Category Archives: the girl’s nest

paint + primer = the greatest invention ever

Before I dive into this post, I just want to point out that this is not a sponsered post. I’m in no way being perked or paid to write this post, I just simply am in love with this product and I wanted to share it with you!

This past weekend Derek and I decided it was time to make my our future apartment feel a little homier. And the quickest way to do that is to slap some paint on the walls. I wanted to choose a color outside of the usual color family I gravitate toward, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted yet. At first we thought about navy for some high drama, but being an already small space with dark carpet we realized this probably wasn’t a great idea. And then I started perusing my Pinterest to see what colors inspired me and I was instantly drawn to these three photos:

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I thought about what it was that I loved about these photos [none of which have life altering paint on the walls] and I realized they all had coral accents. So we marched on over to Lowe’s and picked out the perfect coral. We ended up choosing Valspar’s La Fonda Flamenco Pink. It took a little arm twisting since Derek was already worried that the color would be too pink and that the color we chose even had the word pink in the name. But I assured him it was more orange than pink and he went along with it. When we got to the counter we asked the woman if we needed a special tinted primer since it was such a deep color and she suggested we get the Valspar paint + primer in one which was only $10 extra for the gallon. We knew we only needed one gallon since we were only painting one wall and would probably have to do a couple coats anyway so we decided to try it.

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They can mix any paint color into this paint+primer combo, and we decided to go with a satin finish. When we got home we primed the walls with Killz because they were previously painted with sem-gloss paint, and if you’ve ever tried to paint anything on top of semi-gloss you know it’s a nightmare [if you were friends with me in college you are very familiar with how awful that can look cue: blood red splotchy walls].

before [apologies for the glowing orb.. it was super sunny outside]

We decided to go ahead and prime the window frames as well because that horrible pine just wasn’t doing it for us. If you’re our landlord and you read our blog.. sorry, we promise it looks better this way.

Here is the wall totally primed.

So after one coat of Killz we were ready to try out the new color. It’s hard to capture the true color of this paint but what you see on the lid is probably the most accurate color.

The second we started applying the paint we knew there was something magical about it. First of all it went on like oil paint. That thick creamy butter feeling where the paint just glides on without leaving splotchy patches of white underneath. I was in charge of cutting in while Derek was in charge of rolling. I don’t know why but we’ve always attacked walls this way.

It didn’t take us long to realize we were only going to have to apply one coat. Crazy!

Here you can see how strong just one coat of this paint+primer combo is. [Ignore the window frame those obviously haven't been painted yet]

This is our makeshift ladder to reach those high 10′ ceilings. Don’t be scared moms! He survived :)

We still need to paint the window frames with a high gloss white so we aren’t ready to show you the full “after” shot yet. We just wanted to share with you how amazing this paint+primer is. We only ended up using 1/4 of our gallon so next time we’ll know to get a couple quarts instead. Now that we have so much coral left over we’re wondering what else we should paint? Does anyone need any coral paint? :) Have any of you used this paint+primer combo before? Did you have the same results or did yours take a couple of coats? Oh! And for those of you wondering how Derek feels about the color now that it’s on an entire wall. His exact words were “okay I have to admit.. I [expletive] love this color” and kept going on and on about how “awesome” it came out. Overall, I’d say this little afternoon project was a success! It’s making me feel much better about the other crazy ideas I have in store for the dining room and kitchen. Stay tuned!

a little project preview

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The past few weekends have been filled with numerous projects and tying up loose ends at my old place. Yes, I STILL have the keys to my old apartment. Trust me, my bank account isn’t happy about this either. But my lease ends next Monday and I can finally cut ties with my former abode and focus on my new apartment! Here is a little sneak peak of all of the projects I have going on right now.

