In summation of the previous article, “Day One of House Painting,” after unsuccessfully attempting to match paint in my taupe-colored family room, I undertook the project of repainting the whole room. Trying to do it right, I first primed the wall, and then applied the first coat of paint.

The following morning, I awoke planning to quickly apply the second coat, clean up, and then go do something fun with what remained of my weekend. I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to view our work from the day before. Pleased with my work, I surveyed the room for a closer inspection. Upon closer scrutiny, something didn’t look right. There were obvious stripes in the paint around the edges. How could that have happened? Due to my inexperience, I hadn’t noticed the paint grow darker towards the bottom of the can as it settled, leaving an obvious difference between the wall and the edges which I had painted by hand. (more…)

We all want to achieve the American dream of home ownership; but along with your name on a title comes all of the maintenance and repairs. When we purchased our first home almost two years ago, a 1910 craftsman, we noticed very little that needed repair.

Needless to say, to date we have built an addition, remodeled two bathrooms, done a complete kitchen remodel, repainted, and landscaped the yard. We finally thought we were done, and were looking forward to our first weekend that we could relax in what seemed like ages. That was, until I noticed some small picture holes that needed patching, dotting the walls of the family room. Should be an easy fix, right? Wrong. We patched the holes and touched up the taupe paint with the can the previous owners had conveniently left. A couple of hours later, we returned to find our walls stylishly spotted with polka-dots in a slightly lighter shade than the rest of the smoky-brown room. Obviously, the previous owners had mixed the paint color with something else, leaving us with having to repaint the whole room. (more…)

When vacationing or traveling, have you ever noticed how homes vary in their design from region to region? This is partially attributed to design preference, but a large factor influencing home styles is their geographic location.

One Coastal Community

Take, for example, the small coastal town of Bandon, Oregon. A popular northwest tourist destination with a world-famous golf course, several new homes have been constructed in recent years. Although new, you’d be hard-pressed to differentiate the older homes from the new. All are constructed in the same flat-roofed design, with large windows and natural shingle-shake siding graying from the elements. They look beautiful topping the ragged coastline, and the occasional painted home stands out like a sore thumb. However, move one of these homes to a new development in downtown Sacramento, and it would look strangely out-of-place. (more…)