Front Door Paint Colour and Schlage Matte Black Lever Set

I posted a story on my Instagram to ask for your feedback on whether to paint over this cranberry red front door of ours at cottage. The response was an overwhelming Yes. 

I then asked which colour you would prefer by showing five different most popular shades of navy and charcoal. No surprise the majority voted Hale Navy and Jet Black. 

I know I wanted a darker shade to go with our pastel yellow sidings, but couldn't decide between navy and charcoal. Looks like most of you share the same dilemma. It turned out I didn't have to choose after all. Introducing Benjamin Moore's Raccoon Fur, a dark charcoal grey with a navy undertone! When it's darker outside, it appears more charcoal and black; but when there's sunlight, the blue undertone really shines through. Perfect, right? The picture below was taken when it's bright outside, you can see it appears more navy. 

This one below was taken at dusk, and it's charcoal. 

Now onto the door hardware. Remember we replaced all our interior doors with this gorgeous Schlage Camelot lever in matte black? Installation was a breeze and probably made much easier because our cottage builder used the same Schlage hardware throughout, but in a polished brass finish. 

I know I wanted our front door set to look a bit different from the rest of the house, but in the same matte black finish. Before selecting the Camelot trim, I also looked at the Schlage Addison collection. I chose the Camelot for its softer and vintage silhouette which breaks up all the boxy and rectangular lines inside our cottage. But for the front door, I wanted it to be slightly more clean-lined and modern because we have Scandinavian-inspired patio set. 

Don't you just love how elegant this Addison trim looks? 

I can't wait to install them when we open up our cottage next Spring. 

*The lockset was generously sponsored by Allegion on behalf of Schlage, but all the opinions are my own. 

Painted Staircase Reveal

If you've been following my blog for a while, you'd know that Project Foyer has been taking for-ever. It started from a complete overhaul of the floor tiles, twice; swapped out a pillow on the settee then yet again; then replaced some really ugly framed art with a DIY abstract art; to finally (hopefully) paint the staircase. It was not an easy decision to get to the last step but with some help from Photoshop and inspiration from a few fellow bloggers, I eventually decided painting staircase was the way to go.

This is the Before: we are fortunate to have a good-sized foyer and a curved staircase, but the stained staircase with wrought iron spindles is has so much presence that it's overwhelming. It also makes the wainscoting and moulding work in the same space look incomplete.

This is the mock-up from Photoshop: I needed to visualize how a painted staircase would look like in my own space. So far so good.

This is the Progress: after getting a few quotes all north of $1,000, I've decided to tackle this on our own. I was wrong to think the taping was challenging - it turned out to be the easiest part of the entire job. The trick is to be thorough: there's no such thinking as too much tape. Over-protection will make your subsequent tasks less stressful. 

Staircase in ScotchBlue Edge-Lock Tape

I taped up all the spindles, anything I imagined would likely be in the way of brushes and rollers.

Once I started priming, I realized making a decision to paint the staircase wasn't the toughest part after all. After the first coat of primer was when I had the most doubt -  just look at all the streaks on the risers! That's when I said to myself that I might have made a mistake to paint the staircase but it was too late. Moving forward and finishing the job was my only option.

This is our staircase after two coats of KILZ Odorless Primer. It's not entirely odorless so if you are up close painting and have sensitive airways like I do, I would still recommend you wear a carbon filter respiratory mask to reduce the amount of fumes inhaled.  

This is the After: it made all the uncertainty, doubt, fear, confusion, sweat, and muscle aches worthwhile. The painted staircase turned out to be so much better than I imagined and works so well in our foyer.

So bright and airy and more put-together.

With lights on, the space has a warmer glow.

A more close-up picture of our painted staircase.

So my verdict on the ScotchBlue Edge-Lock? I think the result speaks for itself and a picture tells a thousand words. It's not 100% bleeding-free, but I would say compared to most of the painters' tapes out there, the Edge-Lock certainly does a much better job. Because the rest of our staircase was stained in oil-base lacquer, it wasn't too difficult for us to scrape off the bleeding paint.

So my foyer transformation is now officially wrapped up, and I think I am completely happy with how it looks. One key lesson learnt from painting the staircase is that don't give up when in doubt (when you see those streaks). It will only get better once you paint over primer, I promise. Also don't forget to stock up on Ibuprofen before you start - your legs are going to be so sore from squatting and your lower back from turning and twisting that you are going to need some once you are done. That I promise as well. 

Hope you like the After as much as I do.

Main Bathroom Reveal: Before and After

As usual, AM Dolce Vita doesn't leave you hanging for too long for a final reveal. Let's take a quick look at the main bathroom before, shall we? This ugly baby is such a distant memory now.

Instead, I will come home to this. It started from this mood board:

Ready?

Main Bathroom After: I can barely believe this is the same bathroom from two weeks ago. The white walls (in Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace) keep the room fresh and airy.

We kept the huge plate mirror because visually it makes a long and narrow bathroom like ours bigger and wider.

The finishing touch: I love how the yellow accent pops in the bathroom. The Campagnie de Provence soaps smell divine too!

We opted for a more economical (and practical) shower set this time by Price Pfister. Shower control system is from Moen's Brantford collection. I love the lever's vintage touch which balances out the modern stacked wall tiles.

West Elm's Stripe Shower Curtain in Feather Gray is simply per-fect!

The vanity from another angle. I am always amazed by how much a few coats of paint will change the overall look and feel of a piece of furniture or a room. In this case, the Benjamin Moore Pigeon Gray completely transformed the cabinet unit into a stylish and classy vanity and the focal point of our main bathroom.  

