Nursery | Heir to Blair

A competition of distress – Blair vs. Dresser in a fight to the death.

15 Jun posted by heirtoblair

img 2202 1024x768 A competition of distress Blair vs. Dresser in a fight to the death.

Since HJ’s closet is painfully small & will mostly be used for storage of bedding & diapers, I decided to refinish a dresser given to me for my own nursery. After 26 years, it definitely needed a little TLC with a sander & paintbrush. My friend Meredith (remember the mentioning of a designer friend? yeah, that’s her) helped me select a few colors out of the bedding & instructed me on how to distress it, much like the red bedside table. She’s a genius, & these colors will help tie in the rocker & the bedding with the dark blue walls.

img 2203 1024x768 A competition of distress Blair vs. Dresser in a fight to the death.
After spending 2 hours at the hardware store getting paint matches for Benjamin Moore colors, shifting my weight back & forth & rolling my eyes at the other customer who kept insisting her match wasn’t perfect (dude…not going to be perfect), I finally made it home to 90-degree heat & 100% humidity. Lovely day for painting, no? First, I sanded the dresser lightly, since it was a pretty bleh walnut stain with 26 years of wear. Next came a coat of Buxton Blue. Wait forever for it to dry in the humidity. Then a coat of Buckland Blue. Wait an entire week for the dresser to not stick to everything it comes in contact with. Realize that I forgot to paint the damn door, so restart the process for one piece. A week later, CAREFULLY sand down parts of Buckland Blue to reveal areas of Buxton Blue (to show “wear”). Touch-up areas I messed up royally. Then finally wash Hale Navy over entire piece with a wet rag. Let dry in the blazing heat, thanking God for a repast from the sweltering humidity.

And what was SUPPOSED to be a one weekend project spanned three weeks, due to heat, humidity, & my ability to completely eff up a project with white lacquer in the final step. But alas, I conquered the art of antiquing:

dresser A competition of distress Blair vs. Dresser in a fight to the death.
& I LOVE IT. I know you can’t get the full effect of the nursery with this one picture, but it really pulls in the lighter blues from the bedding & the glider. Plus, it helps solve the “primary colors” problem that was driving me bonkers — I wanted nautical, not an American flag! Praise God for good Canadian friends with an eye for design.

HeirtoBlair500x150 v41 A competition of distress Blair vs. Dresser in a fight to the death.

Painting this nursery has destroyed my manicure.

7 Jun posted by heirtoblair

img 2211 1024x768 Painting this nursery has destroyed my manicure.

img 2210 768x1024 Painting this nursery has destroyed my manicure.

But I guess my days of flawless nails are coming to an end anyways, no? I finally hung up my paintbrush after a week of tedious touch-ups, finally happy with the end result of the trim. The color has grown on me, too. It still looks Superman blue when the flash is on (ie the mobile picture), but it’s a nice rich, blue color in reality.

Now I am just trying to figure out which fabric to use for drapes. Which is hilarious, given my past experience in fabric stores. If you thought my overwhelming psychosis at the Great Wall of Nipples was bad, you have not seen anything until you catch Blair completely out of her element in a fabric store. I won’t even pretend that I can rub elbows with interior designers or the creatively-gifted women-folk of the South, so poor Harrison may end up with store-bought clearance rack Target drapes unless my designer friend Meredith can shock some inspiration & calm into my brain from Canada. Inspiration doesn’t need a passport, does it?

& I’m officially too exhausted to write anything else. I learned today that high heels are officially a thing of my past, due to the 10 extra pounds I lug around, not to mention swollen feet & sciatica. Goodbye, faithful red peep-toe pumps. We shall reconvene our love affair next spring. ::sniff of sorrow::

Hallelujah.

27 May posted by heirtoblair

20f3gqv 1024x768 Hallelujah.

The paint color is simmering down, no? (you can click on the photos to enlarge them in a new window)

Thoughts?

Epic Paint FAIL.

24 May posted by heirtoblair

Well…I am exhausted. & almost at the end of my wits to the point that I cannot decide if my impending meltdown is hormonal or justified. Shall we tell this story with pictures?

We begin our story a few weeks ago, when Nate coated the walls with one coat of Kilz primer to cover the stripes. I taped off the walls after the first coat, & we decided that we needed another coat to be safe.

& there we have it, the second coat! While Nate coated this, I pulled out the windows & screens for a scub-down with vinegar & bleach. Because God forbid my son press his nose to a dirty screen, right? Now it’s time for the color! After an hour in the Home Depot to pick out the color, convert it to Behr (they were on sale), & pick up all the supplies, we headed back home & picked up the roller & brush.

First coat is on. HOLY HELL, it looks like Superman. Not at all what I envisioned; I desire near-navy walls. Nate assured me it would dry darker, especially with a few coats of paint. Placated, we let this coat dry. & while it’s drying, Tuck walks through the paint pan on the floor, tracking blue paint ALL OVER THE CARPET. Not just in the nursery, but also down the stairs. Blast it all to hell, mutt!

