The DIY That Made Me Feel Like a Home Owner
I’m just not one of those people that enjoys DIY’s. It feels like a lot of work and sometimes a big time investment, and also have you noticed that you end up having to buy a bunch of tools?! Tools are NOT fun to buy.
Up until this summer, we had lived in rentals, and the idea of doing some DIY design ideas, then having to do a hard reset in a few months or a year just took the luster out of it for me. So I scraped by with the bare minimum design-wise while we rented, holding onto hope that one day I would be able to go crazy in my own place.
Well, I went crazy this weekend. I did something in our new home that I would never have dreamed of doing in our years of renting. I painted a fun design in our entry way. I know it doesn’t sound THAT crazy, but after years of holding back on some fun ideas, it felt like sheer freedom. We’ve done our fair share of projects around the house so far, but for some reason it was this simple paint project that was like stepping into capital H Homeownership for me.
Props to you if you look good doing DIY’s, I prefer the zero effort lewk
THE PROJECT:
When we moved into our new home, we painted nearly the entire place right away the bright white I had wanted, but I realized pretty quickly that the entry needed just a little more interest. I had initially wanted to wallpaper, but since we will eventually be replacing the front door, the flooring as well as closing up that wall to the kitchen once we renovate, spending a few hundred dollars on wallpaper seemed like a waste since it would have to come down.
So I checked out Pinterest for some DIY paint techniques that would give me the feel I wanted in there. Something with a repeating pattern in a low contrast color.
I tested out a couple different sponges from the hardware store as well as some inexpensive paint brushes I got at Michaels to get the feeling I was going for. In hindsight I should have tested on a white back ground so that I could see the actual contrast the final product would have, but our garage walls are getting painted soon so it seemed like the easiest route ha!
Our walls are painted Ben Moore Simply White in Eggshell, and I landed on Sherwin Williams Natural Linen also in Eggshell. After testing the sponges and the brushes, I ended up using the smallest paint brush cause it gave me the most control. I definitely winged the brush strokes and it shows in some areas, but I also ended up loving the hand-painted, organic quality it gave.
It was at this point when I had painted the first wall that I started freaking out. Like what the hell did I just do to my walls?! I guess that’s when I put on my homeowner hat and decided WTHC? If it sucks I can paint over it, and if I love it, it’ll be a victory. I have no one else to answer to but me (and my husband who is thankfully usually open to my weird ideas).
It took me roughly 4-5 hours, a half a quart of paint, and I am so happy with how it turned out!
I’m so glad I worked up the courage to do something a little risky!
