420 thoughts on “Flagging”

1. I wish I had your energy!! I may try my hand at some painting at my home but I think I’ll skip th eceilings.

2. The one on the left is my choice, but since our colour palettes are vastly different, I suppose you’ll pick the one on the right which I find too yellow. Whatever.

3. I think you’ve just “told” your husband how much you love and adore him. You can totally hang this over him forever!

4. Everything is looking great! It WILL be worth the effort when you are done! What colour is the trim going to be? It is hard to chose one of the colours without seeing it next to the colour of the finished floor…

5. at least the fire is out, yes?

6. First red dot on the left – that one will show off that lovely new floor, and make the ceiling look even whiter. I’ve painted ceilings before – and one is WAY more than enough! You are STILL a very brave woman.

7. Wow – you are moving at lightening speed! Way to go – and all by yourself too. Awesome. I vote for the two colors on the bottom row, the one on the right as you look at the photo looks like perfect calming fuzzy warm color for a bedroom.
   Awesome work!

8. Go for the one on the left. It doesn’t have the yellow undertones that may be just a little too reminiscent of the previous color. Besides, its more neutral which gives you a great range of contrast colors.
   Hang in there, Stephanie. You can do it!

9. Just keep thinking how nice it’ll look when it’s done….
   I’m trying to work up the motivation to paint my new apartment. Picking colors is proving to be the tough part right now. Not as easy as picking yarn colors….

10. I just painted my living room myself..so I feel a a little bit of your pain. I love the color on the left..kind of a coffee color..is the trim white? All the pain will be worth it. Whatever you choose, it’s going to be gorgeous.

11. Go Stephanie, go!!! I, too, had the same revelation with a ceiling – when I bought my condo I realized that the previous owners had put 100watt bulbs in the 60 watt light fixture (no wonder something smelled like it was burning – the over-wattage was causing the coating on the wires to burn). After replacing the fixture I put a bit of ceiling paint around it to hide the singe marks. Needless to say, I found out that the ceiling was no longer white but some sort of brown.
    Sigh.

12. That floor will be beautiful when you’re finished – I’ve been there, done that, and it’s worth every minute of the effort. You must be sleeping on the sofa?

13. Hang in there, it’s looking great. I like the one on the left, too.

14. First dot on the left.
    Cleanup is the worst.
    And I hope at least you are listening to music while you slave away.
    Advil and hot tubs oh and a glass of sine helps the soreness.
    It will be beautiful.
    Janet

15. the one on the left.

16. Hang in there, it’s looking great. I like the one on the left, too.

17. Go for the one on the left. It doesn’t have the yellow undertones that may be just a little too reminiscent of the previous color. Besides, its more neutral which gives you a great range of contrast colors.
    Hang in there, Stephanie. You can do it!

18. Red dot on the left (though I love them all).
    Way to go on the floor !!!

19. Go with the lightest color. Paint has a way of getting really dark as it dries.

20. Red dot on the left (though I love them all).
    Way to go on the floor !!!

21. Pick your color…then go one or two shades lighter….its always darker than you expect. We had the hardwood floors refinished through the whole house few years back, horrible, horrible mess….still creeps we out to think about it.
    Looks great !

22. Wow! I am so impressed by all your hard work. I would have wimped out on the ceiling, and left it half done(and then I would have it to finish the next day, and feel terrible, so really, your way is MUCH better). The room is looking great, and your husband had better be impressed with it!

23. It is going to be beautiful (the floor already is!) and worth every bit of muscle strain. In a week, the work of it will start to be a memory, and you will be lying on your back on your bed gazing upon what you’ve done with the best of foolish grins on your face.
    Keep going!!

24. Oh honey! I totally feel your pain. I have taken on similar projects and ALL of mine involve crazy woodwork (we live on an old OLD wood boat that is always in need of restoration). You will really love the end result though, not the least reason being the triumph of surviving it and doing the labor. as if you didn’t know that!

25. You are certainly a woman on a roll. The floor, the ceiling … You are certainly entitled to feel exhausted. When the whole project is done, however, it will have been worth every back-breaking, soul-sucking minute. You will adore the new room!

26. motrin and caffeine might be your friends today..I do lots of renovations myself also..the day after can be painful ..your almost finished though.. grit and grind… can’t wait to see the finished room..!!

27. What a cool thing to do for your husband to fix up your bedroom! I love that wood floor, too. Let me guess -you will go with the more yellow toned one of the browns? I hope you have enough time to get all of that done, it’s quite an ambitious project that you took on! I have my thumbs up for you. 🙂

28. When choosing your paint colour remember that once on the wall it will look 1 to 2 shades darker than what you see on the card. For any of your choices go up one or so shades on the card.
    Good luck with your work – my husband and I just finished renovating a basement, and putting drywall on the ceiling was h*ll, even with the drywall putter-upper machine!

29. You are certainly a woman on a roll. The floor, the ceiling … You are certainly entitled to feel exhausted. When the whole project is done, however, it will have been worth every back-breaking, soul-sucking minute. You will adore the new room!

30. You’re giving me flashbacks to the weeks we spent working on our house before we moved in. Ugh. But press on! It will be worth it in the end.

31. motrin and caffeine might be your friends today..I do lots of renovations myself also..the day after can be painful ..your almost finished though.. grit and grind… can’t wait to see the finished room..!!

32. First dot on the left appears to go with your color palette. It’s going to look pretty when it’s all done!

33. Pick the one in the middle because it is not yellow enough to compete with the floor and not taupe enough to contrast and look “not quite right”. Great job. I know the pains and aches, have told my husband there will be a divorce if we EVER do this again.

34. Boy does this take me back. I used to own a small old house that was constantly in danger of falling apart at the seams (or so it seemed). When we first moved in, we did a ton of restoration work, and I had that truck-hitting-me-in-the-face realization that the glamour of gleaming wood floors and crisply painted trim (and ceilings) was only achieved through extensive (and tedious) bodily torture. Ugh.

35. I’m a woodworker, and when I work with my cabinetmaker dad, it’s my job to do the polyurethaning and sanding and detail work. I’m glad you got to understand WHY you have to sand after that first coat; it makes an incredible difference, and those subsequent coats will go on so quickly you won’t believe it–the first one is always ALWAYS the worst. After this, you’ll feel like the floor is painting itself. 😉 AND you’ll have a floor so tough you can rollerskate on it. 😉

36. I vote for the left BUT strongly suggest you go to the shade just above the one you’ve dotted. It will still be dark enough to give a nice rich tone but won’t feel cavernous. (We made the mistake on our living room of picking the shade we wanted and not considering just how dark it would be on an entire set of walls, so just hoping to help you avoid the same fate.)

37. Thank you for the birthday wishes, Steph! My boyfriend got me sock yarn as a gift!!! I was giddy all night. We’ve only been dating for a year and he gave me yarn! I am totally smitten.
    I would go with the color furthest to the right in the photo, but that’s just me.
    Just keep thinking how beautiful and restful your room is going to be. Perhaps hold SnB at your house and give everyone a paint roller to finish the walls?

38. Wow. Just, wow. That is a *lot* of work!! Your husband is soooo lucky! 😉

39. I am in awe.
    I think a very good sign of being an official fiber nut is when you look at paint chips and say, “If it were me, it’d be between the camel and the alpaca, but I think I like the alpaca a little more.” And I suddenly really want a macchiatto. I think it’s the middle color that’s causing that.
    Color dinks with us in so many ways, doesn’t it?

40. The best advice I’ve ever heard for picking a bedroom wall color is to pick one you’d look good naked in.
    I like the color on the far left best.
    Yellow is a dangerous color for walls. I live in fear.

41. Another Stephanie http://www.unwindknitting.net/ just painted her bedroom and it looks very grand. It might help you decide as your colors look similar (maybe a little lighter than hers).

42. The best advice I’ve ever heard for picking a bedroom wall color is to pick one you’d look good naked in.
    I like the color on the far left best.
    Yellow is a dangerous color for walls. I live in fear.

43. I’m glad you did the ceiling. We’ve just done all of ours in the new house and it really is worth the horrid effort (I say we because I only painted one room’s ceiling and I should not take all the credit).
    As for paint, I would go with the BM paint–the stuff rocks. I also like the middle colour on the chip–it looks a lot like one I used in my house. I also like darker bedrooms–nicer to sleep in.

44. I am a big believer in the virtue of a painted ceiling. So much so, that I once painted a ceiling myself. ONCE! I still feel strongly all ceilings should be painted, but now I am completely willling to pay someone else to do it.
    Good luck with the rest of the room reno! You are a brave, brave woman to be doing this. And a wonderful wife to be doing it without and for your hubby.
    The girls made dinner? How sweet is that? Did you have to threaten them or did they see the need on their own?

45. Hey! My bedroom is painted in a deep camel color too!! I love it. I’d pick the one to the far right. We ended up going with bright white trim and golden drapes. I wish I had hard woods in my house, but alas it was built in the ’70’s. No such luck. I would recommend you getting some knee pads, like the volleyball players wear. Although it may be too late for that;) Joe is going to love it..and he should spoil you with a spa day for all your hard work!

46. You are brave and intrepid! You have conquered miles of lace shawl borders – no little ceiling and floor can get you down and live to tell the tale!
    I remember refinishing a couple of floors in the first house we owned – my thumb was asleep for six months from brushing on the polyurethane by hand. That was when I swore I would hire someone next time.
    In the next house I tiled the entire kitchen floor myself – using my fingers to smooth the grout joints. I sure hope that checking the smoothness of a wood floor is gentler than smoothing grout. I wore the skin right off – good thing I had more fingers to use once my pointer was worn!
    You will be so proud of your beautiful space when you are done – and I hope Joe is letting this be a surprise!

47. I know it’s too late, but you can actually just seal the rollers and brushes in ziplock bags, or big plastic bags and put them in the freezer. Then you just thaw them and use them the next time you paint. Sorry, I know you will never ever paint again, but…

48. I am a big believer in the virtue of a painted ceiling. So much so, that I once painted a ceiling myself. ONCE! I still feel strongly all ceilings should be painted, but now I am completely willling to pay someone else to do it.
    Good luck with the rest of the room reno! You are a brave, brave woman to be doing this. And a wonderful wife to be doing it without and for your hubby.
    The girls made dinner? How sweet is that? Did you have to threaten them or did they see the need on their own?

49. Not that it is of any real consequence, but I really like the color on the far left.

50. Hang in there . . . 2 weeks from today you’ll be in NYC for your big launch and knitting “represent” gala

51. I painted our bedroom in August – the first paint job since my dorm room in 1982. The institutional off-white we have been living with all these years really hadn’t been so bad.
    Two coats of midnight blue (to suck the south light out of the air so I can sleep longer) over my daughter’s turquoise and really we need another coat. But this was so tedious that I am willing to live with the imperfections. I insisted on painting the ceiling, though, and I am with Ian on that one – it’s the one ceiling you look at. The trim is what almost did me in. We have a 8′ ladder but there’s nothing to make getting so close to floor easier. Enjoying your project!

52. ok, i’ve read all the comments and i have to go with the one on the right – it’ll pick up the sun coming through the window. as said above, the darker colors tend to make the room look cave-like. after all that work, you want to be able to see it! keep up the good work – as they say, “this too shall pass” and you will love the result!

53. My two cents is to pick the one on the far left – it seems to have a depth of tone that will be beautiful in morning sunshine and evening shadow.
    I admire your resolve with this renovation project – fantastic work!

54. You’re far more dedicated than I’ve ever been…my bedroom ceiling paint job has been unfinished for so long I can’t remember when it was started…

55. PLEASE let my recent THREE colors of paint in my bathroom be a lesson to you – SWATCH YER PAINT. Do a BIG (meter by meter) swatch on the wall – let it dry. Look at it in the light at night, look at it by daylight. I tried for a similar color (I kept calling it cinnamon latte) and ended up first with “jaundice victim, sunburned and left to die in the tropics” then had it retinted to take the red out (with black) and got… oh, it’s too unspeakable to share… which means first the primer, then two coats of cocoa (kaka) hell, then a BAD off-white with a sea-green cast (so nice in the morning on the ole’ complexion) and finally, a decent off-white. SEVEN COATS LATER? Wisdom. Browns are VERY difficult – the red element is unpredictable… SWATCH. SWATCH FOR YOUR LIFE!!!

56. I pick the color on the far left. It looks alot like my coffee with cream in it. And I know you like coffee and it would make you smile.

57. Is the color for the walls? I found a nice paint job here: http://www.unwindknitting.net/archives/2007/03/ive_been_painti.php
    Btw, you’re my DIY hero!

58. I pick the color on the far left. It looks alot like my coffee with cream in it. And I know you like coffee and it would make you smile.

59. Wow. I think you are quite daring to have started with the floor and worked upward. With my luck, I would have tripped over the paint bucket while trying to heave that roller up to the ceiling and…on second thought, forget I mentioned it. The rest of that thought is too messy to consider and I don’t want to jinx your project with it.
    My color vote is for the bottom middle one. Will the trim be white?

60. I knew there was a reason I always roped my brother into painting ceilings 😉 My husband refuses to paint, ever, for some unknown reason.
    As for color, I LOVE the one on the left. Very organic, not too yellow.
    You can do it, just keep repeating that to yourself. And the pride you will have when it’s all done and you can say, hey, I did that MYSELF! 😀

61. Ack! Cracking up about someone asking if the fire is out. hehehe
    You are going to be thinking your are SUCH A GODDESS every day the rest of your life. This is such a rewarding project to do. I’ve painted ceilings. I promise – you ARE a Goddess for doing this task.
    Good luck deciding on a color. Anything will make you feel like it’s the most awesome thing you’ve ever done besides childbirth and finishing the sweater for the Knitting Olympics.

62. I know you’ll think I’m absolutely nuts but this is the sort of thing I enjoy doing, no really! I spent the past three summers doing just such projects and thoroughly enjoying myself. On the ceiling, I deeply sympathize. I’ve only done one ceiling and that was when we removed tile from the bathroom ceiling and floors, put in new drywall and I got the bright idea to do a texture ceiling so as to cover our amateur joins. It worked beautifully but I don’t advise it for anyone who carries all their stress in their shoulders. Took awhile to recover from that one but it sure does look nice. Your bedroom’s going to be a work of art!

63. You brave, brave woman. I raise my needles to you in total empathy and understanding. I come from a very DIY oriented family – architects who could have as easily been bricklayers or journeyman carpenters – six months ago (Has it been that long? The trauma has passed.) we painted our hallway, one of the few remaining areas to receive a new coat of paint. That was one long hallway. And narrow, high ceilings, a new form of torture.
    Have fun with the trim, just remember if you patch a ding in the wood, when you think you have sanded it down enough, do some more. I have some leprosy looking areas on my baseboard. We had a very Victorian amount and I stopped caring. What are ya’ going to do?

64. You are woman. Think of how well you will sleep in your beautiful room! But shouldn’t you be knitting up some drapes?

