Pepper Design Blog

Giveaway! ‘$50 and Change’ Lowe’s Challenge

Happy Monday! Before we jump into this giveaway, I have to share that Liv has been cracking me up lately. The rate of words that she is absorbing from everyday conversation, stowing away and reusing these days is just crazy to me. She asked for a shovel while playing with sand yesterday and I gave her a side-eye glance because I had no idea she knew what a shovel was, let alone how to say it and how to then fill up her bucket while singing to herself. And here I am trying to remember remedial Spanish for our trip to Spain, awkwardly sounding out verb conjugations when it’s just us in the car and failing miserably. I need a toddler brain asap.

Speaking of quick changes, I have a new hallway project that I wanted to share with you despite the crazy happenings that are going on on the outside of our house. And this post ends in an awesome giveaway! Double bonus and a big thank you to Lowe’s for sponsoring.

Lowe’s is launching a new program called $50 and Change. I don’t know about you, but it seems that $50 is often that magic number when it comes to tackling a small project from start to finish – and recognizing that, Lowe’s is challenging bloggers and readers alike to create our own projects with this budget in mind and to post those ideas over at the Lowe’s Idea Exchange on Facebook.

Beginning in September and continuing on every other month for a while now, I’ll be sharing one of my own $50 and Change projects as well as giving away a $50 Lowe’s gift card so that on reader can tackle their own, all courtesy of Lowe’s.

High on my list of must-finish-soon projects is to repaint a Craigslist corner unit for our hallway. I kid you not when I say that this bookshelf has stayed in its ‘antique white’ form covered in odds and ends (and other ‘where does this go?’ objects) for the past two years. Though it didn’t come with the house, the unit looks like it was intended as a built-in just for this corner! and I sadly neglected it and turned it into a dumping ground of sorts.

But thanks to a little motivation and a friend coming to town to work on a few paint projects, I stripped this shelving unit down and gave her a full makeover (just like exercise, blame partner accountability to get projects finished!).

Once dry and decorated from items around the house (some will likely stay, some will eventally get switched out as the bookcase evolves), I’m so happy with how this bookshelf greets me now when I enter the hall!

Favorite finds include these two conch shells from a garage sale I happened to drive by on our street – $3 each! And this great vintage painting that I scooped up for about $8 at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.

Also finding a new home in the hallway is a lounging cermic bird (thrift store), a stack of vintage (or just really old?) sailing books from Kevin’s collection, a few favorite black and white photos, my Etsy watercolor find (which provides just the right pop of color and contrast to the blue), a white vase from West Elm (on super sale) and a cut of wood that I’ve outlined our small family tree on for Father’s Day for Kevin.

That blank shelf is staring at me… but I think  I might try to track down a triangular basket to give myself even more storage, or load it up with more rolled white towels for guests.

The process was a bit bittersweet. I struggled coming up with the right lining for the shelves, trying out various Paper-Source sheets of wrapping paper to wallpaper to random shades of green, pink and blue before deciding on a dark peacock-navy.

With all of the natural light and soft colors going on in the hallway, the bookshelf was just asking for something deep and saturated.

Plus, when that right door is open you can see the bedroom just beyond, a color that played well with my patterned curtains was a must and this particular blue was almost pulled right out of a scrap of fabric from those curtains.

I actually ended up breaking my own mixing rule and added 1/3 parts Castile to 2/3 Plymouth Blue from Olympic. Armed with a sample of each to test out, I found this combo to be the perfect mix of navy and green – sort of a dark teal, if you will. I saved just a bit of the mixture for patching purposes should I need it.

But before any blue could be applied, this guy needed to go from an antique/manilla white to a nice bright white so that it tied in seamlessly with the trim and doors.

Here she is with a nice layer of primer.

Primer was followed by a semi-gloss bright white followed by taping off top of back bookshelf area and my new favorite blue. That plus lots of touch ups because the edges wanted to keep bleeding on each other…

Looks so great now! So fresh and so clean. The shelf definitely appears to have that built-in quality now that it’s the same shade of white as the trim, and that blue is an unexpected pop of color that meets you as you round the door into the hallway.

