Before we get to the "After" part, you should go back and watch
the video on this post so you can get the "Before" firmly in your mind first.
The first part of the project was a quest to give the walls a little character-- some texture and depth. I used wallboard joint compound to give a faux plaster finish. I simply troweled it on about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick, right over the original wallboard, leaving plenty of texture. The kids helped me out with this, since I didn't need it smooth or uniform. They had a blast!
You see two colors of plaster here because the darker bit is still wet... You can tell I went section by section-- doing about half a wall each day. It goes really fast, but I have three kids, so a half hour was about all I could put into it at a time.
After all the plaster was up, the tough part was figuring out a color and glaze that gave the effect I was looking for. It took nearly a month, at least $50 in samples, numerous trips to Lowes, hours of research and an emergency Skype session with my sister to figure out how to get the look I wanted. In this picture you can see some of the failed attempts. You can also see the Field Flaxflower Blue that I ultimately settled on going up around the edges. It's really bright.
See? REALLY bright. It was at this point that I started to panic a little and doubt the decision I had made. That's some briiiight blue, baby.
After the base coat was on, I started working on the topcoat. I had intended to use a tinted glaze, but it just wasn't working. I finally realized that the problem was the sheen, not the color. I'd been trying to recreate a milk paint, or whitewash look, but the glaze has the sheen of at least a satin paint, if not semi-gloss. Totally wrong for whitewash. I finally figured out that I could take plain white flat paint and water it down significantly, apply first with a roller and then backwash over it with a wet sponge.
After I lived with one half-wall done in the whitewash for a week or so, I decided it was a little too much contrast, so I changed to a not-quite-white. It's a white that's juuust to the blue-grey side. KWIM? A "bluewash", if you will. Perfection!
Also, Jamie decided to "help"-- resulting in my first ever Poison Control Hotline call. They were very nice. I suspect I may be using their services again.
And then this week, thanks to the wonderful people at St Paul's VBS program, who kept my children safe, fed and happy all morning for five days in a row, I finished the bluewash!
Here's the finished product! See all the interesting shadows and the almost-3D effect of the bluewash? Isn't it cool??? :D
The whole room now has this ethereal, summery, wide-open spaces feel to it. I love it. Now I just need to get some furniture in there...