65. Oh, and also…
    Pain is temporary, pride is forever!
    Hang in there!

66. Love your colour choices. We painted our living room brown (I’d call it hot chocolate) a couple years ago & still love it, thank goodness(you know how you can hate a colour after a year & be unable to bring yourself to change it.
    You are in renovation hell at the moment, but you’re through the worst. I can’t wait to hear about the big reveal.
    Good girls, making dinner!

67. Oh, I felt sympathy pain just from your descriptions. Ooooo. Makes me feel good about putting off our bedroom re-do!
    My votes are for the leftiest dot, and the rightiest dot. However, you have to live it, and can see what the light will do to those paint chips, so tablespoon of salt to all the internet voting.

68. I noticed at least some of your paint chips are from Benjamin Moore. If you go the Benjamin Moore website, they have a “Personal Colour Viewer” that allows you to see how a paint color would look on the wall. It’s pretty cool – I could sit and play at it all day.
    The room is looking great. Kudos to you for being able to knit even a little after working so hard all day.

69. The floor is beautiful! I’m in awe. I painted just the walls of two of our rooms a few months ago, still haven’t gotten around to doing the trim or scraping the drips of paint off the floor. You’re amazing!
    I vote for the color on the left. Good luck with the rest!

70. Remember that renovation I mentioned? My parents decided that one of the ceilings would look really cool with sand paint on it. The sand in sand paint makes it possible to do swirls and other textured effects; it also makes the paint about 5 times as heavy. I think we did eventually finish getting it on the ceiling, but with much less cool textured patterning than had first been envisioned.
    I would rather hand-sand all the floors in your house than paint a single ceiling, even with normal, mercifully sand-free paint. At least when you’re working on a floor you have gravity on your side. Since you have done both I think you are entitled to a HUGE stack of whatever you hold holy.

71. *
    Oh, definitely that nice cool feeling one on the left !!
    *

72. Hmmm…I seem to be in the minority, but I think the swatch on the left is too pink. For me. While you’re at it, could you pick a color for my studio? ‘Cause if it’s not painted this weekend, the floors won’t go down in time for the arrival of the in-laws. OR that of the parents, a week later.
    You’re a brave, brave soul!
    And BTW, I’ve discovered that the best storage place for a birthing ball is at the home of a friend who’s expecting!

73. Have you thought about renting a sprayer to take care of the walls? Your poor arms – how will you knit?

74. My vote is biq square, my right. Subtle, not too brown, will go good with your hair!

75. I agree with Janet on painting a test patch!! I painted my sewing room a nice neutral brown (on the paint card) very similar to the one on the left everyone is so enamored with… It’s distintly purplish on the wall.
    And the pale, pale blue we painted our bedroom… it got covered up quickly when we realized we wouldn’t be able to sleep in a bright turquoise room… eeks!
    Light plays tricksy with the paint colors!

76. The best advice I’ve ever heard for picking a bedroom wall color is to pick one you’d look good naked in.
    I like the color on the far left best.
    Yellow is a dangerous color for walls. I live in fear.

77. Speaking from [far too much] experience, I recommend Tiger Balm [and wine] for the pain. It can be combined with more modern medications, dosed more frequently, and makes it possible to work through the ouchiness in order to get the lactic acid out.
    Hang in there! The pain will fade but the enjoyment of lovely floors does not.

78. I totally agree with “swatch your color” and “go a shade lighter than you think you want.” Very sound advice, and I’m also an inverterate do-it-yourselfer. I too have sanded floors (by machine) but first, had to get off the ancient wall-to-wall carpeting that was so old that it disintgrated into dust when one tried to pull it up, then pull up even-more-ancient linoleum that some brilliant person in the 50s had put down over the parquet floors and then -oh, this is the best part – scrape off all of the adhesive, which was basically thick black tar. By hand. With a putty knife. And THEN the sanding, and the coating, and the sanding… Also, do yourself a favor and get artist’s paintbrushes for the edges of the trim – then you won’t have to tape off the walls. I salute you, Stephanie – it’s all very hard work. I’ve been there and done that (I painted the entire interior of my parents house years ago all alone, many ceilings) and my shoulders are aching in sympathy.

79. The best advice I’ve ever heard for picking a bedroom wall color is to pick one you’d look good naked in.
    I like the color on the far left best.
    Yellow is a dangerous color for walls. I live in fear.

80. Oh, and I vote for the very palest color, the top one on the leftmost palette. If you’re only considering the ones with red dots on them, then I vote for the one on the left. In the depths of the winter solstice (which are considerably deeper where you are) I would want a lighter, redder tint to lift my spirits. (In the summer my spirits don’t need lifting.)

81. Up to know, I’ve been a lurker. But I feel I have to say something this time: wow. I’ve done what you’re doing before, but never all at once, and never in such a short period of time. Like, the floors one month, the ceiling the next month, etc. etc. I was hurting just looking at those pictures! Brave girl, and lucky Joe.
    Colour suggestion? Feng Shui says green is the perfect bedroom colour! So I’d pick the colour that has a green undertone.

82. Like you, I almost bailed on the ceiling when I painted our bedroom this summer. But I was glad I did it–one swipe of the roller and I could see just how dirty it was. The new paint made the room that much brighter and fresher. For what it’s worth, I like the colour above the dot on the left.

83. As a fellow short person, you have my sympathy on ceiling painting! I’m 5-foot-1(and a half) and one room was enough. I told the significant other, who happens to be 6-foot-2, that I’d do all the walls if he would only do the ceilings (we were motoring though painting a 3 bedroom apartment).

84. We pulled out the acoustic tile ceilings in our house – it was possibly the messiest, dirtiest and grossest part of our renovation (which included floor sanding). Paint-wise, choose a slightly lighter shade than you actually like – paint is always more intense on the wall than the chip, I think.

85. If you’re truly agonizing over the color–as do I–there’s nothing like buying one quart of the likeliest color (or a sample pot like Benj. Moore sells for some colors) and painting a big poster board with two coats. (Leave a wide white border to neutralize the impact of the existing yellow wall.) Then you tape the posterboard sample up against EVERY wall. The color will appear different on each wall. Do this round in daylight, and then repeat after dark with your lamps on, to see if it looks good both ways. A hassle that saves gallons of paint and arm muscles. And regret.
    It’s also true that paint colors appear a) darker and b) more vivid (yellower, redder, bluer, or whatever-er) on the wall than they do on the chip.

86. I work for commercial painters – do you know -that if you have “that perfect color” in YARN, you can take it to the store and they will MATCH IT! We have clients do it ALL THE TIME!
    But those colo(u)r Decks are fun to play with – I keep one in my glove box!

87. I feel your pain. We are still in the process of redoing our only bathroom. My husband took the room down to studs and back. Awful. But beautiful.
    And no longer bubble gum pink.

88. Wow, what a ton-o-work, you’re an inspiration (yet again!). Especially on this, International Women’s Day, when it’s extra grand to see “sisters doin it for themselves”.
    Maybe you could swing the $$s for a well-deserved massage after your all done?

89. Lay the chips on the floor and see which is closest to the light tone in the floor…it will make the floor look richer and darker. Picking a darker tone will make the floor look more golden and lighter.
    Be sure that if your floor has a warm tone, so does your paint. Don’t pick a color that has a cooler tone.
    I can’t tell from the pictures what would work, but I’m guessing the two tobacco-y colors on the right.

90. Wow, what a ton-o-work, you’re an inspiration (yet again!). Especially on this, International Women’s Day, when it’s extra grand to see “sisters doin it for themselves”.
    Maybe you could swing the $$s for a well-deserved massage after you’re done?

91. Since you seem drawn to the avocado and harvest gold type colors, I’d say the chip on the left is too pink, and would choose the one on the far right instead.
    I’m glad we paid someone to redo all the floors before we moved into our old house. We have replaced a few walls on our own, though (crumbling plaster, so we put up new gypsum board). The worst part is cleaning up the mess and finding ways for the city garbage service to accept the plaster crumbles.

92. Poor Harlot! At least you know your hard work will be very much appreciated! I think you deserve a vacation for just you and the Bohus after you’re done with this!

93. Since you seem drawn to the avocado and harvest gold type colors, I’d say the chip on the left is too pink, and would choose the one on the far right instead.
    I’m glad we paid someone to redo all the floors before we moved into our old house. We have replaced a few walls on our own, though (crumbling plaster, so we put up new gypsum board). The worst part is cleaning up the mess and finding ways for the city garbage service to accept the plaster crumbles.

94. Wow, what a ton-o-work, you’re an inspiration (yet again!). Especially on this, International Women’s Day, when it’s extra grand to see “sisters doin it for themselves”.
    Maybe you could swing the $$s for a well-deserved massage after you’re done?

95. I’d go with the far right – I think the left is a bit too pink, but I seem to be in the minority here…
    Ceilings aren’t bad – just need a good extension ploe for the roller. Try painting a two story vaulted ceiling on scaffolding – now that is an adventure!

96. I like the color on the left, but I also would recommend going two shades lighter. Your room appears small and I think lighter colors are better for smaller rooms. In addition, I think it is easier to find curtains, bedding, etc. to work with lighter colors. Swatching seems like a good idea even though you are pressed for time. Whenever I go to Home Depot, I see a pile of paint that customers have brought back because the color wasn’t right. Invariably, the color is some version of light brown/taupe. It appears to be a tough color to get right.

97. Stefanie, I can’t really tell from the picture, but please tell me you are wearing a dust mask when you are sanding the urethane! You REALLY don’t want to breathe that stuff in. Look how those floor sanding guys turned out.

98. I’m not into browns, but I like the color on the far left.
    Your bedroom is going to look GREAT. I really need to get to work on mine. Too much dust, old clothes and other piles of random stuffs.
    I certainly hope you post tons of pictures when you are done.

99. 3159…warm but lighter
    Gee…sure wish I lived somewhere near because I’d help, what a lot of work. I know you are a young ‘un, but be sure to keep your knitting muscles loose; perhaps some massage sessions in your near future would be helpful?

100. Poor you, all those comments and not one offer of a shoulder rub? You write well: I feel your pain.
     And now I am really dreading all the painting I must do before selling this 1930s house. How many coats of white does it take to cover up brown sponge-painting? I shudder to know the answer. I think I’ll be finding out next week.

101. Before anything else, run upstairs and tape the samples to your wall if you haven’t already, maybe put a white paper behind so your current wall colour doesn’t affect it. Now, see how those colours are in the daylight, when you turn the light in the room on, etc. Some colours can look really different.
     I feel your pain. When we moved into this house (our first) every. paintable. surface. needed to be done, including the taupish ceiling of every room. I still have not got to the closets….
     I know alot of people seem to be voling for Mr. Leftie, but in my paint searches and trials for the house leaves me with these conclusions: it will remind you of a dark fleshtone once it’s up on huge surfaces, like your walls. The card on the right is nice, but will be very intense when wither colour is up on the wall, especially in a room with such high ceilings (ask me how I know).
     So, I vote for the middle bottom one. It has that ochre tone you seem to like (after seeing your many knitted project with a yellow in em), but it is softer and less intense, and will show off your floors nicely too.

102. p.s. kneepads help the back…a lot.

103. I wholeheartingly second/third the recommendation to get pint? size cans of the colors you want and paint big squares of them on the wall. As in knitting, those little paint card swatches lie.
     Barring that, I’ll second the rec to pick the one above the farthest one on the left.

104. Oh nooooo!!!!! Not picking a color!!!!!!
     As you see, I feel that’s the worst part. It’s so, so… permament?

105. Yeah, but aren’t they all just different shades of beige?
     OK, so I’m color-blind, but still, like me some color on the walls.

106. Hmmm.. Me gusta the one on the left, but I haven’t seen it in person, in context, so I will say that I trust you to make the right decision.
     Props to you for doing it the right way. It will all be worth it and save you heartache in the end. (If the people before you had done it the right way, you’d have drywall on your ceiling instead of acoustic tile… which, by the way, are rockin’ that new coat of paint!!)

107. Don’t do the bottom left one. It’s the color of my living room, and it’s not as nice as it appears on the sample. It’s the color that I was looking for paint brushes to paint with the random nearly full can of paint I found in the basement last week. It looks like we papered the wall with Middle Eastern skin.

108. Listen to the person that said ‘swatch your paint’. You’ve put so much work in to this to not be happy with the color. I have lived in my house 16 years and the downstairs has been three different shades of white – eggshell white, antique white, and whatever awful grayish white was on there when I first moved in. So last month when I put an actual ‘color’ on the walls, it was a REALLY big moment for me. I chose ‘toasted coconut’ because I wanted a tan-ish color. And I liked the name. We-e-el-l-l-l-l, in the daylight, it’s pretty much a pinkish tan, more pink than tan. But I don’t want to do it over. So I’m living with it.
     Swatch yer paint.

109. Upper row, left dot…..
     It reminds me of strong, rich coffee with whole milk ( none of that 0% ) somewhere in Italy…..maybe a café in Florence or the country side around it….
     Not a bad color at all to go to sleep with and an even better one to wake up to…..
     Best wishes for complete success !
     Angelika
     Mexico City

110. dearest muse, listen very carefully… next time you have a back breaking job like that…. and cant’; throw money at the problem… throw yarn at the problem . by this I mean… see if you can find some person who does this kind of work and offer to trade a lovely hand knit (bulky yarn so it goes fast) sweater just for them in the color of their choice. but you are awesome and your can-do atitude is an inspiration to me and many others. Your strength, softness, humour , politics, knitting knowhow are deeply nourishing for this reader. and I LLOVE THE ONE ON THE RIGHT as deep a color as possible. I just painted my living room a tobacco color and it is so warm . I guess I am in the minority here. I like deep rich colors. the one on the left is too pink. You asked.

111. wow. at least picking colors you don’t have to do more than sitting with a cup of coffee in hand. i am awestruck at your capablities!

112. Um. WOW. There is so no chance that I would ever urethane/sand/urethane/sand/urethane/sand/urethane my floors myself. None.Whatsoever. You rock.
     As for colors, I’m almost 100% certain that we used that EXACT ‘mocha au lait’ color you’re dotted on the very far left in our den – though I can’t remember the real name of it. While I still love it very much, here’s the one thing I’ll say about it…..it’s got a lot more pink tones in it than it seemed at first, and it has made it hard to find complementary fabrics/upholstery/etc. that we actually like. It really wants rosy tones and we’re just not rosy people….er, in our color choices. Our outlook on life is plenty rosy thank-you-very-much.
     If I had it to do all over again, I’d pick the caramel color in the middle of the top strip b/c it’s warmer, and probably easier to match to other stuff. As a matter of fact, if I weren’t already behind on our reno schedule as compared to our due date, I might make you tell me the name of that color so that I could repaint the den. However, since I’d rather stay married, I’ll refrain. 😉
     Good luck, you’re doing an amazing job. fantastic so far.

113. We are also in the midst of re-doing our master bedroom. What we thought was going to be a simple paint job ended up consisting of ripping out all the walls (the 100 year old plaster and lathe was crumbling such that painting it just made it fall apart) and replacing all of them with sheetrock (yes, there are two dormers, quadruple-ugh). With the requisite mud and sanding. And, joy of joys, you know where I’m coming from on this one, the floors had rot spots and needed to be re-done. Oi! So what we thought was going to be a monthlong job is still going on four months later (with only one day per week to work on the room, it goes slow). I feel ya, sister. Good on ya. Maybe it’s the beginning of a Master Bedroom Re-do-along?

