Need Painting Advice

**monkeywrangler71** · 01-29-2007, 06:30 PM

I started painting my rec room and it looks horrible

I was originally going to paint it light green, hoping for a 'cottagey' look, but then I painted the upstairs bathroom and my daughter's room green, so I decided that the rec room would be too much (plus, I don't even like green)

I decided to paint it yellow. I took home every yellow paint chip in the store, finally selected one that I thought was nice and bought 2 gallons of it. I wish I'd bought one to start., but knew I'd need 2 to finish the room and didn't want to risk them not matching.

Now it looks like a lemon threw up on the wall.

I can't return the paint, and I can't bring myself to go out and buy it again (and probably end up with something just as bad).

Has anyone ever used a glaze? I normally don't like faux finishes, but I just need something to tone this down. The colour itself is not horrible, just too bright. If I had a glaze mixed in a more brown tone and put it over it, would that stop the room from glowing? Is it possible to just paint a glaze on and not have to do any smearing around. Or is anything I do just going to look dirty.

**chatterweb** · 01-30-2007, 01:01 AM

I have tried Behr Faux finishing where I added glaze to paint and used a firm type of rag/clothing to roll it onto the wall. I always used white walls to save $$ on paint though.
I did try faux on a aqua wall and the aqua was so dense the faux did not show up.
If I were you I would go to Home Depot or wherever you can find a free Behr faux color chart. Look for one combination with a yellow like the one you used on the wall, and see what color was "glazed" over the yellow and if you like the results. Or try Behr.com and search faux...
BTW the rolling technique is very fast and easy and I liked it but hubby did not.

Have Fun!!!

Originally Posted by monkeywrangler71

I started painting my rec room and it looks horrible

I was originally going to paint it light green, hoping for a 'cottagey' look, but then I painted the upstairs bathroom and my daughter's room green, so I decided that the rec room would be too much (plus, I don't even like green)

I decided to paint it yellow. I took home every yellow paint chip in the store, finally selected one that I thought was nice and bought 2 gallons of it. I wish I'd bought one to start., but knew I'd need 2 to finish the room and didn't want to risk them not matching.

Now it looks like a lemon threw up on the wall.

I can't return the paint, and I can't bring myself to go out and buy it again (and probably end up with something just as bad).

Has anyone ever used a glaze? I normally don't like faux finishes, but I just need something to tone this down. The colour itself is not horrible, just too bright. If I had a glaze mixed in a more brown tone and put it over it, would that stop the room from glowing? Is it possible to just paint a glaze on and not have to do any smearing around. Or is anything I do just going to look dirty.

**Laurie in Bradenton** · 01-30-2007, 07:01 AM

We do lots of faux finishes in restrant bathrooms for ease of clean up and touch up.
I would NOT go with a brownish glaze as it will look dirty. Perhaps a whitewash would be better. It will help to cut the yellow without muddying the look. Watch the sheen of your glaze go with a satin or eggshell as a semi-gloss or gloss will reflect too much. Have you thought of braking up the walls with some hangings instead? Perhaps a large picture, some framed posters or a quilt or rug? This would break up the color without having to do anything eles to the wall. Maybe you could hang a grouping of family photots or kid art work. I've got yellow in my living room and I break it up with a quilt hanging on one wall, a large old canvas in a gaudy gold frame filled with fishing lures and flies, another wall is covered with photos and prints, sprayed the frames black to accent against the color.
Whats the room used for can you pull a theme from that? If you are going for the cottage theme perhaps you've got some nice old linens you could fram and hang?

Laurie in BRadenton

**monkeywrangler71** · 01-30-2007, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by chatterweb

I have tried Behr Faux finishing where I added glaze to paint and used a firm type of rag/clothing to roll it onto the wall. I always used white walls to save $$ on paint though.
I did try faux on a aqua wall and the aqua was so dense the faux did not show up.
If I were you I would go to Home Depot or wherever you can find a free Behr faux color chart. Look for one combination with a yellow like the one you used on the wall, and see what color was "glazed" over the yellow and if you like the results. Or try Behr.com and search faux...
BTW the rolling technique is very fast and easy and I liked it but hubby did not.

Have Fun!!!

I've looked on the behr website, but the colours do not display on my computer anywhere close to what they really look like. I remember seeing the colour charts at Home Depot though, so I will have a look through them next time I am up. I forgot they had them until you mentioned it. Thanks.

**monkeywrangler71** · 01-30-2007, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by Laurie in Bradenton

We do lots of faux finishes in restrant bathrooms for ease of clean up and touch up.
I would NOT go with a brownish glaze as it will look dirty. Perhaps a whitewash would be better. It will help to cut the yellow without muddying the look. Watch the sheen of your glaze go with a satin or eggshell as a semi-gloss or gloss will reflect too much. Have you thought of braking up the walls with some hangings instead? Perhaps a large picture, some framed posters or a quilt or rug? This would break up the color without having to do anything eles to the wall. Maybe you could hang a grouping of family photots or kid art work. I've got yellow in my living room and I break it up with a quilt hanging on one wall, a large old canvas in a gaudy gold frame filled with fishing lures and flies, another wall is covered with photos and prints, sprayed the frames black to accent against the color.
Whats the room used for can you pull a theme from that? If you are going for the cottage theme perhaps you've got some nice old linens you could fram and hang?