Confused? Good! I don’t want to giveaway too much yet. So please bare with me because I’m about to overload you with lots o’ DIYness. But I have to finish up a few things first. Who’s afraid of that coral [besides Derek]? Not this girl!

the hall of frames

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This past weekend was full of moving last minute things over from my old apartment, a trip to ikea, rearranging of furniture, catching up on the current season of Mad Men and hanging some frames. The walls of my new apartment are a light grey with white glossy trim. A vast improvement from the usual mushroom found in larger cookie-cutter apartment complexes. However, living here for a month now without a single thing on the walls, has started to look more like a jail cell than anything else. I’ve been fretting over where to hang things lately because 1. I have some big plans for certain walls that need to be painted, stenciled, patterned first before anything can go up, and 2. because I have a LOT of art/framed photos. But the wall at the end of the hallway was driving me nuts. My floor plan is very linear so when you’re standing in the living room you can see all the way down the hall no matter where you are, and I was SO tired of looking at that blank grey wall all the time.

Here is my floor plan for a refresher:

And here is the wall o’ shame.

Excuse the iPhone photo, these were snapped the day I signed my lease. Also that carpet has since been replaced.

You know I’m a lover of galleries [see here, here, and here] and I have boxes and boxes of framed family photos that were just dying to go up. My collection of black frames isn’t substantial enough to put on a large 10′ high wall, so I thought the end of the hallway would be perfect!

I used this method to arrange and hang my frames.

Once all of your templates are up you just place you nail on each marker and tear down your template. An voila!

It’s a little change, but it is already making everything much homier. I love standing in the living room, looking at the kitchen and seeing my little gallery wall in the background. [ And I would have a photo of this except my dining room is currently "under construction" and I don't want to spoil the surprise yet] Next up, a little splash of color in the living room. Stay tuned!

home sweet.. home?

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Apologies for the delayed post, not having internet hooked up yet is really making things challenging this week. Anyway I wanted to share with you the progress of the big move. The new place is a little bit in shambles, but as I mentioned earlier.. I have a LOT of stuff. Also apologies for the grainy iPhone photos, these all just happened to be snapped throughout the day.

Derek wanted to make a special trip and move the coffee table he built me before the movers got there. He’s so protective! Look at all that bubble wrap!

The last few remaining pieces at my old apartment before the movers hauled them off.

A peek inside the 24′ truck. [This one is for Annabel @ AnnabelVita]

Here’s a peek in from the side door to the right.

And to the left. See that very large 7 drawer dresser in the back? That thing probably weights 100lbs, I can’t even lift up a side of it. Well we asked the mover if we should take the drawers out to make it a little lighter and he said “nah I got this” and shrink wrapped the whole thing and hoisted it over his shoulder and proceeded down 2 flights of stairs. Seriously that guy was a haus! If you’ve never used professional movers before I highly recommend Two Men and a Truck, and if you live in SA ask for Jacob. He’s a beast. It only took them 3.5 hours to move everything from a 3rd floor apt to a 2nd floor apt across town. We’re still amazed.

My new tightly packed living room.

Which happens to be spilling into the dining room.

This girl knows how to neatly pack her hangers to prevent.. the hanger fight. You know the one.

These were all full of cloths, and oddly enough I was able to make them fit into my new teeny tiny closet! Thanks Lauren!

An hour after the movers left and my living room was already coming along.

The dining room.. not so much. But the kitchen [which you can barely see] is looking smashing thanks to Angelica’s help all day!

The current state of my bedroom. Groan.

Derek was in charge of the office. Notice all books and no ceramic animals. That wont last long.

Saturday night [aka St. Patrick's Day] we hit up the new food truck park called Alamo Street Eat-Bar for so delicious grub.

Gourmet burgers with homemade sweet potato fries. Oh yeah!

Sunday morning we met our friends [aka my new neighbors] for brunch at Feast.

Pistachio Almond French Toast. You betcha!

After work yesterday I started unpacking all the extra boxes in the living room and look what I found! All my buddies!

There was a HUGE storm last night so I had to bring all of my collapsed boxes inside so they wouldn’t get soaked.

There you have it, the current state of my new place. This afternoon I have to babysit the cable guy for 4 hours [why do they give you such a large time frame?] so I’ll hopefully finish unpacking the few remaining boxes. I’d say this progress is pretty good for only moving here 3 days ago!

Don’t forget to enter this week’s GIVEAWAY it ends Sunday night!

moving weekend..

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I promise this is exactly what Derek will be thinking this time tomorrow. I’ll see you kiddos Monday blogging from my new home! :) Sidenote.. this is what the weekend is looking like weather-wise:

Please oh please don’t rain!!!