114. That is a lot of work. I painted a ceiling once, with primer and then with paint. Ugh. But I have to admit, the exhaustion at the end of it was a good kind….like maybe there is something to this exercise thing…

115. Oh, my poor, dear Stephanie
     The thought of 5 determined feet of McPhee womanhood painting a Victorian ceiling just about did me in. I hope to God that someone at least acquainted you with an extension handle for the roller. It enables you to paint while still in firm contact with the floor, be it ceiling or wall that’s being painted. If not, go directly to a good hardware store (rare but indispensable things) and buy one. It’s the best tool I ever discovered for painting. We did a remodel of the Kitchen-from-Hell a while ago, finishing the basement at the same time. To save much needed money, I did the painting. Oh, did I learn a lot, but the result was at least as good as any professional painter’s.
     And an invaluable tip for the next clean-up? Roller covers are cheap. Throw the sucker OUT, followed by expletives of choice. If I paint with oil paint, disposable roller covers are absolutely required. But don’t stint on the brush. Buy the best quality available, and clean it as well as the best fleece you ever saw. That’s a tool to keep. It can even keep those tears of frustration and exhaustion at bay. Ask any professional.
     Don’t forget to use the extension handle while painting the walls. It’s as useful for walls as it is invaluable for ceilings. I’d be over in a flash with tools, tips, and as much help as I’m capable of, but it’s a bit too far from near Berkeley.
     May the force be with you. And a very good dose of pure, cussed, mulish stubbornness. That’ll take you through it all.

116. Oh, my poor, dear Stephanie
     The thought of 5 determined feet of McPhee womanhood painting a Victorian ceiling just about did me in. I hope to God that someone at least acquainted you with an extension handle for the roller. It enables you to paint while still in firm contact with the floor, be it ceiling or wall that’s being painted. If not, go directly to a good hardware store (rare but indispensable things) and buy one. It’s the best tool I ever discovered for painting. We did a remodel of the Kitchen-from-Hell a while ago, finishing the basement at the same time. To save much needed money, I did the painting. Oh, did I learn a lot, but the result was at least as good as any professional painter’s.
     And an invaluable tip for the next clean-up? Roller covers are cheap. Throw the sucker OUT, followed by expletives of choice. If I paint with oil paint, disposable roller covers are absolutely required. But don’t stint on the brush. Buy the best quality available, and clean it as well as the best fleece you ever saw. That’s a tool to keep. It can even keep those tears of frustration and exhaustion at bay. Ask any professional.
     Don’t forget to use the extension handle while painting the walls. It’s as useful for walls as it is invaluable for ceilings. I’d be over in a flash with tools, tips, and as much help as I’m capable of, but it’s a bit too far from near Berkeley.
     May the force be with you. And a very good dose of pure, cussed, mulish stubbornness. That’ll take you through it all.

117. I say the top card (nice warm colors, they remind me of a Latte) and the color on the right. Not too dark. Can’t wait to see the finished product!

118. Sorry about the double post. It’s due to your Server. From. Hell. It lies like a rug.

119. Hang in there, Stephanie. You are doing a great job, and unbelievably fast (though I’m sure it doesn’t seem fast to you, since you’re actually inside the blog, rather than reading it from your desk in Texas).
     Chin up. At least your lawn isn’t on fire today. 🙂

120. Okay, I have a few questions:
     1. Weren’t you scared that you would get paint on the new floor?
     2. Why didn’t you paint before having the floor sanded?
     3. Couldn’t you have bribed Ian to help you?
     4. Wouldn’t Joe have helped when he got back?
     5. Did you actually clean the roller brush? Those are hell to clean – I just throw them right into the garbage!
     6. Wouldn’t wall-to-wall carpet have been easier (not to mention warmer on the feet)?
     7. I can’t decide on a color, I am terrible with that, sorry.
     8. Good luck with the rest. I feel your aches and pains.

121. I like the second from the left.
     It will be so worth it, first when you see Joe’s face, and then again next week when the muscle stiffness wears off and you are left with a beautiful sanctuary.

122. IF you choose to ever paint again, I line the paint tray with heavy duty tin foil (regular-even 2 layers, just won’t do). When I am done painting, I just scoup the whole tin-foil pan up and into the trash it goes, easy-peasey, I wish I had a better solution for the rollers/brushes, but I have been known (when really tired/crabby) to throw the entire roller cover into the trash as well and start each color with a new one. Let your conscience be your guide…

123. Looking good!
     I like the pinkish brown on the far left.

124. Pick a colour for what? The walls? You’re having brown walls? Really??
     Well, if you’re sure you honestly want to go there, one of the top, larger chips. The darker one, I think – it looks creamy. Like sleeping inside toffee/chocolate, but with a golden glow. The bottom two (smaller chips) are, if I may be frank, wimpy and qualify for the label of “awful, dead colours”. At least the top two have some life in them. The bottom large is nice and golden, too, but the chocolate/toffee is nicer.

125. Poor thing. I remodeled a Victorian 15 years ago, and I still remember. I never tried to do a whole room, start to finish, in one week, though, so your job is even more intense.
     Your back will feel better tomorrow. Take a hot bath; it’ll help. Make yourself some really good hot chocolate, with real milk and real chocolate. Throw in a shot of brandy; you’ll never deserve it more.
     Any of those browns will make the bedroom feel real cozy. I like the one farthest to the left in the picture, but that’s just me.
     The room will be beautiful when it’s done, and the hardship of actually doing it will fade into just a funny story.
     Hugs,
     Marina

126. Ha! How ’bout taupe?

127. p.s. by “bottom large”, I mean bottom of the strip of paint chips. Clear as mud, I am.

128. Um, aren’t these the kinds of jobs you have children for? At least, that’s what my dad always said.
     Seriously, you have me actually wishing I owned a house so I could do some home improvment. And I love all of those shades of brown. Especially the one on the far left.

129. The top most color; I think the darkness as trim won’t be too much and it will always make the floor look light.
     Then a sauna if you can get one or a long hot bath to help with the muscle soreness.
     I just realised this is just like your other profession: long drawn out laboring, moments of despair but at the end something you love and you’re proud of and making it all worthwhile.

130. I just have to jump in and say, I am so completely and utterly impressed that you took on this mammoth task on your own! My husband and I have been painting our home room by room (our 80-year-old house has plenty o’ trim too) and just painting is a lot of work!! Luckily we haven’t had to tackle any floors. And yes, the cleanup is just as bad, although to me it falls behind the worst part: the prep.
     Hang in there, the final outcome is SO gratifying!

131. Oh, Steph. I’ve been there, done that, used the t-shirt to wipe up the spilt paint on the newly-finished floor. I’m sending you sympathy, thoughts of a really hot bath, red wine, and the satisfaction you’ll feel when the sunlight hits the floor and golden light floods the room. If Joe utters one word, ONE WORD of criticism, tell him a world-full of knitters is gonna smack him hard.

132. OK, my one and only DIY tip, based on the last time we painted our walls – if they have match pots in Canada – tiny little pots of the paint you THINK you like, get some. They cost, proportionately speaking, a fortune – although they will come in handy to cover the odd scratch or chip in the future – but I found them invaluable. I was convinced I wanted green for the walls, and bought 3 greens and, right out of left field, one peach. Once painted on the walls in sample blocks, the greens all looked horrid and the peach was brilliant.
     I would never pick from just the colour swatches again.
     Mind you, given the choice, I would never paint the walls again……. 🙂

133. Yep, clean up sucks, but I actually like painting. It feels so good when you are done.
     Colours (no spelling fascism here!) *are* darker when they dry. I’d go with the far right; not only the lightest, but also the warmest.
     PRIMER and SWATCH are as important in paint as in knit, but for other reasons; colour not only looks different on the walls, but also will “meld” with the previous colour (unless white) for sometimes unforseen and undesirable results.
     For example: a lovely pale sunshine yellow over 60’s psychedelic turquoise- not so good. Trust me. I know.
     Once again. Primer, steph, primer. And maybe kilz. Just to make sure.

134. I think all the colours are a bit dark for a bedroom…if you want calm, you might want something a bit lighter. But the calmest colour is the one on the left, definitely. The problem with the top larger chips is that you’ll end up with mustard walls, even though you thought you were picking brown. The yellow undertones are very strong in those. I’d go for the more neutral, and while that seems like the wimpier choice, it does allow you to do whatever the hell you want with the curtains and the rest of the decor without having to match it all to the walls.

135. I actually like to paint and sand and all those things. The way I look at is…the end result is worth all the hard work. Drives my husband bats. Last summer I painted several of our out-buildings barn red, including primer coats. Lots of work, but I admire my handy work every time I walk by. To make decisions on color, even outside, I tape the color cards on the wall and leave them for a week or until I am absolutely sure I have made the right choice. That way, I look at it often, I look at in different lights – day and night and often. You seldom go wrong with that choice.
     I repainted our spare bathroom last summer, and have never been a yellow-paint person, but the room called to me that it needed to be yellow. So I bought one of the little pint containers of the yellow I thought I would like and painted one large area and then left it for a week. I ended up going a shade lighter and am glad for my choice. It is the nicest room in the house – paintwise. Great job! Keep up the hard work, you will be proud in the end.

136. Go for the dot on the left, You don’t want the yellow colors of old “smokers paint”. Looks great so far.

137. Go with the bottom left color, but go one shade lighter. Also, most of the paint manufacturers now offer little test bottles(about $2 US). That really helped us see the true color when it dried and in the light of that room.
     Can’t wait to see you in Denver!!

138. Apparently we are related. For some unexplained reason I too have this gene, “It’s not that much to do, really!” Yeah right, remind me sometime to tell you about the time I really thought my husband and I could paint the whole inside of the house, ceilings and all in four days. You will need several cold beers. Several!

139. Since you commented in one of your books that all knitters hope one day to be able to knit in their sleep, I have to ask: Did you notice where you were on the Bohus before you fell asleep, and did you notice any progress beyond that?
     I actually love to paint and would cheerfully do it for you, except that you’re in Toronto and I’m in Seattle. Oh well, maybe the next time I’m passing through. It’s only been 23 years since the last time I was there.
     I do not pick colors for other people. I’ve got some sort of weird color problem where I have trouble differentiating blue from green and red from orange (I think the common thread here is yellow), and it makes me a bit paranoid. I had thought that I’d painted my bathroom in my condo a nice powder blue, until I got married and my ex moved in and informed me that it was actually green. Polling friends and relatives who came to visit proved that he was right. Who knew?

140. this is exactly why I continue to go work. If I ever stop, I may have to do my own home improvement (god forbid) and it would be a disaster as I do not have that lovely McPhee tendency toward perfection. So I would just be hurting and my work product would suck. Now you’re at the fun part–get the girls to help paint too. Tell them it’s for toning their upper bodies 🙂

141. this is exactly why I continue to go to work. If I ever stop, I may have to do my own home improvement (god forbid) and it would be a disaster as I do not have that lovely McPhee tendency toward perfection. So I would just be hurting and my work product would suck. Now you’re at the fun part–get the girls to help paint too. Tell them it’s for toning their upper bodies 🙂

142. Far dot on the left. What a lovely warm color.

143. Oh my gosh Stephanie… You are most definetely going to be Joe’s Hero! He is in for a real surprise here. Like most of the readers above… I am in awe of your can do attitude! This is an enourmous blood/soul sucking job. I admire what you are doing here and am truly inspired. I hope your kids, friends, other relatives help you out too.

144. furthest dot to the right. the one on the left is nice but if it were my bedroom, anyway, i’d feel like i was sleeping in a Starbucks.

145. What floor can be seen through the plastic looks GORGEOUS!! And having not only painted, but retextured (UGH!) a couple of ceilings, I feel your pain. But as many others have said, it is SO worth the pain and agony when you’re enjoying the fruits of your labor- laying in bed, relaxing your worn-out muscles and looking up at your beautiful new ceiling!

146. We’re having our bedroom done over at the moment, too, although we already did the floors a few years ago. But I do have a suggestion for choosing your paint/trim colors. See if your paint store sells samples, if not, buy the smallest amount you can (here, it’s a quart). Put each color in at least 2 places in the room based on how the light will hit it, i.e., one wall the sun will hit, one it won’t. Now you get to live with the colors for a few days, see them in all kinds of light: sunny, cloudy, day & night. Once you have done that, picking your final color is easy as some that you were in love with on the chips will weed themselves out. Yes, your walls will temporarily look like an experiment in modern art, but with using this method I have never once gone wrong on the final color. How to cover a darker sample when you picked a lighter color: primer, and have them tint it close to the paint color if necessary. Good luck! It looks great so far!

147. The one farthest to the right. It’s the most warm and soothing.

148. Don’t bother with the color that looks best with naked you. What looks best with the stash?

149. I love dark walls…jewel tones/Irish Cream brown..with white ceiling and woodwork..if you are smart and don’t strip and refinish IT too!
     Been there, done that…painted 7 rooms with ceiling included, and woodwork, plus refinished two wood floors in 2 weeks…alone…move all the furniture…got to know my Chiropractor really well!
     March is Women’s History month…consider that you have made your mark in a number of areas…now, diy.

150. WHOA NELLIE – one thing I learned from my “remodel” last year is to make sure that you check the paint cards in all sorts of light. I had the siding painted on the house last year with a beautiful sand color to go with the white trim and the chocolate shutters (I also painted). The painters came while I was at work and when I came home and the sun was shining, the house looked PEACH not SAND! My kids complained, luckily the neighbors didn’t but still, check those paint cards in natural light, filtered light, light from whatever lamps you will use in the room or you could end up with purple again! LOL

151. The one on the left.

152. You SO deserve to buy yourself another Bohus for this!
     I would go with the color on the far left. Mmmm…reminds me of really high quality cocoa.

153. Two Words: Benjamin Moore.
     He’s totally worth the extra money. Great colors and it goes on like buttah.

154. Top one, far right. Has just enough goldish color that it will be neutral enough to go with anything and just enough color. Trust me, I just used a similar color and it is so warm and cozy that I hate to leave my house. You’ll love it. others are too brownish.

155. Although I’m impressed with all the work you’re going through on your bedroom remodel, I can’t help but me MORE impressed that you also still find time to write this post. WOW! Thanks for sharing your trials & tribulations, but now I’m even far less thrilled about painting my kitchen ceiling.

156. Top one, far right. Has just enough goldish color that it will be neutral enough to go with anything and just enough color. Trust me, I just used a similar color and it is so warm and cozy that I hate to leave my house. You’ll love it. others are too brownish.

