The Glidden Project

Back in October, I spied this insert from Glidden Paints inside the Halloween issue of Country Living Magazine The brilliant autumn-inspired colors in the ad caught my eye, as did their interactive website, so I blogged about it. Well, the good people at Glidden saw my blog (yay!) and asked if I would be interested in doing a room makeover using their paint brand. They would send me the paints of my choice, I would paint it myself and then write about the experience. Now, those of you who read my blog know that I am a one-paint kind of decorista. Over the years I have tried just about every paint brand, only to keep returning to my personal favorite. But, since I had been contemplating a facelift for our family room anyway, it seemed like the perfect time to sieze an amazing opportunity to try something new and write a blog for the whole world to see (well, maybe not the whole world, but at least my blogging world).

Here’s the story: The last time we re-painted the family room, I had decided to add an accent color to the fireplace wall.

At the time, it worked to enhance the fireplace and mantel that were viewable from the kitchen, which was the same color. However, last fall we converted our adjacent deck to a screened-in porch, which we LOVE, but any natural light we had streaming into the picture window was

greatly diminished, making the room darker and less appealing. Along with that, I had changed the sofa slipcover from this light toile print

to a brick red solid, creating a cavernous feel.

Of course, that was not my intent. The original blue slipcover that came with the sofa we bought back in 2005 was too flowery for this more “countrified” space, and the red slipcover I purchased online looked a lot brighter on my computer screen than in person. Bright, cheerful color is my thing…dark and gloomy, not so much. And several of the decorating elements in the room- like this hand-carved whale-also creamy white, just faded into the walls, which were the same color as the trim.

Time for a change. The new colors I chose were Antique Beige

for the walls, because I needed a color just a shade or two darker than the trim but still bright and light, and this one has just a hint of pink, and Steel Blue for the accents to match the rugs and curtains that I was planning to keep.

I kept the trim, fireplace and bookcases the same creamy white semi-gloss. But before I could paint the wall, I had to do a wee bit of patching since I had made some pretty big screw holes while hanging a mirror awhile back.

A hole this big cannot just be filled with putty, you actually need to use some of this mesh tape to bridge it, and give it something to grab onto.

Once the putty was dry and sanded, I used this Glidden Primer called Gripper . (I had given this a High Five For Friday awhile ago-see Primed for Success...)

It has a school-glue consistency, covers everything and seals in stains and dark colors, yet it is water-based for easy cleanup.

I was able to paint all of these shelves that were stained and polyurethaned over 25 years ago-without even sanding them!

Amazing stuff. Next up was two coats of the eggshell finish Antique Beige Glidden. Having stated above that I have been using the same paint brand for years, I have to tell you that I was very happily surprised by how great this paint is! I typically judge my paint by the several factors listed below; in each case, the Glidden paint passed with flying colors!

1.Drippiness: Minimal dripping and splattering, both from the brush and the rollers (foam and low nap), even from up high on the ladder.

2.Sagging: No sagging at all (that’s when you roll or brush the paint on, then look back a minute or two later and find that the paint is literally sagging from the wall, which you then have to go and redo before it sets).

3.Ease of Use: The paint rolled and brushed on smoothly and quickly, covered beautifully, cleaned up easily with soap and water.

4.Overall Depth of Color. The color is deep and even and the eggshell finish has just enough glow so the light from the window is refracted- exactly what I needed to brighten up the room!

Coach walked in after I was done (yup, the interior painting is my thing, he sticks to the outdoors), and said “wow, this looks really amazing!”, which, if you know coach, is a lot for him to say… Sooo, this is the before: