Like Entering a New World

When we first took on this job, the house was a good bit out of style! This patio, especially: brown walls, decayed windows—not the kind of room that's screaming to be showed off. Well, we're all about refinement here, so we wasted no time getting to work.

About the Veneer...

This wasn't your average room, of course! These walls were veneer. What's up with veneer? The kind that we had was only mildly absorbent, meaning a little bit of paint went an incredibly long way. Take another look at that picture above you. Even though the room would take several coats, if we took a lightly coated roller to it, we could cover close to half of the lower portion in one go. That's how much paint spreads on this veneer, and that isn't a negative thing! It means greater efficacy for the paint, and it keeps us from having to use so much.

The only thing we had to be conscientious of was drips, because of course, as the surface wasn't absorbing as much as we're used to, loose paint accumulated much more quickly. That was an adaptation we made the minute we were aware of it.

Beyond the New World

All that is say this: different jobs, different surfaces. Some days, we're going up against a flat wall, and it's normal as can be. Other days, we're rolling ceilings (and boy, is that a shoulder workout!). And, on days like this one, we have to do multiple light coats with a roller and hand brush, and then—see each of those tall crevices in the pictures? We went delicately over each one by hand and made sure they received the same splendid coat the rest of the room did. Tedious? Sure. Rewarding? Beyond belief. Painting isn't just coloring something different, you know. It's about taking something old and worn and transforming it into a crown jewel to be displayed. And when we're done, every room looks like a crown jewel.