Before & After Upstairs Master Bedroom

Today I finished the last coat of plaster (skim coat) followed by latex primer on ceilngs and walls. Then rolled on first coat of Off White by Valspar (eggshell finish) on ceilings, and first coat of semi gloss Off White on the woodwork. Second coat tomorrow morning on the ceiling, and finally--what I've been waiting for Dark Olive on the walls.

This is a huge room 16 x 16 so I think it can handle the deep color. The rich warm brown I used on the living room downstairs turned out beautiul, so I'm taking a chance on a dark olive. It is an eggshell finish; the color is Mossy by Valspar. Paint for this project: 2 gallons of Zinzer 123 ($36); 2 gallon of Eggshell Off White ($38); 1 gallon of Semi-gloss Off White ($19).

My sister Pam built beautiful poofy double valance and drapery panels out of a shimmering sage green crushed poly that looks like silk. I have enough material left over perhaps for a quilt cover, some pillows, and a couple lamp shades. The material (bolt) was $136. Pull backs for the draperies - $0 a gift from Pam, and $15.00 rod (on sale).

I tried out the new dark olive wall color this evening, right before the light was fading. Jon and I both like the color--although it is a seriously dark, but fascinating deep olive.

Then we'll hang an oiled bronze light fixture. I have plug in sconces I purchased for $6 at Goodwill, and will spray them bronze. I'll find some small shades and cover with material.

I purchased a second Tiffany style lamp for the room, but to tell you the truth the Tiffany style lamp looks so good right where is it now--in the music/office room downstairs.

We are looking forward to getting the room fixed up. I still have to paint the floors, and use a stencil border I picked up.

We've been working on our whole house restoration now for 21 months. I've been upstairs working on the master bedroom 16 x 16--repairing cracks in the walls. Just on and off work since we stopped working on exterior scraping, priming, and painting in the bucket truck November 1 because it was too cold to continue.

In November, Jon installed a wood burning furnace next to last year's new gas furnace. Our first gas bill we received in December 2008 was $26.97. Yippee! Jon spent the remainder of the month of November sawing logs and splitting them for heating season 2009.