My total budget for this project was $50, though I have to admit that I came in about 25% lower and splurged on some extra paint and materials to cover up the back of another bookcase in the house. Details to be shared soon.

My gift card covered: 2 samples of paint in Castile and Plymouth Blue by Olympic (that were eventually mixed together to create that pretty blue-green teal), a small wire frame for rolling (similar to this one – great for cabinetry), a pack of sponge roller brushes, a quart each of primer and a bright white sem-gloss paint, painter’s tape, traditional black sponge brush to help with beadboard (inside of bookcase) nooks and grooves, a drop cloth and paint tray. But you could conceivably tackle this project for $6 (cost of two samples) if you have all of the above painting supplies on hand!

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Giveaway: A $50 gift card to Lowe’s!

To Enter: Leave a comment here with the $50 project you have in mind for your space.

For Additional Entries: Become a Facebook fan of Lowe’s Idea Exchange and/or Pepper Design Blog. Be sure to leave a separate comment for each additional entry.

Giveaway ends Wednesday, September 12 at midnight PST, winner will be chosen randomly and announced on the blog. Good luck!

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For more hallway makeover progress (like my painter’s tape wallpaper), check out this link.

PS If you’re an email subscriber, my apologies if you received ‘half’ an email on Saturday! This is the entire  post .

Curb Appeal: The House is Painted!

…okay, so the garage isn’t quite finished in the back, and there are still a ton of small spots to fix up… But I couldn’t wait to share the results of our new color on the house!

It’s really the perfect color for this home and Kevin and I are so happy with our choice. Over the top happy!

It might not read the same on all computers, but picture a slightly smoky tan that is not quite a true beige (in the yellow ways that beiges can go) but a tan with grayer undertones and one that really highlights the true Spanish charm of this bungalow. And one that goes so, so well with those red, umber saltillo tiles.

Both of the houses on either side of us are a little bolder in color choice (brown on the left, a light orange on the right), so it was important the the home still keep that light, neutral, casual color between the two (both are beautiful – we lucked out with a set of neighbors that are invested in some curb appeal as well).

What’s amazed me most about the transformation of white to tan is how much the home appears to have grown up! It’s hard to explain, but I drive home now and think ‘wow! check out that mature, sophisticated house. That’s my house!’ If a you could compare a paint color to a a clock, our home went from a teenager (not that there’s anything wrong with being a teenager) to a classy, polished Spanish overnight (or over a month?).

Bah, I’m trying not to go over the top here but seriously we’re pretty stoked on how it looks in person.

Yes those windows are a bit mismatched . Still haven’t decided on a trim color… more on that soon.

Here’s a before and after, a quick reminder of the white coating that adorned her prior to very recently:

And today!

If we really want a blast from the past, here’s a reminder of the house the year we moved in:

Tan suites her well, don’t you think? I could not be happier with the Dusty Trail color we chose from Olympic. Choosing paint can be so risky! And even if you love a 5×5′ swatch on the side of your house, it’s quite the adventure covering your entire home in it, fingers crossed while you anxiously await how it will look as various light from various angles hits it, how the different times of the day result in different shades…

Now that it’s up I’m sure we could not have chosen a better tan. As I mentioned above, in person it’s sort of a husky, grey/green tan – no under tones of yellow or orange or pink.

It’s beautiful in full sun, but it’s equally alluring at dusk when it most reminds me of a new and improved house. I will have to take a setting sun shot so you don’t have to just take my word for it… but it’s very pretty.

What was a really helpful tool in helping us with this process was this online ColorClix tool that Olympic suggested we use when we first began our partnership with them earlier this summer.

Which led us to uploading a photo of our exterior and playing with different shades. Here’s Dusty Trails (and here’s a few others that we considered):

Maybe a little bit darker than how the house actually turned out, but pretty darn close, right?

Ignore that bright white retaining wall! That’s on the to-do this week.