Laurie in BRadenton

Thank you for the advice re. brown glaze. I was afraid it would look like something unsavoury had been smeared on the wall. I wouldn't have even thought of white. I am so bad with colour (obviously).

There is going to be a book shelf covering one wall so that one will be okay. I have a number of pictures to put up in the room but nothing large enough to break it up, but maybe I could start thinking of something. Things do tend to look better when the room is put back together, so maybe it won't be so bad. Plus it's only partially painted, so the contrast with the old wall might be making it look worse than it is.

**monkeywrangler71** · 01-30-2007, 01:07 PM

Laurie, I've been standing in my rec room and thinking about your post for quite awhile. You asked what the room was used for and it occurred to me that I didn't really know the answer. We have a ton of books that belong down there, as well as some craft stuff and a tv. After a lot of thought, I realized that, aside from the occasional overnight guest, only the kids and I spend any time down there, either playing or just escaping the heat in the summer. With the books & crafts & kids, I thought that maybe the 'theme' in that room should be learning. I went through some boxes of homeschool supplies that I've been collecting and it turns out I have all kinds of really nice, large, educational posters & maps.

I think between the library area and the posters, I may be able to turn it into a fun & educational place to hang out. And perhaps, with that purpose in mind, vibrant yellow may actually be an appropriate colour.

**bumplett** · 01-30-2007, 01:42 PM

I hope you like it once you have everything up on the walls - I'm not too fond of yellow myself, yet there is yellow sprinkled all over this house.... it's a 'happy' color - and maybe you will grow to love it once you cover a bit of it.

**Laurie in Bradenton** · 01-30-2007, 08:25 PM

Monkey Wrangler71, so glad to hear that things maybe working out okay for you and your yellow room. A big bookcase always is a big help in breaking up a wall and a color. As for the maps and posters go for it. I have a huge cork message board that takes up part of a wall in my office it helps out there. Since its a kid and learning area you might think about getting a quart of chalkboard paint about $5.00 for a caulkboard area on a wall. For your posters if you've got a few old yardsticks around they make intresting frames for posters and such. For mounting used cardboard.
And I think once you have the room put back together and everything put up you'll find the yellow a cheerful color.
Laurie in Bradenton

**JerryG** · 02-21-2007, 01:37 PM

This thread caught my eye as I love yellow! I have a lemon yellow living room with cantaloupe ceiling and accents. I have big bold art and various maps including some pop art made from campaign signs. All free! Try it and see! One work of art is a table top that was just nasty. I removed the legs. Painted free form on the table top and legs, with the help of my son. The table top is now mounted as art and the legs are the "frame". I love it! I love color! My kitchen walls are three different (subtle) shades of green with all the cabinets in different bright colors. Each cabinet was then rag rolled with a color two shades lighter (for instance painted red and then rag rolled pink). My son will bring his friends over and they always comment on how cool it is. Let us know what you decide!

YEA FOR ME!!!

**monkeywrangler71** · 02-21-2007, 03:06 PM

Well, I've gotten most of the room painted, I just need to do another coat around the edges. My husband was downstairs working one day, and he said he really liked it because it was so dreary before. I ended up buying a few black poster frames, and I think the contrast looks nice, the shelf is painted white & assembled, and I'm 'destinkifying' my 2nd last batch of books. Hopefully the room will be in order by the end of the weekend.

After my initial panic, the colour did grow on me, and I ended up going through with my original plan to paint the kids' room the same colour. So I've been painting two rooms at the same time this week - it's a bit chaotic around here right now! Unfortunately, I'm having some coverage problems in the kids' room, and I think I might need yet another can of paint. Their room was a bright blue that I've dubbed 'Homer Simpson's Pants'. Two coats of primer, two coats of paint, and I can still see it.

Obviously, I'm not as comfy with bright colours as you are

Whenever I ask for my husband's opinion on what colour to do a room, his only response is "Not Brown!" (which is what he calls taupe

)

**Libby** · 03-14-2007, 09:53 PM

Yellow really isnt as scary as it sounds. You can tone it down a few ways - your decor - as you said, once you put back your furniture and decorations it does tone it down and try something that contrasts with it vs matches/blends with it. The other way - is change your lighting if possible - I have 8 potlights/floodlights in my bedroom ceiling (and my bedroom is yellow) but I only use two lamps in there at night. 2 x 40w bulbs uses way less energy (and costs less too!) then 8 x 100w flood lights.

If it really does bother you all that much you can take it back to the store (hopefully its a really friendly neighbourhood store or a huge big box store) and explain to them that the colour is not as it appeared to be on the paint chip. Usually they give you the paint again in a different shade/tint off the original one you had at a discount and let you retry it that way.

Hope it turns out well for you!

**monkeywrangler71** · 03-14-2007, 10:43 PM

I got the rec room finished, and I do actually like it now. I put up several large posters in black frames, and got all the books on the shelves. I have another poster and a map to put up, when the frames go on sale again.
It is quite cheery.

The kid's room is still a little bare, but it is definitely an improvement.