Week Two of the Molto Bene One Room Challenge - Paint and Wall Finishes

 

Design Plan for #BHGORC is still evolving

To recap: Needed to redo the master bedroom, because we needed new dressers and we wanted a new wall finish that helped with humidity here in Florida. Thought we should join in Better Homes and Garden's One Room Challenge (#BHGORC) for motivation and inspiration!

 

Our "Before"

We started with a small, square space that needed more light and air. 

Progress so far:  Former finish removed, priming completed and the Glimmerstone wall finish (ordered from Firenze Color) completed.  Our Instagram Stories have details and tips on wall finish removal and application. The wall finish looks and feels great! Pictures never do wall finishes justice, because a major reason you use wall finishes is they are three dimensional and it is difficult to capture that third dimension.  Living in Florida, we are pretty stoked about the decrease in humidity -- we are attributing it to the natural lime-based finish! A specialist we called in earlier this year told us to shoot for between 40 and 60 on humidity.  Our sensor in the room is reading 44 to 46 when the rest of the house is running at least 5 degrees higher. Also, the finish helps the room smell great, and like all lime-based finishes, is mold and mildew resistant.

 

Glimmerstone

Ceiling repainted with an off-white using Behr Premium Plus paint. To get the right color, Kevin went to Home Depot with the Glimmerstone sample board, and had them match the color of the wall finish to get a custom color that coordinated perfectly. Most paint stores will match a color you bring in if you go to the paint counter. This is a good option anytime you are decorating around a wall finish, it ties the surfaces together.

Since we are on a budget, we went with three gray Ikea Malm 4 drawer dressers. Ikea is still catching up from having their factories shut down due to Covid, so selection is limited, but we probably would have settled on Malm anyway. We are getting a lot of storage in a small amount of space at a good price.  Like the Molto Bene husband he is, Kevin put them all together, realized they were too dark for the space and came up with some customization ideas. He repainted the drawer fronts in an offwhite. The primer he uses is Stix Primer and the paint he is using is Cabinet Coat, the same stuff he used to paint our kitchen cabinets almost 9 years ago. This stuff has been well nigh indestructible. (3 chips, easily repaired!).  Stix is a waterbased primer that sticks to about anything and dries extremely hard. Cabinet Coat lays off really well, leaving no brush strokes.  Again, he took the Glimmerstone sample to the local Benjamin Moore Durable Coatings store and had them custom match the off-white color. We used it on the dressers and trim. He will be painting the outside of the dressers in a green (final shade TBD). (I am seeing green all over the BHGORC guest participants posts so we are in good company!)  Probably will finish it off with drawer pulls.

(Note: We have received no compensation for mentioning these products/stores.)

Stix primer is the bomb

Final Coat with Cabinet Coat. Water based!

The original concept was going to be a minimalist, blue/gray/taupe space, very stripped down.  Looking at what we have done so far, while we appreciate how the room has lightened up,  it's obvious we need to add some more color in, and blue/gray was the wrong direction. We are going to bring more color in with bedding, the green on the dressers and big, splashy art. We'll incorporate some bamboo storage pieces and possibly rattan lighting. This is Florida after all! For the art, we are strongly considering making an art piece together using different plasters, inspired by the talented artists/artisans we are following on Instagram.  

 

Lighter, brighter, but definitely not done.

-- till next week! In the meantime GO HERE to check out the other participants' progress, and follow our Instagram stories. Moltobene wife