Saturday, September 8, 2007

Renting in Boston: An American Tale

Anyone who enjoys moving, please step forward.

Yeah, that's what I thought!

This was a busy weekend for me. Since I did nothing around the house Labor Day weekend, I had a lot of catching up to do. My goal was to paint the living room and one of the bedrooms, so Friday night we headed to Home Depot. I had purchased a gallon of Sterling grey paint a week ago but it was WAY to light for the living room. I took it back and Home Depot darkened it free of charge. Jerome picked the colors for the bedroom - Peanut Butter brown and a navy color that I forgot the name of. When all else fails, pick your favorite comfort food as your paint color! Lucky for me, the paint guy accidentally mixed a gallon of the navy when I only wanted a quart. We ended up getting the gallon for $5 since it was his mistake. What a treat!

*YOUz*r Tip: Looking for paint on the cheap? Paint stores will often give you a huge discount on paint that people changed their minds about or that was mixed wrong. Check them out to see if they have the right color for you!

Saturday was work day. After emailing back and forth about a few Craig's List purchases, I started painting the living room. Thankfully I didn't have to tape. Taping takes up a lot of time and doesn't always produce clean lines. The best thing for me has been "cutting in" to the wall/ceiling line. All you have to do is find the perfect brush. I've been through a dozen brushes that are supposed to be amazing at lining but so far, my favorite brush has been a $2 Pure Bristle brush from Home Depot. I've achieved perfect lines every time using this brush. If you're a beginner, you might want to check this one out. It's usually in the bottom row of the brush isle.


Before: off-white walls















After: It's hard to capture the greyness of the walls...I'm still trying to figure out this photography thing...but it looks awesome in person. FYI: the loveseats are for sale.




















Happy with my paint job and full from cooking our first real dinner at our new apartment, Jerome and I headed out to Roslindale to get our new dining table. It's an old Ficks Reed set with Art Deco chairs. I'm going for a modern dining room with a vintage twist. I've been looking for cute chairs with detailing for awhile but they're either a broken set or out of my price range so this was a great find. The table has a glass top that looks great and the chairs have gold seat cushions which I can't wait to reupholster. Sunday's going to be a busy day...

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