157. I vote for the one on the far left. Less orange, more grey. 🙂

158. The one on the far left. I do like it quite a bit.

159. I hate trying to pick paint colors so I’m no help on that. I’ll just cheer you on! Go! Go! You can do it!

160. Don’t give up Stephanie. The worst is truly over. We own a similar “crap” house”. We explained to our friends that it had “good bones” when we bought. They thought we were nuts.
     The “before” picture of your pine floors is identical to our “before” picture and your brother is totally right. The sanding is sooooo worth it. The floor will be gorgeous and you will love it forever!
     I like all of the paint samples but my question is “What else is happening in the room”?—I think I’ve been watching too much HGTV but I think you might want to consider more elements when you make your choice.
     After making many regrettable paint choices, I now always start with whatever textiles or permanent fixtures that will be in the room like carpet or upholstery. Are you getting new bedding and or curtains as part of your makeover? Will there be any area rugs or floor mats?…Artwork? …Anything else that will be injecting colour into the picture?. It’s so easy to find perfect paint colour to work with the comforter or quilt you adore but so much harder to find the right textiles to compliment your paint.
     I also agree that it’s really a good idea to do some samples. I keep a few old drywall cutoffs for this and prime and paint them (rather than the actual walls–it can sometimes be hard to hide the “swatching”). It’s pretty easy then to just move the samples to different parts of the room to check out the effect of the light on the colour. Paint stores are now selling smaller quantities of paint so you can do this. I could not believe the difference this made to my last “while you were out project”–my favourite colour on the sample card was my least favourite when I actually saw it with the others I sampled in the room.
     Yes…I know it sounds way too “Martha” but painting in my opinion is so much work, I just want to really like it when it’s done…and not have to do it again for a long time!
     Be sure to book yourself a massage some time very soon. Good Luck!

161. When you have the paint mixed, have them put HALF the colorant in and take it home and try a small section. Almost always this will give you the color you thought you wanted from the swatch.
     In the unlikely event that you decide you do want it darker, they can add the rest of the colorant to that and successive batches. Dump a bit of the new color into the old as you’re getting ready to change – just like merging different dye lots of yarn.

162. I vote for the cool brown which is the red spot furthest left, warm browns bug me.

163. To quote a former professor upon seeing his wife take her car to the car wash – “Why are you spending money to get the car washed? We have three teenagers. That’s what they’re for.”
     Very nice of the girls to make dinner but perhaps some slave labor would be handy. And for goodness sakes, knitter, put down a cushion if you’re going to be on your knees! We’d like you to be able to walk and stand during your book tour.

164. the one on the far right — BECAUSE it has some yellow in it, which will make the room feel cozy — it IS a bedroom, after all!
     Good luck, and take some aspirin!

165. I’m exhausted just reading about your labors! You’ve saved me the trouble of even attempting to paint. If it hurts you, it will totally cripple me…I’m a wee bit older than you, have a disc going in my neck and arthritis, so…On the other hand, I certainly can’t afford to pay a painter…sigh. Anywho, what a great job you are doing! I do hope you are able to treat yourself to a back massage when the room is done…or, perhaps Joe might help with that 🙂

166. Drink lots of red raspberry leaf & alfalfa & spearmint tea. (3 parts RRL, 1 part each alfalfa & spearmint.) Good for what ails you, and great for sore muscles. Toss a little comfrey leaf in there too, while you’re at it.
     I vote for the color on the bottom left, too. It compliments the floor beautifully, and it’ll go really well with any coffee that manages to get spilled in your room. ;o) Will the trim be white? I love rich warm brown walls with crisp white trim.
     Hang in there . . . you’re getting close!

167. covered wagon. or the chocolate-y one on the left.
     brave, brave soul. i will never paint another ceiling again. 4’11”, just ain’t happening.

168. I would choose the red dot furthest left and go up one level of color. It will be much darker on the wall – and will eat all of the sunlight coming in… unless you are going for a cave look.
     I am odd woman out here – I love doing remodeling. I hate doing it with kids and hubby underfoot. I hate prep work and clean up, but the actual sanding, painting, planning — YES!
     The hardest part is those final little finish-up parts. Hang in there. Once you are done, you won’t have to think about it. You are going to love this room when it is done. Congrats!

169. I won’t presume to tell you which colour to pick, but I agree that buying a shade lighter than the colour you think you want is good advice. I once picked a lovely pale salmon to paint a room and when it was up on the walls they were ORANGE.

170. Stephanie, you’re doing a great job! As a woman who has painted every square inch of a house – inside and outside, more than once, I’ll share this — first prime the walls to remove the color on them now. Then:
     1) make big samples of the paint colors – paint on foam board and place against the wall (cardboard will do if you’re desperate); 2) paint colors DO get darker after drying; 3) go lighter on the paint chip thingie and you can almost always make it darker if it’s too light. The second or middle color is often the one to start with. If you want a brownish color, seek advice from the paint store and ask for a “neutral” brown. Then go lighter. One last piece of unasked for adivce: white might be the hardest “color” to select, right next to yellow. Can’t wait to see the final results!!

171. You can`t get extending paint roller poles in Canada? I`ve got eight very high ceilings to paint sometime very soon, and I`ve treated myself to a new pole. Cost less than a ball of sock yarn. Can paint ceilings without having to climb anything. Can use them on walls as well.
     I like the more yellow colour. Warmer.

172. don’t you mean you’re 5 feet tall?

173. Ah, the old arms over the head thing. I’m 5’9″ and was hanging a sturdy vinyl shower curtain the other day and my arms felt the burn from having to support the thing while placing hooks through gromments. And I do a little bit of strength training…
     You win, though, with the ceiling painting pain!

174. Aye, painting ceilings are major suckage, painted a ceiling for SIL about a month ago…still quite the vivid memory.
     That colour on the left is a favourite of mine, also the one to the right of it. Nice.
     You can do this. Remember? You are dauntless.

175. Stephanie, the floor looks fantastic. What a difference!
     Since we’re going to be buying our first house this summer, which will probably involve lots of painting in the not-too-distant future (as well as a host of other things unknown and therefore nerve-wracking), I’m trying to not think too hard about the ceiling thing. Looks great, though!

176. Rest assured that this painting of the ceiling will help prevent “batwing arms”. I’ve done 7 or 8 rooms of them – including fixing the plaster, sanding, et at. – my arms looked great (so did the ceilings for a few years – now they’re due again, sigh). When it’s done – you’ll be happy you did it right – your brother is a smart man.

177. weel, if it were me, I would go with a real chocolatey brown on the walls, with lighter trim, even though it would kill the hubby. as is is, one wall of my bedroom is the same color as your sample on the far left. I often wish it were darker.

178. Aye, painting ceilings are major suckage, painted a ceiling for SIL about a month ago…still quite the vivid memory.
     That colour on the left is a favourite of mine, also the one to the right of it. Nice.
     You can do this. Remember? You are dauntless.
     PS…be sure and ‘shampoo’ your brushes…lathering them with a fairly simple bar soap (Ivory works)and rinsing a few times, = much longer life. (shampoo rinse, shampoo rinse etc)

179. On reading the comments and thinking about colors, I strongly recommend the swatching. It makes all the difference. And I second the idea to swatch on more than one wall.
     As for color choice, I’d have a hard time liking any of them, but chacun … However, do think of this: your ceiling is white, the floors a fabulous light/medium golden color. Light colors make things look bigger, and the reverse holds true, also. I’m afraid that putting a darker color on the walls would make the room feel really tall and somewhat skinny. Is that the effect you want? Think about that. Maybe go lighter than you first chose.

180. you go, Girl!! What a herculean task–my lazy hat is off to you! I like the colour on the far left card with the red dot. You could always ask the girls if they’d like to help???

181. Oh dear, please use knee protectors when you paint/sand your floors. My mother’s knee replacements are proof that you shouldn’t do stuff like you are doing without knee protection (and I second the dust-mask recommendation).
     Oh, and where’s Ian? I know you can do this yourself but wouldn’t it be nice to have his help?? Besides, I always like to see a photo of Ian now and then on your blog.

182. On second thought–
     Last week, some yarn I had ordered on the ‘Net arrived. It had looked dusty rose on the monitor. It arrived coppery brown. Same thing last year– ordered moss colored yarn, received antique gold. Ordered apricot, received tangerine.
     Maybe you shouldn’t be asking us to advise you on colours, when we’re looking at wildly divergent computer monitors.

183. The one on the left, totally. We have almost this exact same color in our house. And while it looks ‘cool’ or ‘cold’ it really warms up with sunlight. It is great with so many colors. We just love it.
     Just keep going and reminding yourself that once you are done, you shouldn’t have to do this again. The floor looks simply beautiful.

184. The floor is unbelieveable. A couple of pints of paint and a couple of pints–get those large swatches right on the walls. I agree with the minority–the one of the right. Everything else looks pink-ish on my monitor.
     Wonderfully sweet that the girls made dinner….something to remember (when they’re making you crazy).
     DIY the way that you knit–with decisive courage and great gusto (and let the details and nuances of “perfect” planning come with the next project). Doing it RIGHT, with the occasional “design feature” (that no one else but you and Joe will know) will be much better than doing it perfect.
     I envy your “While You Were Out” courage…..

185. I think this is the point Stephanie where you treat yourself to a full body massage when everything is done. Help your body return to normal knitting mode 🙂

186. The work you are doing will totally be worth it and you can dine out on home reno stories for years. And if you ever run into that Mike Holmes character, you totally have something to talk about.
     And your selection of colours is fabulous. I have had very similar colours in my last two bedrooms, and it’s perfect. Warm, comforting, restful. I would probably go with the one on the right – it will look darker on the wall, and our thin Canadian light needs a warmer tone. Good luck – you’ve done the worst of it now. (And good call on not drywalling the ceiling. Most evil, brutish job I have ever done.)

187. The work you are doing will totally be worth it and you can dine out on home reno stories for years. And if you ever run into that Mike Holmes character, you totally have something to talk about.
     And your selection of colours is fabulous. I have had very similar colours in my last two bedrooms, and it’s perfect. Warm, comforting, restful. I would probably go with the one on the right – it will look darker on the wall, and our thin Canadian light needs a warmer tone. Good luck – you’ve done the worst of it now. (And good call on not drywalling the ceiling. Most evil, brutish job I have ever done.)

188. Because I’m so like that, I like the one ABOVE the one on the far left. Or if you’ve picked out a new duvet cover or bedspread, bring that to the store to find the perfect coordinating color.
     Check out the bedding at this link for color inspiraton that’s not too girly. http://search2.anthropologie.com/?q=j79101

189. I did a “while you were out” when my hubby was gone for a few days several years ago when we had just bought this house. The only advice I can give for the painting the ceiling pain is standing in a hot shower. Our bedroom had dark broun ceilings & dark taupe walls and I had to paint three coats of primer to the ceiling before I could even begin the paint. Thank goodness the room is small (you can imagine how really small it looked with that dark color) and had lower ceiling than you have. I just covered all furniture with tarp & walked all over the bed & furniture. You are brave for doing the floor! It is looking great!!

190. I TOTALLY feel your pain-we lived in an old house with tons of “character”-here a clever word for “unbearable amount of work that will suck you dry physically and financially to maintain”-in which we refinished all the floors in the whole house (2000 sq. feet of oak-ugh!)-well, we hired someone to do it but they did not do the clean up and oh my gosh, the DUST! It was insidious! I was forever getting myself into projects over my head-literally, too-like the time I decided to paint my daughter’s ceiling a pretty pale blue with very light, fluffy white clouds on it-3 days it took me and I really almost died from the pain in my neck and arms, it was awful-but the ceiling did look cool….then we moved. Oh well. I’m sure Joe will be so proud and impressed!! btw, perhaps you could knit a nice little area rug to go in there-by the time he gets back, no less, right?? hahahaha

191. We once did a whole house, three bedrooms a hall, living room and kitchen. The dust ooooo the dust. But it all pays off. The bedroom will be soooo nice when you’re done.

192. I hope you used an extension pole for your paint roller….it’s much easier that way. I have gone through all of the renovations humanly possible, including laying ceramic floor tile, wall-papering, spackling and sanding orange peel walls, yes, painting popcorn ceilings…it truly does kick one’s arse. But the results and the money saved by doing it oneself are certainly worth it. Keep up the good work, Harlot.

193. You will be so proud of it when it’s done!

194. Ummm…Hate to be a nag, but I think you need to keep up the momentum for the 22nd. It’s like 2 weeks til the 22nd. Keep up the rah, rah, rah to get people to go. How is the wonder publicist spreading the word? And then there’s that hat coordination thing. Plus substract a few days for mail time. Just in case you weren’t exhausted and stressed out enough ….

195. Be thankful you didn’t get the bright idea to put 12″ x 12″ ceramic tiles in both baths and kitchen. I am awaitng the mess that will come with this venture. The DH says that it will be “easy” and shouldn’t take too long to get it done.
     So to go with the floors I’m painting both baths and kitchen. I think I’m gunna paint the walls BEFORE he puts the new tiles down that way if I get paint on the floor it will be on the old nasty peel and stick tiles.
     I’ll gladly paint teh ceiling ANY day then put up with tile being layed.

196. The one on the far left. The others, particularly the one on the far right, are too reminiscent of baby poo. Having just made a similar brown decision last year, trust me on the baby poo. We had a near miss.

197. And don’t you love how we are all saying, “Trust me!” heh.
     As Katherine Hepburn said, “If you please yourself, at least someone is happy.”

198. Stephanie,
     Next time you have someone sand your floors, have them seal the room with plastic curtains at the doors and at any closet, etc. I work in a hospital and we are having whole renovations done that you don’t even know about, except for the noise, because everything is sealed. Then you only have one room with dust.
     Hope this helps if you have more floors to do.

199. Since you’re asking, I like the card that says (at least I think it says) Covered Wagon. But, like a couple of other people have already said, go to the shade above it. Small Room + Deep Colour = Cave. And living in a cave is no fun, no matter how beautiful the floor.
     Keep going, Girl! You’re almost there. It’ll be beautiful. And this week’s home reno adventure will make a fabulous tale of adversity and victory at Chez Harlot when you’re done!
     Meanwhile? A glass of Merlot and a hot bath.

200. You are bringing back the horrible memory of painting the ceiling in my closet just to discover…I have a leak in my roof. The stupid closet needs to be re-painted. Again. So I can tell if the leak has been completely fixed. Ugh.
     I can not believe you’re not wearing any breathing protection from all that dust. I’m telling myself that you did that just so you look better in the photo. Don’t spoil it by telling me I’m wrong.
     And if you should happen to lose your mind and do this again? If you paint the ceiling before having the floor sanded, you don’t have to worry about drops on the floor. I know this because I’m the idiot who absolutely can NOT keep a drop cloth from bunching up and painting the floor with the drops on it.
     You may want to find someone who does massage. You’re going to be very sore for a few days!
     And Stephanie? It looks great. It’s going to be worth it. And that husband of yours had better thank you properly.

201. Unbelievable as it my seem, this fall I painted my dining/living rooms the very same color you are toying with, Roxbury Caramel HC-42, and I absolutely love it! Flipped when I saw your color choices in all their creamy chololate goodness.

202. If the swatch/camera/monitors all behave (ha!) I pick the one one the far left. But most of all I’d pick the one that looks best with your skin tone, definitely a must for the master bedroom.

203. Four colors, four walls. What’s the problem here?
     Actually, consider painting one wall a slightly different shade (either one lighter or one darker on the same chip). It gives the room a great sense of depth.

