Office before

I have actually been thinking and designing this room in my head for awhile. I decided to go with red. I know bold color, but I've had a red wall before and loved it. I painted the room using Glidden Red Geranium. Now, if you have ever painted red walls before than you already know. Red is one of the hardest colors to work with when painting walls. I was not aware of this before I started though. Last time I don't remember it being quite so painful. I thought 2 coats and I would be done. HA! Fool on me. It took me 4 coats of paint! The problem wasn't so much the color, but it was hard to get an even coat. After the first 2, I took to Google and friends. So many scenarios. I got everything from 2 coats to 5 coats with some using a special tinted primer specifically for red. Oh and shame on Glidden for not making a paint/primer in 1 in a satin finish. That means I had to prime the walls first. That makes it 5 coats. I even read a person painting 4 coats, still not getting good coverage, and then starting over. Who knew that painting a wall could be so complicated. So needless to say, a paint job that I had planned in a weekend took me 3 weeks to complete. Then there's the clean up. Red paint on white trim is not fun. So, after all was said and done, and 4 coats later this is what the walls look like.

Now you know I couldn't just do red walls. I thought why not do something cool. I mean this is the art space. So.......drum roll

STRIPES!

Yes, I decided to do stripes. Years ago while watching HGTV, they did a segment on designers' homes. Genevieve Gorder had stripes in her kitchen. Ever since then I knew that I wanted to do stripes in a room. So, this was it. I LOVE them! They came out so much better than I thought. My floor however, is another story. It is definitely going to need some TLC.

I am sooooo glad that's done with. I hate painting walls. It is such a pain. The outcome was definitely worth it though. Now that the walls are done it's time to...DECORATE! *second happy dance and 1 handed cartwheel*. Stay tuned people. This is going to be fun. It's on to the next project