the nursery: walls and trim

I'm finally sitting down to blog about the nursery at almost 38 weeks pregnant.  I didn't want to start blogging about it until we actually finished it - which only happened last weekend.  When I started thinking about what our nursery would look like (before I was even pregnant) there were things I knew I wanted and some things I knew I definitely didn't want.  

I knew I didn't want anything gender specific when it came down to the "bones".  No ballerina pink walls, no baby blue walls.  Nothing frilly.  Nothing that screamed "a boy lives here".  A room that our child could grow up in and now grow out of.  

I knew I wanted something bold - like dark walls.  I considered black walls, or very, very dark charcoal grey or a rich navy blue.  I knew I wanted white furniture to contrast with the dark walls.  

Even though I like the look of most nurseries that have light colored walls with sheer curtains and white furniture, I knew that I wanted a room that felt cozy and warm and ideal for sleeping.  A room that could be dark in the middle of the day if needed for naps but still bright with the curtains open for play.   

So, here we go!  Here is the room before I laid my DIY, pregnant, impatient hands on it.

As you may recall, our friend Derek grew up in this room and it looks the same as it did when he was little.  And as much as I love my Kansas Jayhawks, I knew the wallpaper had to come down like the nets did in 2008.

When I painted the upstairs hallway (walls: BM in Stonington Grey, trim and doors: BM Advance in white) I went ahead and painted the nursery door and closet doors.

And while I had a primer-soaked paint roller, I painted over the blood-red walls.

After painting the doors, closet doors, and the walls below the chair rail, it was time to look at the border that surrounded the room.

As far as removing wallpaper?  I've never done it.  I of course perused the internet finding cheap and easy ways to remove it successfully.  I thought I would go the cheapest route: hot water.  I filled out an old spay bottle with near boiling water, got out a drywall scraper, an oven mitt so I didn't burn my hands, and a Wendy's plastic knife for scoring the soaked wallpaper. 

I sprayed down a good chunk of wallpaper and let it soak for about 10 minutes.

Then I scored the wallpaper with the plastic knife after it had soaked for a while.

Then I used the scraper (that we used for mudding our drywall) to scrape off the wallpaper.  I found that the longer I impatiently waited for the hot water to do its job, the easier the paper came off. 

It came off a lot faster and easier than I thought it would!

When it soaked longer, I could pull off huge chunks without using the scraper.

Ta-da!  No more wallpaper.

After all the wallpaper was removed I painted the trim from off-white/banged-up to bright white.  It's waaaay easier to cut in with wall paint than vice versa.  Plus, I could paint outside of the lines knowing I would cut in with the wall paint very soon.

And now for the wall color.  Drum roll, please!  HALE NAVY by Benjamin Moore.  It's a very rich, velvety navy blue and I love it.  It's very dark but I knew most of the furniture would end up being white and I am a sucker for that kind of contrast. 

Here it is after the second coat.

I changed up the order of painting for specific reasons.  The trim paint requires 16 hours between coats (Ahhh!  I'm too impatient for that).  However, the wall paint only requires 2-4 hours between coats.  I didn't want this project to drag out for too long, so here's how I did it:

1. paint 1st trim coat
2. paint 1st wall coat without overlapping wet trim paint that is on the wall
3. wait 2-4 hours (i.e. take a nap, stuff my prego face)
4. paint 2nd wall coat
5. paint 2nd trim coat early the next day
6. paint 1st and 2nd coats of cutting in with Hale Navy later in the day (not necessarily 16 hours later, more like 6)

There you have it, the walls have been prepped and painted.  Most people don't get too excited about painting walls but I sure do.  There is nothing like a fresh coat of paint - especially when going from red and white to a bold, navy blue.

Next up… refinishing a $50 Craigslist dresser.