204. The ceiling could have been much worse.
     My mother had to remove *wallpaper* from the kitchen ceiling before she could paint it. She got the sand-textured coat one, but gave up (as I recall) before she got all the semi-gloss enamel on. But it still looked a lot better than it had. (I leave it to you to figure out what kind of person wallpapers a *kitchen* *ceiling*.)

205. You will shortly be hearing from Martha Stewart so that you may celebrated in not just the Bohas but the redo of your bedroom in such a short period of time. Because you know that if a Man had done this work, he would still be negotiating with the floor refinsher. A hot bath with a Cabernet is what the doctor orders. cecilia

206. I’m sorry you’re having to go through this. That work sounds like it sucked six kinds of sundaes. Hand-sanding the floor? I wish you much luck and not so much backbreaking work with the rest and no more flaming sawdust.

207. GOOD JOB. Knitters can accomplish anything.
     Now when are you going to give the “sewing room” a makeover?

208. Stephanie, I have no idea whether you will have time to read these comments in anything like a timeframe that would help (ie. constitute constructive input) but: make sure you look at the colour chips in the room you’re painting, in the light they’ll be exposed to, and on the walls they will be on–otherwise angles or amount of light can change the final results WAY off what you thought you were getting! (As others have said, often for the darker).
     In addition, I know when I work with reno chemicals for a few days in a row (eg. redoing floors) I start feeling utterly sandbagged–the exhaustion of having all that extra exposure to whatever’s in those cans is dang hard on some bodies. If that’s part of your exhaustion, a few days of breathing clean air will help immeasurably… sleeping somewhere you really can’t smell the stuff helps heaps, too.
     You go, Girl–you may never forget the pain, but the results will be smug-happiness making for a long time to come…

209. What ever colour you choose remember the walls will be much much larger than the paint chip. Go lighter than you think you need. Even tell the paint store tell to mix the paint at 1/2 formula. I kid you not. I have painted many, many rooms and I have always done the 1/2 formula. Well, I have after the first time when my nice apricot warm tone chip came out on bathroom walls looking like orange sherbert, lots and lots of orange sherbet.
     Get yourself down to your friendly body work specialist and treat yourself to a nice hr. of massage and hot stone treatment if you can. If you meet Joe in the door way of the nice new room and he give you an enthusiastic hug, you want to be able to enjoy it without wincing in pain.

210. Just my opinion, but I would go for a shade of a lighter color, a blue or a green one, not a brown one. Even a cream color … or a lavender

211. Benjamin Moore sells little tiny pots of paint as samples to try. I’ve yet to paint a room and think it was anything like the frackin’ paint chip.

212. Wait – where the hell did those extra paint chips come from?

213. I like the second from the left. I like the one on the very left, but isn’t it a bit boring? The other two are too yellow in my opinion. The one second from the left is just right. The one just above it would actually be my pick, because paint goes on darker than what you expect. Try a patch first, then let it dry….because it looks different when dry too. I have LOTS of experience painting, and I’d help you if I lived closer. Your room is looking fabulous! By the way, your trim around the doors is exactly the same as ours was, in our last house in London, ON. Carry on Steph….it will be worth it….and something less to dwell on.

214. Not sure what your hardware store situation is, but you can rent a sander at Home Depot for like $20…and it’s a lifesaver…we’ve renovated two apartments and one house with wood floors…and hand sanding is really not where I’d spend my time again. Looks gorgeous, though, however you end up there!

215. Pick the dark caramel color (top dot). We have it in our bedroom and its gorgeous with dark chocolate brown curtains and antiqued copper.
     Yummy… it will all be worth it in the end.

216. You’re my hero! Wow! You go girl, it’s looking great. I hope your husband will show his appreciation to you when he gets home.

217. Red dot all the way on the left is my vote. Not too dark and will go well with the floor color, so when light shines up the room it will really brighten it up! I have 2 bedroom floors that need refinishing and a yucky kitchen with carpeting in it that needs either wood floor or linoleum. I’ve lived in the house 10 years and all the work you’re putting in on your master bedroom is testament to why the 2 bedroom floors and kitchen floor are still not done! A frosty beer and a nice nap should be waiting for you at the end of all your valient efforts! Cheers to you!

218. If you are doind the trim one color and the walls another go with the two on the card with the big samples.Ligher on the walls, dark trim, IMO. Otherwise I like the lighter color on the big sample.

219. Definitely go left. But I agree with others who have recommended that you go a shade lighter — even two shades lighter. You don’t want the bedroom to look like a cave, particularly during a long northern winter. It always looks darker than you expect it to. Plus, if a few months later you’re convinced it’s just too bloody light, you can always repaint a shade darker — but it’s much harder to repaint a shade lighter if it becomes oppressive.
     Awesome job on the ceiling. 😀 Two coats? Man, you’ve got dedication.

220. Red dot to the left – least “bronze” option – looks more natural than the other two.

221. I think its a good thing he’s your husband–this much blood, sweat, and tears could be potentially more frightening than the average ‘boyfriend sweater’…

222. hang in there! you are almost done…

223. I think I would have skipped out on painting the ceiling, so kudos for sticking it out, it really does look very nice. And the floor looks amazing too. Just think how nice it will all look, that should help with the aches and pains!

224. I must say, the floor looks awesome and you have quite a good story to tell! It’s a good thing it’s winter after all the fires! The ceiling looks lovely, sparkling white, and I’m sure you will be happy when lying in bed staring at it (whenever the bed is back in the room). As for the paint, my preference is the one on the far left. You should have set up some kind of automatic tabulator to keep track of the votes though!

225. Save your knees… use knee pads! And throw away the roller… too much trouble to wash them! Ask me how I know these things : ) Good luck and may the project soon be finished!

226. Steph, you are more of an amazon woman than I will EVER be. My only worry is that you will not be able to finish the bohus by the time of the Great Big Book Release, and that will make me sad.

227. Wow! The room is looking lovely – I’m so impressed with all your hard work:) I helped an ex-boyfriend renovate his house once (we were dating at the time – no way in hell I’d do that for someone I’m not living with) and I remember 12 hour days of back-breaking work, but it was deeply satisfying seeing how gorgeous everything became. Good luck with your great project!

228. First off -it’s looking great!
     I feel your pain – I restored 4 Victorian houses before I was thirty (no professionals were harmed – or used- in the restoration of my houses) and I worked 45 plus hours a week. This was not the most fun part of my life – but no contractor, painter, plumber, electrician or floor refinisher can pull the wool over my eyes – I’ve done it all – and I’m a pink, lace waring GIRL! I’m quite proiud of the fact that I have touched every square inch of my house inside and out – top to bottom. You will beam with pride, too – when you’re done.
     Pretty paint colors – as a helpful note: pick the color you like best and have them mix it half strength. Colors are always much darker on the walls – perhaps it’s teh volume of paint. it’s always harder to lighten a dark wall. Having said that – I painted my kitchen choclate brown three years ago and I LOVE IT!
     Best of luck!

229. Yep, been there. When we bought our (old) house five years ago, I took alot of painting on myself–including ceilings. Not fun. At. All. Now, five years later, I am questioning a lot of color choices, but this time it won’t be me with the roller. I admire your stick-to-it-iveness.

230. Steph, where on earth are your able-bodied teenagers? Why aren’t they doing the back-breaking manual labor–or at least helping with it?! Also, why did you paint the ceiling AFTER you sanded the floor?
     You’re doing a lovely job–the floor looks awesome. I am not good at picking out paint colors, so no vote for me on that one. Sorry! 🙂

231. Stephanie, I have used paints from that card on the left. Great colors, but you need to be aware that they are far far pinker on the wall than on the card.
     The floor looks fabulous.

232. Honestly. Every time I decide to comment I remember why I never comment. Takes me half the afternoon to scroll down to the comment box. These things should really go at the top.
     And again. Honestly! If you post one more time about your life and I find it the seeming parallel of mine I will just have to come up there and whack you one. Or help. I’m not taller, but my husband is the one that painted our bedroom ceiling yesterday. It was crap. The a/c is in the attic and it leaked several times into our bedroom. Apparently this occurred before we owned this house as well, a fact I pointed out to Pete earlier when I noticed that the ceiling had been repaired. He didn’t believe me. Then. Now? Yeah. It was so bad that we had to cut out the damaged sections and replace them (of course we all know that by “we” I mean the royal “we” of Pete. I stand by and criticize, and I’m damned good at it!) Our ceiling has that textured thing going on and I told him over and over that he would not be able to match it. He would have to do the whole thing. He didn’t believe me (again-do you sense a theme here?). so when he started painting on the texture it was a surprise to him that it didn’t blend.at.all. This is when I don’t really criticize, just look up at it and shake my head imperceptibly and walk away. It stayed that way for months, and this week he decided (because I threatened to hire someone to do that and put the new floor down) to try and fix it. He found this popcorn paint and went over the entire ceiling with that. You can see where he started and where he got tired and started spreading it more thinly, which he should have done from the start, but at this point I am saying nothing. It is what it is. Next the floor (after reading your post I think we will go with pre-finished), then the paint then the window treatments, which will be gorgeous as I swiped this really expensive fabric that was left over at the end of a job that I just made for a customer.
     So, parallel lives again, sort of. With the exception of me actually doing that particular part of the work. I’ll complain during the paint phase. Or hire my brother-in-law. That is sounding better and better.

233. My back is almost achin in sympathy. Way to go for doing the job right.
     A hint for the colours unless you are absolutely in love with one… take a piece of whatever major fabric (i.e. bedspread/comforter) into the store and ask the people there. I painted my den… knew I wanted a sunny yellow and couldn’t narrow down the paint chips. Took a pillow of the couch in and the lady helped me pick out quite a different shade — with which I’ve been immensely happy. They know their stuff and how light reflects and all those other things that don’t seem to show up in colours of things like yarn quite the same way.
     The peelable tape is REALLY good stuff to have when painting trim. Saves lots of scraping and tidying later.

234. This and the previous post are the two funniest blog entries I have ever read. There’s no wonder your published. Maybe you could write a book about how to not decorate a room.

235. The red dot on the left is my choice. You’ll be so proud of yourself when you’re done – maybe even as proud as you’ll be when you finish the Bohus.

236. I wonder what it says about me that I notice things like how the titles of your posts seem to be getting shorter and shorter. 😀 The last five are one word, the one before those is two words, the previous three, the one before that five words… I can hardly believe the level of geek myself.

237. The ceiling is a definite improvement. As is the new picture on the new book!!!!! GREAT hair. Hope the rest of the rennovation is lots easier.

238. I always buy inexpensive rollers and pans and throw them out when I’m done. Feels good.

239. Do the red dot farthest to the left. Its the paint chip on the very bottom. Remember sometimes it comes out a little darker than it looks on the paint chip. I should know, I wanted sage green walls, I now have mint retro intstitution green.
     Good Luck

240. Do the red dot farthest to the left. Its the paint chip on the very bottom. Remember sometimes it comes out a little darker than it looks on the paint chip. I should know, I wanted sage green walls, I now have mint retro institution green.
     Good Luck

241. I like the first red dot on the left.
     We painted one ceiling in our house, but one ceiling is putting it mildly. It was the ceiling for all of our basement. It wasn’t fun.

242. You’re such a trooper! Of course it will be worth it, when the big guy gets home and sees what you did to surprise him. He’ll probably even know how very much work it must have been. PLUS you have the satisfaction of never having to do it (to this degree, at least) again!

243. You’ve hit upon one of my chief problems with these types of large projects. I run out of steam early or am otherwise debilitated and need to take to the bed for several days. After those spells it is difficult enough to brush my teeth, let alone complete the endeavor. I’m glad you’re able to carry on despite the difficulties, and that you are able to do this well. I also agree with the severe strain that the clean up bit places upon such undertakings.

244. I am married to a champion drywaller who considers taping and mudding a life skill; had I known there was acoustic tile involved, I would have been happy to barter his work for Fleece Artist – he would understand. Nonetheless, I think everything looks great – and I think you should pick either of the two browns on the left.

245. Commenting again…I have Benjamin Moore Powell Buff HC-35, it looks like a medium suede / buffed yellow. I took the paint chip to a place that matched the colour, and had it made up in Para paints (cheaper), sorry BM. Anyway, I like it, if you’re going for yellows. Lots of people are choosing the one on the left, but taupe? Oh, been there, done that. Benjamin Moore has a website, where you can look at all their colours. They have one called “Cable Knit”, did you notice?

246. I can soooo relate to you on the ceilings. I’m a little shorter than you but luckily, we also have shorter walls. However, unlike your nice flat surface, I had to paint over 450 sq. ft. of textured, AKA popcorn, AKA crap, ceilings. 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint later, and the ceiling edges still look liked sh*t. I’ve never hurt so bad in my life.

247. If you have the facilities for a bath, take a hot bath in Epsom salts. Will take all the aches and pains away. After doing all this work, the book tour is going to seem like a breeze.

248. You can do it. You can do it. You can do it.

249. Having ripped out and remodeled the only bathroom, removed asbestos tile, replaced carpeting with hardwood in my bedroom, replaced all trim in the bedroom and repainted nearly all walls in my house I can honestly say the best way to deal with all that construction dust is to pay a cleaning company $125-200 (depending on the size of your house) to come in and wipe down all surfaces (walls, ceilings, baseboards, blinds, windows) and thoroughly vacuum after your through. I did a half-way job and then paid the cleaning company. Best $125 I ever spent. I would still be cleaning dust off stuff if I hadn’t.

250. When is Joe coming back? Are you sure you didn’t think 5 weeks instead of 5 days?! He is one lucky gent 🙂 That’s for sure.

251. First dot on the left. When you recover it’ll all be worth it when you see how pretty it is and much more you enjoy being in your room! 😉

252. Hang in there – what a labour of love. It is looking great already. Main reason for chiming in is to wish you a VERY Happy International Women’s Day! Cheers!

253. Home improvement= emphasizing the pain in repainting.
     I think you’ll choose one of the two dots on the right (my personal favorite is the bottom right dot). Be careful of painting the walls too dark, you may find that in a small room it’s rather confining.
     Good job missus. I have refinished hardwood floors myself (won’t do that again), AND repainted my entire apartment (1200sqf) that required in some rooms THREE coats of primer and two coats of paint. However, when you are finished the sense of accomplishment is awesome.

254. the floors are LOVELY! Bottom layer, on the right… looks warm and cozy!

255. Those are your colors, not mine but for what it’s worth, the one in the middle of the picture with the red dot. The one below the other one in the middle of the picture. Caramel something or other? Can’t really read it.
     Good job, Stephanie! You will be soooo happy when you get done. Well, not immediately but after you stop hurting

256. Those are your colors, not mine but for what it’s worth, the one in the middle of the picture with the red dot. The one below the other one in the middle of the picture. Caramel something or other? Can’t really read it.
     Good job, Stephanie! You will be soooo happy when you get done. Well, not immediately but after you stop hurting.

257. I like the red dots

258. HANG IN THERE STEPH!
     Up to me? I pick the red dot on the far left. But it’ll be gorgeous, just with the ceiling and floor! Keep at it, we’re pulling for you!