Our main bathroom reno was a quick one-week project, and we only went slightly over budget. Here are the details:

• Wall color: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace.
• Vanity: Benjamin Moore Pigeon Gray, spray-painted by Paint it Like New.
• Bianco Statuario countertop by Modern Stone Works. It's 98" in length, crazy!
• Kohler Fairfax lavatory faucets in polished chrome.
• Pottery Barn Mercer wall sconce.
• 4x16 white subway tiles from Tile City.
• West Elm stripe shower curtain in feather gray.

For further details please go to the Source List page.

So there you have it, our main bathroom transformation. How do you like it?

Bathroom Reno on a Budget

Our master ensuite reno was a real splurge: from the vanity to the shower set to the exhaust fan, we spared no expense. And that's the way it should be. Besides being the most used bathroom and our my retreat, the master ensuite is also one of the top selling features of any house.

As I am getting ready for yet another bathroom renovation, my goal this time is to up-cycle as much as possible and stay on budget. I will only get rid of those that absolutely won't play into my overall design such as tiles and vanity countertop. In addition, I will replace more efficient fixtures such as toilet and shower set which are not only good for the environment but also offer great payback through energy/water savings.

Another really inexpensive way to renovate a bathroom is paint. A few days ago we finally dropped off this ugly baby at Paint It Like New, and I made a gutsy move (to me at least)  by choosing a darker shade -- the Benjamin Moore's Pigeon Gray.


And this is the final design plan of my main bathroom. After much consideration I've decided to stick with natural Carrara floor tiles and countertop. Porcelain look-alikes and quartz countertops just don't cut it for me in a bathroom like this.

Clockwise from top right: Pottery Barn Mercer Sconces; Kohler Fairfax Lavatory Faucets in Chrome; Crate & Barrel Bamboo Bathroom Tray; Target vintage glass soap pump; West Elm Ombre Border Bath Mat; Bianco Carrara Marble countertop; 4x16 white gloss subway tile with Carrara mini-brick border; 12x12 Carrara floor tiles; BM Pigeon Gray for the vanity, Valspar Polar Star for the walls; American Standard Hampton Shower Set with Price Pfister hand shower rail.

Reno starts in mid September and I can barely wait to see how my vanity turns out in the BM Pigeon Gray. Stay tuned for updates...

Laundry Room Paint Color

I received a coupon for a free can of Para Ultra Hybrid Paint at BlogPodium, and am thinking of using it for our laundry/mud room.

We still have the builder's super flat paint in there since the makeover from over a year ago. The paint color is off white, not ugly but plain. I have always played safe when it comes to paint color, but this time around I am tempted to try something new and bold -- not chartreuse type of bold, but a dark charcoal color maybe?

To recap, this is my laundry room. White cabinets are Ikea Adel. Countertop is Formica's Smoke Quartz in glossy finish.

Here are the paint colors I am tossing around.

This is what the Herringbone looks like in real life, image via Style At Home.

Another image with Herringbone paint, via HGTV.

Which one would you prefer for a laundry room with white cabinets and appliances? Or would you go for a lighter shade to keep the room white overall?

Master Bedroom Before and After

I should feel great that I've completed yet another room makeover in my house, or..should I? Well, perhaps not. I've missed not just one, but two awesome opportunities to meet some fellow bloggers in person -- the Blogpodium on Friday due to work (aka rat race); and the Canadian Design Blogger Meetup due to mother nature (blizzard and skating rink at where I am). Regret aside, I am sure there will be more meetup opportunities, and hopefully then nothing could stop me from going again.

Since we were pretty much trapped inside, we decided to finish painting our master bedroom and wrap up the project. I would like to start by sharing a few pictures of what our master bedroom used to look like Before and During the makeover.

This is what it looked like from two years ago. I need the room to be completely dark in order to sleep and hence the ugly espresso dupioni drapes with blackout liners.

The new bedroom in the basement gave me a perfect reason to replace the bed set that we took with us from our last house.

And the new upholstered bed from Williams-Sonoma, and the Niche nightstands from West Elm arrived! 

So this is our After of our master bedroom. The entire project took about two months.  

The ever-popular Windsor Smith Pelagos Mist drapes with blackout liners.

West Elm Niche Nightstand/Bedside Table in White

I was hoping to find an area rug from the Elte Outlet, but unfortunately they only have ~50 patterns at 5x8 (all the rest are 6x9 or larger), nothing out of which really caught my eye. So I gave the Ikea Alvine Ruta rug a try, and I think it turned out great. Do you know how insanely cheap it is for a 5'7" x 7'10", hand-woven, 100% pure new wool rug like this?

And no master bedroom should ever go without displaying some girl's best friends, right? My daily bling-bling.

In summary, these are the things we've done to transform our master bedroom:

1. Ordered the Windsor Smith Pelagos fabric in Mist from the US for drapery;
2. Replaced the old bed set with a upholstered bed from Williams-Sonoma, and two nightstands from West Elm;
3. Replaced the old table lamps with two taller crystal lamps from Union Lighting;
4. Replaced the ceiling light with a 6-light Maria Theresa-style crystal chandelier from Union Lighting;
5. Painted the wall in ICI Dulux Silver Cloud;
6. Re-upholstered an old bench in Laura Ashley Bowlin Driftwood Fabric from InVu Drapery;
7. Added an Ikea Alvine Ruta Rug.

Total time spent: on and off over a 2-month period;
Total cost: too painful to recall.

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and stay warm!