Wednesday 14 November 2012

Making over the Bathroom #2 & 3: Painting Doors and Experimenting With Linoleum

This is what the door to our bathroom looked like this morning. Not only was it a "lovely" orange colour, but it was literally the only door in the house that wasn't white... And to make it worse, it was actually painted white on the other side! 


So, I first sanded it down, just a little bit to get rid of the shiny top coat - so that paint would stick better.


While I was at that, I also removed the front part of the door knob.


I'd also decided that I would put a fresh coat on the back of the door, because there was some damage/uncovered spots there, so I made sure to go over that too with the sanding block. 


I wiped off the dust on the door and the floor, and as it was drying, I set about removing the rest of the door knob. It turned out to be a far more difficult task than I expected. In fact, it probably took me about a half an hour - and it was all because of this screw (scroll down. Yup. That one). The bottom one came out really easily, but the top one sure was darnded difficult. You see, I did the whole normal using a screwdriver.... and the stupid thing just turned and turned and turned, and didn't come out. I texted my dad, who suggested using a hammer, or a flathead screwdriver, or a pair of pliers to pull it out as I unscrewed it. I tried. It didn't work. What I ended up doing was using a magnet, a straight pin, a bobby pin, a screwdriver, the pliers, and eventually, my fingers. It was really complicated. And I didn't take a picture because I needed both hands... and then some. 


However, once I had that all taken care off, I grabbed the primer that I picked up from Canadian Tire last night ($12 for a gallon!) and prepped it to go. I got a latex based primer because the oil based ones have a lot of fumes in them and can be unhealthy in the short term (headaches, feeling high, etc.) and in the long term (cancer!). Especially since I would mostly be working in the tiny, tiny bathroom, I didn't want those unwelcome effects. 


I used a paintbrush and a small foam roller for the work (paintbrush for any needed cutting in, and the roller for the rest of it). Oh! And one tip - that I actually learned at Humber College, back when I was taking classes in set painting - for a new can of paint, is to hammer a few holes around the edge, to make any paint drips fall back into the can, thus keeping that space paint free so the lid can close properly. 


Here's what the door looked like after one coat of primer. It was pretty faint, but that's alright since the primer is mostly to provide a rough surface for the paint to hold on to. 


 While I had the primer out, I decided I ought to experiment with something that I've been considering doing since we moved in: painting the linoleum in the bathroom. Now, when I mentioned this last week, I was warned that it wouldn't be a good idea to paint the floor, but I figured, since we don't walk on the walls, what's the harm in trying it? I mean, honestly. It's not like I like the existing linoleum; we definitely won't be keeping it forever, so why not? Besides, experiments are always fun!


And really. Could anything be worse than faded yellow with ugly pink flowers?


And so, my day disappeared into the bathroom (I started in the morning and didn't finish until the evening. Painting is exhausting!). But when I emerged, after, what... seven hours? This was the finished product:







Sorry about the poor lighting. It was definitely dark by the time I emerged. But honestly, doesn't it look so much better? While I don't think close inspection would leave anyone believing it's actually tile, it sure looks a loooooooot more like tile than that fifty year old linoleum design. And I have plans to make it feel even more a part of a finished bathroom. But scroll up again once more. I love, love, love how it looks with the grey walls. And surprisingly enough, it even makes that ugly vanity countertop seem less glaring - though nothing can hide that pink sink! It's fantastic that I was able to redo the entirety of the bathroom walls with two buckets of paint, and a bucket of primer (and all three of those gallons have plenty of leftovers just waiting to be implemented in something else... kitchen table, anyone?).

Though, unfortunately, this did happen in the shower when Derek got home from work and cleaned himself with semi-wet paint on the wall. So, I think I'll finish the inside of the shower when I know there'll be at least twenty-four hours for the paint to completely dry... so there's no more of the peeling and sliding off. But even when I look at this, I just have to scroll back up (the shot with the mirror and the herringbone towel is my favourite!) and I'm reminded of how much it was/is totally worth it.


Note: The paint that I used is Glidden's EasyFlow in semi-gloss (I took the can right off the shelf, so that I'll always know what colour to use; no forgetting paint names for me!). I just chose the cheapest gallon of paint that Canadian Tire had. It seemed to work pretty well, though I had to use a bunch of coats. I'm not sure if that was the paint? Or the fact that I was using white? Or the foam roller? Who knows. 

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