259. JMO … but I think that although the room isn’t huge, it seems to get a lot of natural light through the large double windows, and could handle a deep rich, lush colour (I wouldn’t go lighter than the ones you have selected — this is a room for resting and relaxing, adn can be a warm colour, as opposed to a more muted tone, as some others are suggesting it should be. It will look a bit darker on the walls, than the chip, but the room has a lot of natural light! And the richer tones will look so smokin’ hot with the floor, you will regret it if you go for a light tone.) You don’t seem to be afraid of colour — go for the leftdot or the top right dot!
     It depends on the mood you are trying to create in the bedroom — if you are a “up at the crack of dawn” go for the muted tones, if you prefer to snuggle in bed until the mood strikes for the 2 of you to face the day, feeling transported to a private love nest — go for the darker colours.
     We painted our room a rich “Wild Mustard” … and love it – looks warm and inviting any time day or night! I feel like I am staying in a B&B everytime I go in the room!

260. Definitely the one on the far left. The others are too “gold” and won’t wear as well, while the one on the left is more neutral, and you’ll be able to completely change the look of the room with a new quilt, new pillows, etc. It will help you avoiding painting. Really.

261. Bottom Middle color. The one on the far left has too much gray in it. The one on top, too dark. Far right is nice too, but I prefer bottom middle! Good luck! Everything looks beautiful!

262. I admire your perseverance, you’re awesome!

263. It’s looking great!
     If you still have any sanding left to do, consider renting a hand-held rotary sander. It makes the work go much faster.
     One question – are you wearing a mask or anything to keep you from inhaling too much sawdust???

264. I haven’t read the comments before me yet but have to get my free advice in to you again. Pick as neutral and calming a colour as possible for the walls ,thus allowing you to use ANY colour or pattern for drapes bedspread etc . this room is your sanctuary don’t give up now . That McPhee “””grit””” will kick in and you’ll have it done in no time and it will be done the right way or not at all. GOOD LUCK you are in the home stretch.P.S. Keep the bedroom door shut–it’s amazing how much smoke rises to the bedroom ceiling when you cook etc.

265. I vote for the one on the far left! It sort of reminds me of the color of a latte which is–as you well know–a shade of the liquid of the gods.

266. Yup, the one on the left.

267. Glad your arms have frozen up — it will save us sending for a straitjacket. Dear heaven. Joe will be grateful, all right, not so much because it will look wonderful (though it does/will) but to know what he was spared. Phew.

268. I admire your perseverance, you’re awesome!

269. ceilings suck.
     i’d like to suggest the color above the dotted one on the left. because four high ceiling walls in the lighter shade will look closer to the dotted brown. those wee shade cards are misleading. the darker brown on all those walls is a whole lotta brown. plus think how much harder it will be to get out of your cozy bed on cold january mornings when your room tells you it is still the middle of the night.
     keep on keepin’ on! you’re doing great!
     angela (of the mr. washie calendar. i finally got me a blog as you suggested. nay, demanded. http://trixie-unraveled.blogspot.com/)

270. Wow! that’s alot of effort. I hope you have plenty of ibuprofin!
     I like the brown on the far left — the red tones in it warms it up.

271. Since Ian made these suggestions, did he help you out? Brothers have a habit of making suggestions as how to do things but than rarely offer to help.
     I am sure that the hard work will be worth it. And it was nice of the girls to make you dinner.

272. You’re in excellent company: Michelangelo had the same reaction to painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Truly! He even did a little drawing of himself, all twisted and cramped up, dropping paint in his eyes. Like you, he put in the work and didn’t scrimp on the details.
     Also like you, he only had to do it once.

273. Makes my arms hurt just reading about it! My pick? Second bottom color, I think it reads 319-3.
     But I also agree, go a shade or two lighter. Once I picked out an amazing “sunset rose” for the big wall in my living room. I enthusiastically painted it. It was a little bright, but I knew it would look different when it dried. It did. The next day, it was a dark, vibrating, electric fried shrimp–on a 20-foot wall.
     It became a buttery cream two days and two coats of primer and paint later.

274. You have 3 perfectly good slaves at your disposal. If you insist on doing the work yourself, you can at least impose upon them to clean your rollers and vacuum & mop the floor between coats. Why else do we have children?

275. You have 3 perfectly good slaves at your disposal. If you insist on doing the work yourself, you can at least impose upon them to clean your rollers and vacuum & mop the floor between coats. Why else do we have children?

276. May I add that I am very, very pleased that thought about pulling down the tile on the ceiling and replacing it was fleeting. That’s a crazy you may never have recovered from.

277. there’s that sunshine again! that room wil be yours all yours! a beautiful little jewel box that you made with your own two hands.

278. there’s that sunshine again! that room wil be yours all yours! a beautiful little jewel box that you made with your own two hands.

279. The paint chip on the far right. Never go too pink!
     Always go to the more yellow tone.
     I love the floors.
     You are a woman of incredible talents.
     I’d’ve laid down and died long ago.

280. The far left is my pick, but it really depends on whether you want it lighter, darker or the same color as the floor. I would pick the same color or darker than the floor and make the walls lighter.

281. pick the brown on the left!
     The others have too much red in them.
     as in clay soil red, which we have here and which gets on everything. my daughter (the one who tried to make an escape route through her wood floors) wants to know who did your floors (as if they would come here and do ours).

282. The one with the red dot.
     HAhAHaHaHahahAhahAhAHaaAA!!!
     sorry
     *snicker*

283. I am with you (and my back hurts, even if I have not sand any floor lately).
     You are very brave (and maybe a tiny wee bit crazy) to be doing it all on your own. Especially the ceiling, considering the fact that your husband hardly needs a step to touch the ceiling, if I understand wel…
     Sorry to be making fun of you. In fact, I feel more sympathy for you every blogging day.
     Cheers!

284. OMG Stephanie! You’re doing great!! and I woke up in the middle of the night with a bizarre neck pain. I’m quite sure now that it’s empathy pains!! Your room is looking fabulous!!! (and next time your brother recommends something. I’d recommed he come help! 🙂 )

285. “They say taupe is very soothing.” -Brad Pitt Ocean’s 11.
     I just can’t get behind the whole neutral colour pallette thing. But as a scenic artist who has painted VERY LARGE WALLS, get sample sizes of all the colours and paint big squares on the walls. THEN decide.

286. Awwww, Sweetie! Been there, done that! I know exactly all the spots that hurt. All 873,412 of them.
     It will all be worth it, but only in retrospect. Like having a kid.
     I’ll send you all the white light I can muster.

287. Poor dearie-house renovation ALWAYS sucks, unless you are really anal. We put in pine floors in our house about 18 years ago. They had to be screwed down all across at about 1 foot intervals. Each of the screws were sunk into the wood, into holes that had to be pre-drilled. THEN plugs had to be inserted into the holes to cover up the screws. The plugs were made by drilling them out of scrap floorboard. Guess who had the job of putting them in? Little Old Moi!-not only that, but my DH got plugs from different parts of the wood to match the different shades of the floor boards AND I was supposed to put them in so the grain on the plug matched the grain on the floor, and then I had to sand them flush with the floorboards before we sealed the floor…….. AAACCKK!! We almost stopped being friends during this project, but we perservered and it looked wonderful. So don’t give up, you are nearly there….
     Mary

288. I like the hot-chocolate shade on the left-hand card. Yum.

289. Joe, I’ll say it again; she really, really loves you man.
     Steph, everything is looking fantastic. I’m sure someone’s mentioned this by now, but you can wrap plastic wrap around your paint roller and not have to rinse it out everyday. Our bathroom is done in a color similar to the red dot in the center with off white trim and bead board–we love it.

290. Keep up the good work, increase your beer ration and schedule a massage as a reward for finishing. I just painted my kitchen, so trust me, I know you’ll need the massage.

291. You are doing a beautiful job. Keep going. I might actually be inspired enough to finally (after 4 years) give the third floor a paintjob. It’s all the trim that’s holding me back, I know it….

292. Hang in there – it’s looking beautiful! And at least the girls made dinner…

293. If I didn’t have the flu I’d read all the comments to make sure I wasn’t repeating something someone else had said. But I do have the flu, and couldn’t stand it if I’d left this advice unposted:
     Wrap the tray in a trash bag, and tape it down good so there aren’t loose flappy parts. When you are done painting for the day, take the bag off, turning it inside out, and toss it in the trash. Stop washing trays!
     As someone pointed just above, you can wrap that roller in plastic wrap or a zippy and put it in your freezer if you are going to keep painting in that color. Thaw and resume with the unwrapped roller.
     BUT! Rollers are pretty darn cheap, all things considered. Throw the used ones away, don’t ever ever every wash one. Ever.
     Most rollers have threads to screw in extensions to make the handle longer. But your broom or sponge-mop handle, unscrewed from it’s head, will serve as a extension, too.
     That’s all the painting advice for today. I am busy ruining a sock. I wish I was a better knitter.

294. I once attempted to paint my popcorn ceiling in a guest bedroom. It was a small room but it did not take long to see how much of my life would be sucked away doing this. I discovered the joy of the temp labor place. In the states I used Labor Ready but I think Manpower is an international company. I spoke to a nice lady on the phone and told her that as a single woman who lived alone I wanted to feel safe with this person in my home and she sent over a lovely fellow who did a fantastic job in one day.
     It ended up costing about $30 to the agency but I paid about twice that to the guy (because I was so overjoyed) and I couldn’t stop foisting food on him (did I mention I was overjoyed?).
     Best thing I ever did!
     Oh, and the color? Picture that color in morning light and evening light. That sometimes changes what you choose.

295. Courage!
     It looks wonderful! But it’s true, the first syllable of “painrting a ceiling” says it all.

296. And yet one MORE reason I’m in awe of you!
     That you managed to do that AND blog astounds me.
     I now know that I am a total lazy ass. Must do something more productive tomorrow somehow.
     Meanwhile, I too like the color on the far left the best (not that you asked ME).
     .
     .
     On another topic, I’ve written to your Wonder Publicist about your upcoming visit to Oakbrook Illinois, but have not heard back. I’m wondering, I have a wee (2%) ownership in a moderately nearby restaurant, and thought perhaps that I could persuade the owner to give us a seating after your Borders event — if you and your team were up for it. If you haven’t plans for dinner that night, I’d love to help set it up.

297. Don’t give in now, you’re on the home stretch!
     I like the top-most, right-most two colors. The lighter for the walls, the darker for the trim. But they’re all nice warm neutral colors.

298. You need to splurge and buy and electric sander, they don’t cost that much and will save you HOURS of time! I “random orbital sander” is like $20 US. If I lived closer than 2000 miles to you, I’d bring you one!

299. I like the tan on the left the best. The other light ones are too yellow, and the darker one would probably make the room feel like an itty bitty cave.

300. I feel your pain since I’m in the midst of a redo as well. I’ll back up what someone else says about painting test swatches (large ones). For our last project I bought a 5 gal bucket (its a huge space…a combined family room/kitchen) of the most perfectly creamy soft yellow…it was beautiful…on the card. On the walls it was green…we kept on painting thinking it was just an optical illusion…nope it wasn’t…the color definetly had green undertones. Not the look we were going for. I now have about 4 gals left in that bucket. Anybody want it?
     Hang in there it will look so great when you’re finished!
     Char

301. I feel your pain. I too live in an old house. We have lived here 2o years and I’m still working on the ‘ol pit’. You haven’t lived until you have sledge hammered out broken concrete stairs. I walked hunched over for a week. I’m sure others thought I may be the missing link, but no, just an old house owner…

302. I feel your pain. I too live in an old house. We have lived here 2o years and I’m still working on the ‘ol pit’. You haven’t lived until you have sledge hammered out broken concrete stairs. I walked hunched over for a week. I’m sure others thought I may be the missing link, but no, just an old house owner…

303. Somebody needs some Ben and Jerry’s and a pint of Big Rock…
     The room is looking AMAZING. Great job!
     K

304. My 1936 house has plaster, textured ceilings and plaster board that has been textured to hide imperfections, wavy plaster walls and those very same wood floors now covered in berber.
     Next house — log cabin. Neat small tidy and no walls to paint! (I don’t do colored walls–all paint is white ‘cus I lousy at picking out paint)

305. I ache for you. I too have prepped and painted walls and floors and ceiling and I’m not smart enought to not do it again.
     I chose the paint for our bedroom by the one that changed the most with the change of light. It really pleases me.
     Plus it had a great name. Pick the one with the best name.

306. Steph – great job! I’m impressed. I say one feature wall dark gold around the windows and the rest light gold. The sun will reflect much better on the gold and make the room look sun drenched if the walls without windows are lighter. Better than the tan (tan? after all that work?)

307. I once painted a bedroom the color of cocoa, similar to the second from the left, with cream trim. Made a cold and ugly room very warm and cozy. Colors don’t translate well from paper to monitors, but I disagree with the idea of going lighter. My old bedroom was naturally dark but it was much better in cocoa than trying to lighten it up. My Gma’s house had 12-foot ceilings (we never painted them) and your bedroom has the height, the windows, and the trim to handle a darker color. Cocoa, guarantee you’ll love it (though I loved the yellow with purple trim).

308. I once painted a bedroom the color of cocoa, similar to the second from the left, with cream trim. Made a cold and ugly room very warm and cozy. Colors don’t translate well from paper to monitors, but I disagree with the idea of going lighter. My old bedroom was naturally dark but it was much better in cocoa than trying to lighten it up. My Gma’s house had 12-foot ceilings (we never painted them) and your bedroom has the height, the windows, and the trim to handle a darker color. Cocoa, guarantee you’ll love it (though I loved the yellow with purple trim).

309. I once painted a bedroom the color of cocoa, similar to the second from the left, with cream trim. Made a cold and ugly room very warm and cozy. Colors don’t translate well from paper to monitors, but I disagree with the idea of going lighter. My old bedroom was naturally dark but it was much better in cocoa than trying to lighten it up. My Gma’s house had 12-foot ceilings (we never painted them) and your bedroom has the height, the windows, and the trim to handle a darker color. Cocoa, guarantee you’ll love it (though I loved the yellow with purple trim).

310. I just used one called Peaceful Breeze from Benjamin Moore. It is close to the shade all the way to the left. Good luck painting because it is a bear.

311. Oh, dammit. Stephanie, there are these wonderful knee guard things that flooring people wear. A decent pair is about $8 US (don’t buy the cheap all foam ones, you want the kind with a hard shell and padding on the inside). I’m not saying they make working on hands and knees easy, but they certainly make bony knees (only part of me that *is* bony) and floors co-exist more peacefully).

312. Stay strong, Yarn Harlot, stay strong!

313. You, Harlot, are a freaking heroine. I think I would have given up oh, about mid-sawdust-fire, and my returning husband would have found me curled up in the living room sobbing about how I had this plan to surprise him, and then we would have bumbled through the rest of it together over, oh, the next six months or so. But not you. You are moving at veritable Trading Spaces speeds. Every gold medal the Home Decorating Olympics has to offer should be yours. As for the color, you should pick whatever =you darn well please and your husband should still bring you breakfast and yarn in bed for the next year as a show of total, abject gratitude. But me, I like the one on the right.
     You have me so completely in awe that I am even delurking. It seems like the least I can do under the circumstances.