I believe the tool is at peak performance for playing with the color of indoor rooms, so it’s definitely worth a trial if you have any indoor painting projects coming up (and it’s so much faster than photoshopping! for those of us that try a bazillion colors by using my favorite photo editing tool).

Here’s that upgrade one more time:

I wish you could all see it in person at this moment, I know you would love it even if you weren’t a full blown Spanish home type person (it’s a Southern California thing, I think).

But I would only ask that you ignore that trim. We’re not there yet, and we’re very. very. slow decision makers. We know that both the house and the trim colors will make a huge difference, and that we won’t be changing them for a very long time! So we are patiently painting and repainting those two window frames there in the front (just as we did with big ol’ swatches on the side of the house) until we either A. happily agree on a color or B. let the mutual patience run out and make a swift decision. We have four color ideas left in the running.

And you can always find more yard-related posts right here!

PS We worked with Lowe’s, Olympic and Graco on our summer curb appeal project and we plan on sharing all of our feedback on the application of paint, recommended exterior types and suggested tools very soon. 

Curb Appeal: We’re Painting the House!

Kevin and I headed up to San Francisco for a quick trip to celebrate our 5th anniversary and we had such a great time! Thanks to those who left a comment or sent an email wishing us a great day!

Now that Kevin is out of school for the summer, I cannot think of a better anniversary present than spending some time together working on a few big changes for the front of our home. We tend to reserve major renovation projects for when Kev finishes up classes for the summer (which, by the way, I’m so proud of him for right now! Three of his hardest years down, two to go until he finishes up his degree in architecture ), and he just wrapped up finals last week.

This summer is no exception with a big wrap around deck (side yard and back), pergola, outdoor eating area, side yard wall, landscaping and overall outdoor beautification on the list. I am even more excited about that fact that we are once again partnering with Lowe’s to help participate in their Trend & Design theme for the summer – curb appeal!

The above is our home today, and here’s a quick reminder of where we started at:

Not too shabby so far, right? But we have BIG plans, starting with painting the house!

Olympic and Graco have offered to partner with us for this project and of course that made the reality of such a big undertaking feasible for us to move ahead with as early as this upcoming weekend! Wow.

I have been patiently looking forward to updating the traditional white on the front of our home since the day we moved in four years ago and excited doesn’t even begin to capture my feelings at the moment. Overwhelmed, giddy, smiling ear to ear might get me a little closer.

Olympic has a helpful tool that allows you to upload a picture and then play with paint colors. I can’t get too color carried away as we live in a Spanish style house and I tend to love these particular bungalows in beiges, tans and browns anyway, but that’s where we’re starting our search.I uploaded our current outdoor photo into ColorClix to get a better idea of what our home would look like in a few favorite shades.

The first step is to use the tool markers to identify what is a paintable wall vs plants vs roof, etc. (these same steps apply for interiors, but identifying interior walls, furniture, windows and trim instead).

Then it was time to experiment away!

This light Vanilla Brandy is a favorite:

As is Dusty Trails with its ever so smoky-tan appeal:

A slightly darker option is Stony Creek:

Applesauce Cafe rounds out my fourth favorite tan (I sometimes wonder where these names come from – what a fun job) with its honey undertone:

Kevin really digs the idea of a mossy grey house. If we lived in any other style I think that I would be on board (or at least seriously consider the option), but I’m not such a fan for our home:

Will keep you posted on the progress! We are deciding colors asap and it’s quite daunting.

Next up on the paint list is trim. I’m thinking white, but perhaps a dark brown would be option 2. Spanish homes are known for their creative trim-on-trim styles and maybe an even better, dual option is out there somewhere… this is when long walks with Liv and sneaky iPhone camera shots of my favorite homes in the neighborhood become very helpful as local inspiration. It’s not odd to pretend like you’re talking to someone at arms length while you line up a shot of the neighbor around the corner’s home, right?

Any home painting tips, thoughts? or do you have any big projects lined up for this summer?