So while I scrubbed in a futile & desperate fashion at the carpet, Nate added the second coat. Please notice the beer that is involved. At this point, I’m noticing how thick the paint is going on & how…shiny…it is. & I realize that this is not flat paint. I can’t believe I didn’t notice that when we bought it. & while I’m staggering at this revelation & trying to decide what course of action to take, Tuck leans her fat ass against the white part:

…& leaves a trail of hair down one wall, which must be scrubbed off & repainted. I’m 10 seconds from internally combusting at this point. & putting an add in the paper that a German Shepherd mix is free to a good home (just kidding, promise). I also realize that with the new white on the bottom, the chair rail & wood trim looks grey against it, which simply won’t do. So now I have to repaint all the woodwork in the room as an unexpected “bonus.”

We sleep on it last night, & get up this morning to add the third coat of blue. It looks better, no? & in the morning light, it even looks closer to navy! This picture shows exactly the color I hoped for. This makes me happy, considering the LAST thing I want is some hokey bright-blue color on my son’s walls. After a few hours to let it dry & one romp in the sack later to celebrate our tenacity, we got in to peel off the painters tape…to see this:

& this is where I officially lost my shit. As we peeled the tape, the paint on the wall was literally gummy against it. & pulled with it & pulled off in places. WHAT THE HELL DID WE DO WRONG?! So Nate pulled out a razor. To try & separate some of the paint, of course….not to stab ourselves, which we were tempted to do at this point. Which doesn’t work. & I realize that I will have to get a water-color brush to do the tiny touch-ups.

Seriously, it looks TERRIBLE. I’m not exaggerating. & as you can see, as it dried even farther & the afternoon light came in, we have hokey hideously bright blue walls. I think the starkness of the blue against the white makes it stand out even more, but there is not one spot in that room that looks like someone over the age of 3 painted it. I’m at a loss for words at this point. I just wanted his room to be PERFECT, & it’s simply not happening at this point. All I want to do is rewind the past 48 hours & re-do the entire room. Nate suggested that a) we have lunch since I was probably hungry without realizing it, thus fueling my teetering mental stability & b) put together the crib, which should make me happy.

So we pull out HJ’s crib & start assembling it, leaning it against the dry white part of the walls while we assemble it. At least…they should have been fully dry after sitting for over 24 hours. & when I pull away the footboard during the last part of the assembly process, there are FLECKS OF WHITE PAINT ON MY DARLING, LOVELY, VERY EXPENSIVE CRIB. I scream.

No really…I screamed. & then quivered on the verge of tears while Nate couldn’t decide whether he would laugh or chug a beer. Thankfully, the paint peeled right off the crib with no residue or evidence of its crime. & I screamed again that WHY CAN’T THE EFFING WALLS JUST EFFING DRY ALREADY?!?! So as we attached the bumper to the crib (yet another attempt to cheer me up), we discussed our problems & our options.

Problems

1) We have latex satin paint, not flat paint.

2) We may have painted it too quickly, & should have let there be several days between painting coats.

3) The paint is literally peeling in some places, meaning loads of touch-ups.

4) The paint isn’t drying. It’s still tacky to the touch, even the white stuff which was painted 24 hours ago.

5) I don’t love the color.

Solutions

1) Give it a few days to really, really dry & set.

2) Razor off where it’s peeling & not setting.

3) Repaint with a flat paint, one shade darker than the original.

So there we stand, with a nursery I currently hate, teetering the delicate balance between loathing it & not wanting to hurt Nate’s feelings because he worked so, so hard & I appreciate his efforts. I’m trying to relax & roll with the punches, realizing that motherhood will require that of me many, many times….but it’s hard.

If you have any suggestions…any at all…I would love to hear them. Especially ways to fix the walls & the paint. I don’t even think I’m wild about the white on the bottom anymore, but I think that will change when the other furniture arrives & we get a colorful rug on the floor & curtains up.

2 Comments
Filed Under: Nursery, Things that aren't perfect despite my best efforts

We’re being swallowed whole.

22 May posted by heirtoblair

My house looks like it is vomiting HJ’s nursery & gear.

Literally.

I have a crib in a box barricading me from my laundry room (although this is a blessing, no?). The conversion rails are balancing precariously on the arm chair downstairs. The Babycook machine arrived today, & it sits on the coffee table with two cans of formula, a stash of formula checks, & baby toys that I picked up for free today. Not to mention two potential bedside tables, perched on either end of the huge box that contains the crib bedding. Oh yeah, & a bag of bottles & a massive flat box that contains the sailboat mobile.

We’re working on the nursery this weekend, so hopefully I’ll have some pictures to show off next week! We’re being super-lame & missing a lake trip & a golf trip to stay home to clean & paint, but it’s much-needed. We apologize to everyone that suffers a direct effect from our sudden loss of radness.

oh, & I’m working on a breast feeding, aka “Blair’s Nipples Don’t Function” post…yet trying not to have it rival the length of David Copperfield is a struggle.

Y’all have a wonderful (hopefully long!) weekend!

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Baby Gear, Nursery