314. You, Harlot, are a freaking heroine. I think I would have given up oh, about mid-sawdust-fire, and my returning husband would have found me curled up in the living room sobbing about how I had this plan to surprise him, and then we would have bumbled through the rest of it together over, oh, the next six months or so. But not you. You are moving at veritable Trading Spaces speeds. Every gold medal the Home Decorating Olympics has to offer should be yours. As for the color, you should pick whatever =you darn well please and your husband should still bring you breakfast and yarn in bed for the next year as a show of total, abject gratitude. But me, I like the one on the right.
     You have me so completely in awe that I am even delurking. It seems like the least I can do under the circumstances.

315. Casting my vote for the rosier brown on the left.

316. I vote for the one on the lower left…Toni in NYC

317. The color on the left. It is warm without yellowy undertones. If you are going to paint your ceiling to get rid of the yellowing why add more yellow. The room is terrific. I would never have the energy to do it. I would have put on the first coat of urethane and then decided it was perfect. You are an amazingly Renaissance.

318. The one called, “Covered Wagon. Love it.

319. Pick White- it’s a classic

320. I pick the one that is close to the colour of the warm warm sand. I’m in a mall outside of Sydney on the internet cause Ken is doing bank stuff. Cy got stung by a jelly fish yesterday, It took 1 hour and 2 icecreams to make it better. Haveing a really great time, but just to let you know My bedroom is crap too.

321. Yo hi rachel H. miss ya lots everyone

322. I can’t pick paint colours to save my life. I have spent 6 months trying to decide on a colour for my bedroom. (Yeah, all that’s holding me back is the paint colour. Right.)
     All I can say is that you rock. I have done the floor thing and your arms will scream with pain for days, but think of the muscle you’re building!

323. I like the one on the far left. It’s very neutral and will look great with anything!
     I feel for you…the pain is worth it though. My husband and I painted almost every single wall in our house, all neutrals, when we moved in 2 years ago because the colors before were HIDEOUS! I had a Pepto-Bismol Pink 1/2 bath that, when you turned on the light and cracked the door, there was a pink glow spilling into the hallway. I kid you not! It was horrible.
     Good luck to you and keep up the good work!

324. My husband once painted one of the kids’ bedrooms in what he expected to be light peach. With the four walls reflecting against each other, it came out dark orange, absolutely hideous. We had four very small children at the time, but the next day, I had a friend take the kids for the day while I went to buy paint (without telling the hubby) and painted over that orange. I went for a shade of blue so light I thought it would look white, but it did not; the white-blue came out a light blue that was beautiful.
     Took the hubby about a month to get over the fact that I hadn’t appreciated his hard work. I had–just not in that color.

325. Flashbacks. I’m having flashbacks.
     Back in 2000, when I was still married and living in a townhouse instead of a tiny apartment, I decided to do a bit of repainting. I decided to repaint the living room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom, and upstairs hallway. And I was going to strip all the trim and the doors (they were painted the same white as the walls) and stain them to match the wood floors. I hadn’t done a project of this scale before, but I had some vacation time coming up. I took two weeks off at the end of May. That should be enough time, right?
     I started by stripping the paint off the bedroom door. Or rather by trying to strip the paint off the bedroom door. I followed the directions of some chemical designed to do that, but it just made the door very sticky. After about two days, I realized that at the rate I was going, it was going to take me the entire two weeks just to strip the one door. Uh oh.
     I abandoned the plan of stripping the trim and doors and decided I would just repaint them in a warm brown that matched the overall color of the floors. As for the sticky door, there was another door we had removed from the entrance into the basement. Fortunately it was the same size, and had the hinges in the right places, so we swapped doors and hauled the sticky one out to the curb.
     So, I figured now that I didn’t have to do any stripping, just painting, and I didn’t have any sticky doors to deal with, I should be able to finish my project with no problem, right?
     Well, sort of. It just took way longer than I had ever envisioned, so when I had to go back to work, I was nowhere near finished. I finished…in mid-October.

326. Know what *I* want? I want to see pictures of Joe when he walks in and sees that cozy nest of a beautiful room you’ve made. Now, I agree with Cynthia – I liked the orange and purple. I have a tiny prefab and a grim admission: I have what looks like black heel marks — on my living room ceiling! (It was drum crops stock rifles, both boys practicing throws; they were 11 and 15 then, they’re 35 and 39 now!) I hate the thought of moving bookcases, but you know? You’re an inspiration. Maybe I’ll make those two little boys come over and paint the ceiling next summer!
     I am bowing, head to floor, in your direction in wild admiration, by the way. Room reno, blog – and hundreds and hundreds of comments. You are NEVER alone, dear Harlot. (Oh – and I like the right-hand one best.)

327. Everything you do from now until done is something that radically improves the way the room looks. Much more satisfying!
     Sorry, forgot to mention my best tip for paining ceilings…teen-aged boys who want to hang out with your girls. Maybe next time…

328. The pain will ease, eventually. The bedroom will be glorious!

329. You go girl. Your project totally rocks and you are definitely earning some major juju points for the future with your husband. I’ve felt that “painting the ceiling” ache in your shoulders, I’ve had that faint speckle of paint on the eyeglasses from looking up…what you’ve taken on is totally for true love (if it wasn’t for true love, you’d be totally insane). You go girl!

330. Steph: I have painted ceilings and feel your pain. But there is a good side – please pick whichever arm hurts the least, then reach up and over and give yourself a big pat on the back and say “what a good thing Joe and I aren’t smokers”.
     A co-worker recently put 6 – count ’em, 6 – coats of paint on the ceiling of a house she was helping to renovate – and she still swears the smoke is coming through. Yes, she used “Killz” or whatever it’s called, and yes, she primed. She still painted and painted and painted.
     Oh, and on more mundane matters – I’d go with a curtain for the closet and for the paint you do have to go at least one shade lighter than what you think to get the colour you thought you’d get. (But since I’m on the west coast, you’ve probably bought your paint by now anyway. What the heck.)

331. Stephanie, about 10 yrs ago I decided to paint my ceilings throughout my entire home. They were definitely not white. The gotcha was that I have cathedral ceilings. Like you – I’m about 5 foot 1 inch. I had a ladder and I put a paintbrush (or roller) at the end of a long expandible pole. Never again! I had to put the paint holder thingy at just the right angle to refill the roller from the top of the ladder. And my ceiling had these little thingies on it which fell all over my me, my hair, and my furniture despite the plastic I had all over. Never again!
     So things could have been worse.

332. I like that nice milk-chocolate color in the left. But if it were up to me, I’d go a shade darker; would be a total knock-out with chartreuse green accents, like indoor plants and stuff.
     Also, I’m totally in awe of your energy and persistence! Keep on purlin’.

333. I have a deep admiration for your determination!

334. pick whichever color looks best w/the Bohus. a decorator friend of mine says to decorate your home in colors you would wear.

335. As a woman who is moving from apartment to house all while watching a 1 and 3 year old I can sympathize with the exhaustion. I just painted my room a shade called TeePee brown. Love it,

336. Congratulations on being halfway through with the floor! You have also, in one swift move, convinced me to not put hardwood floors in our new house, but to invest in laminate wood flooring.

337. This whole project is ridiculously thrilling.

338. Ah the hand sanding between each coat of varnish. Yep, been there too. Our 16 foot by 13 foot living room had 8 coats of varnish, and we sanded in between each coat of varnish.
     Looked fabulous though, and sold the house for us when we had to sell it.
     It is worth all the sanding or the floor will never look as good as it could.

339. I’m sorry to say that your travails with your ceiling reminded me of an old joke.
     Q: What do women think about during sex?
     A: White. Next time I’ll paint the ceiling white.
     Hey, I didn’t say it was a good joke, just an old one.

340. Not the top one! As it ages, it’ll get really putrid looking.

341. Tell you what: If I win the Powerball, I will send Jim-the-massage-therapist to your home to work out the knots in your arms and back. He’s utterly amazing, as I and at least one other knitter (his hopefully-soon-to-be fiance and a very good friend of mine) will attest, and he’ll even show you a few things you can do on your own to keep your knitting arms from seizing up.
     As for the colors, I couldn’t possibly do it unless I was in the room. Besides — you’re an artist, so you’ll choose the best one anyway. (OK, IMHO I’d stay with the lightest one.)
     Wish I could be there to help you out!
     Hugs!

342. I know you ache every where and it seems endless..but Steph, when your done and the room is back together with the new paint, floor, drapes and hopefully new bedspread and pillows, your going to so happy to have that beautiful place for you and Joe. Hang in there…we are all pulling for you and sending you that last burst of energy you need to finish it! (I like the color on the bottom left, in case your interested)

343. I vote for the far left. It makes me think of coffee.

344. OK, nice work so far. Some observations:
     1. Use a ladder for the ceiling. The overheard roller thing is hell on earth (but you know that now).
     2. Painting trim is only slightly more fun than having your nails pulled out one by one. Expect a different kind of pain after that (likely an emotional form of pain). Think about it. Trim is about 50% on the floor and 50% at the ceiling. You can’t paint far without moving your gear, and cutting in against the floor, the wall (lower), the wall (upper), and the ceiling (with the nice new paint on it) can be more than a bit taxing.
     3. After all of this, painting the walls will seem like a party. Just remember the drop cloth on that nice pretty new floor!
     Of course, given your workload and timeline, you will never see any of these comments!

345. A little? Yuh think?

346. Oh, and Dude? You gonna go through all that back breaking, yarn avowing trouble just to whack up a colour that looks suspiciously like the one you just covered up, you go right ahead. I thought you were all about the bold transformation here, but subtle – hey, that’s a new style for you.

347. It’s exercise!

348. I’ve done a lot of painting, and ceilings are worse than dirty fences in the fall chill. Definitely plan a massage when it’s all over.
     And my best advice: Throw away the roller. Go ahead and buy really good brushes and take the time to clean them, but even a good roller isn’t worth the time to clean, you can not get them all the way clean anyway.
     The work you are doing is gorgeous. You will be really glad you did it once the muscles relax again. I did walls and ceiling in my bedroom ten years ago (skipped the floor for lack of time, wish I hadn’t), and I’m still delighted with what I did.
     Hang in there. This, too, shall pass.

349. well- thank you…. i painted my old house right before we sold it… and now you have reminded me that there was a reason i let the builders do the house we built… i know… the pain the mess…and just the other day my husband reminded me that soon we need to repaint… the rugrats destroy the walls and the grudge i have after just finishing my portion of the taxes… my eye is twitching… has convinced me that i will not be taking him up on the “you do such a better job than those painters”… I think the term “you can’t pay me enough….” comes to mind… thank you for the slap in the face i truly needed… though i never comment- i live for your blog,I am a mom, a ceramic artist and a knitter(who gets alot done on the treadmill- sometimes knitting is my motivation to hop on!) i constantly check for the continuing saga, I have read all of your books…mainly at night under the covers with a flashlight- laughing hysterically… and no I am not a stalker… you rock.

350. I couldn’t help but notice that the Cast Off icon has been updated with a more new picture.

351. Correction: I meant to say ‘updated with a new picture’. My mistake

352. Go for the top, farthest right. My bedroom in Maine (similar frozen scenario out the window right now) is this color, and there is nothing like waking up on a cold morning with this warm color wrapping itself around you. And its beautiful on a summer day as well. Its like the cast of a sun’s ray in the corner of a room when you least expect it. It doesn’t even count as yellow – its so not-scary. Thanks for the lesson about sawdust fires; I’ll file that one away.

353. I didn’t have the time (or the notion) to read the previous 352 comments, but I will give you a paint color which is fabulous. It is a Behr paint called “Clair de Lune”, and it’s number 300E. How do I remember the number? Because I’ve painted 2 houses in it. It looks pretty dark on the paint card, but it’s not. It’s the warmest paint color, and it changes with the light. It can look almost white sometimes, a warm yellow in the sunlight, or almost a beige, depending on the light. The finish to use is an interior satin sheen. You can touch it up without noticing the touch-up, and it paints on very, very nicely.
     Now I know you aren’t going to want to hear this, but if you were to paint the ceiling in the complimentary color on the same card (either “Calm Air” which is a little lighter or “Biloxi” which is almost white), the colors compliment each other in a fabulous way. But that would require one more time for the ceiling, wouldn’t it?…

354. You live in Canada, I’m SURE there’s some burly, tall, completely massive ice-hockey playing boy on your block. Mine did (he was my brother’s friend and he was REALLY cute, but I digress). I’d pick a lighter color, even if I do prefer darker colors. It also does depend on the color of your furniture. If the bed is really dark, I’d pick a medium-dark color. If it’s really light, I’d go for a medium-light color. The lighter color shows scratches less, but it shows stains. So are you the scratching or the staining type?

355. I painted the ceilings in my rental apartment… and oh boy, never again. (Three coats, popcorn plaster effects.)
     My shoulders ache in sympathy.

356. And also, this is the home stretch. You have 3 children! What are they doing in this time?! Put them to work! That’s what having children is about! Or at least I got that impression from my mother. Get them to do laundry, vacuum, do the dishes, wash the walls, anything. Just get them to do something akin to what you’re doing and you’ll think of them, and you’ll be fine.

357. If “whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you strong,” you are going to be a veritable Hercules of a woman. I cannot believe the amount of work you’ve done over the past few days. Take pity on yourself – have a massage or something. (The floor does look terrific so far.)

358. You’re doing an awesome job, Steph! I know it’s a huge undertaking but it’ll look so nice when it’s done. I ripped grass cloth wallpaper off the walls in the loft a few years ago. I know all about the tears, aches & pains. It’s worth it.
     I’m glad you won’t be making the same color mistake that I did in our previous bedroom. What I thought would be a soft pale shell pink turned out to be, in actuality, Pepto Bismol pink. We lived with that for a few years. . .

359. Wow, looks great! And you’re going to feel FABULOUS when its all done. A good thing you told us all about it, too, because now guilt and potential embarassment won’t let you quit!
     For what it’s worth, I like color 1963, the middle one, the one on the bottom right, whatever.

360. No editing huh? 3193, I meant.

361. Ohhh, those colors are just like the color I painted our old bedroom when hubby was in Iraq and I got the “redo the bedroom” bug! The one I chose was called “brown sugar” and was absolutely lovely. I agree with the other posters…I like the one on the left. Or the darkest one up top…though that may be too dark.
     And remember…like childbirth, the pain will fade.
     Jackie

362. Oh it is going to look so good – I need to paint my ceiling and I think of it nearly every time I lay down at night. Or in the morning…
     So your brother was right.
     I love the paint on the far left.

363. The one on the left.
     I’ve had the main living area of my home painted that color for a couple of years now and I’m not sick of it, and it gets a lot of compliments. Looks great with wood furniture too so should look great with your hard earned new floor.

364. I’m still only a short 5 hrs away (that’s a knitting Via commute), if you need help.
     It’s a good thing you didn’t get rid of the tile ceiling, because you can totally hide yarn up in there.

365. Gosh, you poor thing. I totally whimped out on starting my painting/peeling wallpaper/knocking out tile projec that I was going to start with the hub was out of town two weekends ago. I bought new yarn instead. 🙂
     And that really is the truth. So now I’m feeling guilty seeing what all you are doing.
     And I hate to tell you this now….but did you know that a LOT of people – it actually seems to be a decorating trend – are painting the CEILING the SAME COLOR as the walls. Ouch! We used to hate the TAPING before we painted the ceiling a different color. It practically changed my life the first time I went in a brand new model home and saw that the ceilings were actually an extension of the wall color. We tried it the next two times we painted and believe me…it is SO much easier! No taping. No wobbley lines.
     Good luck. You’re a hero.

366. The shade to the most left! Ahh, great minds think alike. My shade for our living and dining room 🙂 Hang in there, it will all be worth it, trust me.

367. The reno sounds truly brutal, but the floor looks more lovely day by day. Sounds like a massage is truly in order when all is said and done.
     Long time mostly lurker here. Figures it would be color and renovations that bring me out of the woodwork. Yeah, yeah. Just shoot me.
     I have to vote for the color on the top right. I had a bedroom very nearly that color once, and I keep longing to have it back. It was so warm and inviting without being overwhelming. It went well with a wide range of colors without losing its identity, and, well, I loved it. I do like the one on the left, but there’s a hint of coolness in there. The warmer tone, in my experience, seems to catch the sun and warm up the room. I don’t think the one on the left would do that quite as well.
     Also? Just in case I go another forever without commenting? I want to say thanks. Thanks for the books, the blog, the laughter, all the work you put into them and the sense that I’m really not the only one who thinks this way.

368. Take arnica for the pain – homeopathic pills while you work, and arnica tincture is brilliant rubbed on after you’ve had a hot bath. Keep at it, Stephanie – I did the same kind of horror at Christmas in my son’s room while he was away – three days of constant kill and wondering why on earth I’d started it. But worth it in the end and it won’t have to be done again for another lot of years.

369. Wow! Rather you than me. Although I’m guessing it’s going to be absolutely gorgeous when you’ve finished. If they sell Radox where you are, then I would suggest a leisurely soak in a bath with some of that in is needed to help ease those muscles. Good luck with the rest of it – I hope Joe appreciates it.

370. Ah, the joys of home ownership. My DH says that’s one thing he loves about our move to Germany, he no longer has to fix the house all the time. Personally I kind of miss it. Also my privacy, but that’s another issue. You are doing an awesome job! Pick whatever color you like, there’s sure to be wool in a complementary shade somewhere that you can use as adornment. Oh, and the Tiger Balm ROCKS, especially combined with a good massage, which you will definitely be wanting after all this!

371. None of the browns. your floor is going to come out brown. IMHO the whole room will become dark and dull. Wait until you are done the floors.

372. Brown? Ugh! Well, since these are the only choices, I guess I would choose the one on the far left as the lesser of the brown evils.

373. I think you should pick the color that is the closest to the way you like your first cup of coffee in the morning to look. That way, every time you wake up, you’ll, feel like that first sip of the day. Unless you like your coffee black, then your room will always look like a cave of doom.

374. I know you can’t read all this, so not sure why I’m posting. Just love your energy!!
     I want to go on about how you should have painted first and get some help for goodness sakes.. but let’s talk color.
     If I had to pick from the three go with either on the right. The one on the left is too red. BUT please consider a lighter color. Reason, you’ve just invested a lot of time, money and energy on a gorgeous floor. Then you are painting the walls sort of the same value as the floor. Might look wowier if you had darker floors, crisp trim and a slightly paler shade on wall with the light ceiling. FWIW….i know, not much!!

375. Last summer we repainted our bedroom the taupe color on the left (it looks like the exact shade)with white trim. I love the way it looks.

376. I vote for the dot that’s closest to the top of the photo. But on the other hand, I like them all. This is why all of my walls are still the same stupid white they were when I moved in.

377. I am going to vote for Ben Moore’s “Roxbury Caramel” which I believe is the color on the right because a) I saw it somebody’s kitchen last week and I (oh so unprofessionally) gushed so much about it that the owner got out his paint chips and gave me the name of the paint (unprofessional, but this guy was so pleased about the gushing) and b) I myself am considering the same color for my hallway.

378. Wow, you are going to love the change, and just think, no regrets when you are looking up at that ceiling ….. or walking bare footed when all this winter weather leaves and spring ad summer arrive. I’d gladly lift a weak bicep to help you ….. are those girls to weak to help?

379. I hate painting ceilings too, but it will be oh.so.worth it. I’d choose the top left paint colour.

380. I like the one on the left! Its very close to what I put in my living room. I believe mine is a bit warmer. I feel for you right now. Last week the tub water ran into my daughters room and we are in the process of redoing it. sigh…at least there is not wood flooring to redo….

381. Damnit, the ceiling. Thaaaat would be what we forgot to plan for. Well I know what goes on today’s to do list.
     Best friend and I have muscle pain in body parts we were unaware we had. I lift a beer to you in commiseration.

382. Be strong! Keep going! I’m quite impressed with the amount of work you are completing in such a short time frame. And it looks like you had a Plan before you started. : )
     I am chagrined to admit that I browsed to your page today with more anticipation that I have with any knitting project recently. “How will Stephanie’s floor look this morning?”

383. Thanks for sharing your remodel pics with us– I so wish I had a place of my own to really remodel. Fun to fantasize about, but lots of work, I know, to really do. Home renovation is such a creative outlet, isn’t it– and it’s such a personal thing– I commend your willingness to more or less invite several hundred (excellent) suggestions. I think I would read everyone’s insightful comments and be tempted to be thrown into perpetual indecision and insecurity over my choices.

384. http://www.flickr.com/photos/truvy57/410000625/
     Your color selections reminded me of what we chose in September for our living room/kitchen area. Here’s a picture – we just painted last weekend. It was Behr brand paint. The color behind the couch is called Sonora and the color near the fireplace is Soft Copper. You are doing a fantastic job on that room, Steph. Love it.

385. I’m going to second (third, fourth, twenty-sixth, whatever!) the poster who mentioned the danger of picking a paint colour on a computer.
     That said, my vote is for the colour *above* “Covered Wagon”. 🙂
     Keep your chin up — if it doesn’t hurt too much! — it will all be worth it in the end.

386. If it makes you feel better — I did wimp out on the ceiling. Last year, the apt manager said I could repaint my place (just white, but it hadn’t been done in 15 years), so I did. Then I took one look at the height of the ceiling and said — no, that off-white looks just fine to me!
     So you are a much braver person than I am.

387. Steph, What a Brobdingnagian task! I am in total awe. Amazing how those ceilings get dirty and discolored, isn’t it? Not as if we are all putting out hands on it all the time as happens to the walls in my house. And you have learned all about spontaneous combustion and its propensity to happen in sawdust. Irresponsible of those workmen to leave that to happen to you! All in all, you are having a very educational week but you are doing a great job. Joe will be so impressed. (And grateful he didn’t have to do all that work.) Watch out for gold, like living in a jar of Dijon Mustard! Color above left dot is great, very classic. You are a TOTALLY AMAZING WOMAN!

388. I’m so proud of you! That kind of work blows. Give you new respect for those guys who do it every day. But I doubt most of them can knit like you, so touche.
     You have done things that are physically harder… how about your first six weeks as a new mother?
     Remember, it’s a drop in the bucket of a lifetime. Take it one floorboard, one one ugly faux ceiling tile at a time. You will be so proud when it’s done, and so will Joe. Does he know yet?

389. All the paint samples are really nice, so pick the one with the best name. If you pick the one that’s like, Amber Waves, or something, you’ll smile every time you look at your trim.

390. You are very brave stephanie and have accomplished a herculean task. Reward yourself with yarn my dear.
     🙂 The first time I painted a ceiling i had the same incredulous experience…I thought it was ALREADY white! then when the real white showed up the nasty tan I was embarrassed and horrified, lol.
     Doing it “right” is never the easy way, ever noticed that??

391. Far left, most definitely. The yellow tones in the others might not come off so well depending on whether you’re eastern or western exposure.
     My hats off to you. We have a fixer-upper as well (opposite end of the city 🙂 ). Can I get the name of your sanding guys? My dining room floor is getting it this summer. The sawdust fire is a little unsettling, but we do have a large parking spot where it could happily smoulder away.
     Joe (and you) is going to appreciate this to no end.

392. Colour on the far left – its the best of a bad lot – they all look like the colour of baby poo – are you sure you want a brown bedroom????

393. There’s vitamins I take the day after my yoga class, on the days that I am so sore that it hurts, and it helps with the hurt and makes the pain go away alot quicker. Called FYI Restore. They’re a little pricey but REALLY worth it.

394. Wait, what’s the point of birthing those kids if they can’t be roped into manual labor?
     I like the color near the center.

395. So, is your book tour going to come to Missoula Montana?? We really want you to visit!!
     Also, regarding the home improvment nightmares, at least you don’t live in an apartment that has taupe walls and ceilings that you’re not allowed to paint!

396. So, is your book tour going to come to Missoula Montana?? We really want you to visit!!
     Also, regarding the home improvment nightmares, at least you don’t live in an apartment that has taupe walls and ceilings that you’re not allowed to paint!

397. If you can stand one more OCD painting tip: If you have less than one-half gallon of paint left over, DO NOT save it in the can. Save it in new Mason jars, with the lid on tight, and shake them vigourously, periodically.
     I am thinking of touch-ups.
     Paint saved in the can gets forgotten about, shoved in the attic or garage, and is no good whatsoever after one to two years, depending on your climate.
     You will need touch up paint with a dark color.

398. If you can stand one more OCD painting tip: If you have less than one-half gallon of paint left over, DO NOT save it in the can. Save it in new Mason jars, with the lid on tight, and shake them vigourously, periodically.
     I am thinking of touch-ups.
     Paint saved in the can gets forgotten about, shoved in the attic or garage, and is no good whatsoever after one to two years, depending on your climate.
     You will need touch up paint with a dark color.

399. Before we moved out of our apt. and into our first house, we HAD to paint the bedroom. We chose a Canadian Tire colour called “Stuffing”. (They’ve since changed all their colour names/codes). It was the exact colour of my double-double coffee. What a wonderful way to wake up, surrounded by vertical coffee. It really helped on those bad mornings. We lived there 7 years, and we’ve been in our 2nd house for almost 10 months, and I still miss my old bedroom. So much so that I really want to paint this one the same colour.
     I know you like coffee 🙂 They can computer match just about anything!

400. Before we moved out of our apt. and into our first house, we HAD to paint the bedroom. We chose a Canadian Tire colour called “Stuffing”. (They’ve since changed all their colour names/codes). It was the exact colour of my double-double coffee. What a wonderful way to wake up, surrounded by vertical coffee. It really helped on those bad mornings. We lived there 7 years, and we’ve been in our 2nd house for almost 10 months, and I still miss my old bedroom. So much so that I really want to paint this one the same colour.
     I know you like coffee 🙂 They can computer match just about anything!

401. Before we moved out of our apt. and into our first house, we HAD to paint the bedroom. We chose a Canadian Tire colour called “Stuffing”. (They’ve since changed all their colour names/codes). It was the exact colour of my double-double coffee. What a wonderful way to wake up, surrounded by vertical coffee. It really helped on those bad mornings. We lived there 7 years, and we’ve been in our 2nd house for almost 10 months, and I still miss my old bedroom. So much so that I really want to paint this one the same colour.
     I know you like coffee 🙂 They can computer match just about anything!

402. Sorry for the ! triple posting, but something was going wonky with either your site or my computer!

403. Wow. Some days I’m glad I have an apartment. Hang in there–Joe is going to love it!
     I like the color on the far left–the one that doesn’t have the yellowy undertones.

404. After reading all the comments about choosing a shade lighter-I’ll have to vote for the bottom left! Your room is going to look delicious.
     I am so happy that the s made dinner for you! I am looking forward to that day in my house.

405. When you painted the ceiling … is it just me who opens their mouth when concentrating? Especially when working on something above head level.

406. Holy cow, you’re an inspiration! When my husband and I bought our house, there were so many projects we planned to undertake. It’s now a year later, and we still haven’t even bothered to buy curtains for the windows. Those rooms that we thought needed re-doing “right away(!)” have somewhow become totally acceptable just as they are…

407. Been there…Done that…My deepest sympathy, but it us usually worth it in the end. Go for the warmest color to snuggle up in.

408. Covered Wagon!

409. Has Joe peeked at your blog? I’m wondering if he is really going to be surprised or not…

410. I also choose the colour on the far left! I think it is a nice warm shade without verging too much on the yellow side that sometimes fades to ‘watery poop’ colour.
     A family I babysat for regularly hired my sister and I to clean their house while they were on vacation, after they had had drywall put through the entire place (a mid-19th C farmhouse). Words are not enough…I sneezed white powder, tracked it all through my parents’ house, mopped and vacuumed and swept every freaking square inch, and still. There was dust in the cupboards, the linen closest, the floorboards…at least we didn’t have to deal with any fires!

411. Denny was here! That makes me happy. I miss our Denny.

412. I know you will not believe me but your taupe ceiling was in my dream last night. You’re doing good work over there, keep it up!

413. Definitely the far left dot. I am inspired. I have been planning a bathroom reno for about 4 months now…I think it’s time to get started! 🙂

414. You are a brave soul, but women after my true heart. I love all things creative and once upon a time studied interior design.
     I would recommend the beautiful caramel color on the bottom right hand side. Looks like 319-4 (maybe) Caramel something…sorry can’t read it better. Just remember that even a nice warm color such as this can be very dark when in a small room unless there is a great deal of light.
     You really want a color that will pick up on the beautiful warmth of your newly finished floors and be cozy and comfortable to be in…
     Good luck!
     Tania

415. The very left dot, the others have too much “yellow” in them. The floor looks amazing, you’ve done an awesome job!

416. All the colours are good choices. The room is small. It’s only a room.

417. Oh, Oh, Oh, (waving arms wildly) if you pick the milk chocolate one, ALL THE WAY ON THE LEFT, your bedroom and my living room will match! Of course, I do have to stay out of the livng room when I’m on a diet!

418. You are a stronger woman than I. You do all this, and then you sit down and blog about it.

419. I second your opinion on painting ceilings. After my first and last ceiling…back in the 80s…I called up Sears and had them blow in the now-extremely-uncool cottage cheese ceilings in every room. I don’t care that it’s considered passe…I don’t have to paint them. Let the next owner scrape them down.

420. With 400 some comments full of encouragement and advice you probably don’t need mine as you may never get to read it but….beware of the changing paint swatch. what light does the room get. If it’s mostly natural then your paint colour will have a yellowy tinge to it, if incandescent even yellower, if florescent then bluey. This matters because if say you paint your hallway cactus green and then you turn the lights on, it will appear lime…and you will have to repaint it. Also just like a sweater may take on a different size than your 20 st swatch, so a wall of paint will take on a different when viewed from the other side of the room to the little paint chip.

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