Cheater's Guide to Touching Up Wall Paint

We're coming up on two years since we bought our home, so that means two years since we painted. With holiday guests expected, it's time for a touch up. So a few weeks back I went through the house looking over all the walls and placed a small piece of blue painter's tape next to every scuff, smudge, and scratch. Then I rooted through my paint closet and found the unused paint that I had thought to store, clearly labeled Farrow & Ball Blackened — thank you, Past Self! All I had to do now was mix some of that with 50% water, test a small area to see if the color blended (finger's crossed), and get this job done.

Our White Kitchen Makeover for Under $3,000

After we closed on our 1946 home in New York City, we immediately embarked on a gut renovation of the bathroom — taking walls down to the studs, floors down to the beams. A bathroom renovation of that magnitude back then ran about $20k-$30k, so I knew there'd not be a whole lot of budget left to upgrade the kitchen. I had to get creative and focus on things that could be most easily and most economically changed. Here's a look at it "before":

Removing Old Paint from Door Knobs and Hardware

The door knobs in our mid-century home are original, circa 1946, which means they're made of solid brass.

Unfortunately, former residents painted over them. Boo! What's a Renov8or to do?

Choosing a White Paint Color Is Harder than It Seems

BM "Super White"

I've always been a fan of Benjamin Moore Paint. My previous apartment pictured here was painted BM "Super White" and I loved it. That space, though, was spare and ultra modern. For our new home I also wanted a white, but not that same stark "art gallery" white. Our new home was built in 1946 and it has a real mid-century appeal that I would like not just to bring out but to honor. 

Painting the Old Kitchen Cabinets to Match Kraftmaid Canvas Color

Don't you love our newly painted cream cabinets? They didn't always look this good. We inherited a kitchen that was recently renovated but it was... meh. Just enough had been done to it to allow a seller to list a home as "renovated with granite countertops", but very little design sense went into the choice of fixtures and colors.

How to Paint Kitchen Cabinets: Step by Step

The most important thing about painting cabinets is to take your time and go through every step. You will not get a good result by hurrying. Here's how you do it, step by step.

Why Do Men Love Wood Panel Walls (and Women Loathe Them)?

Great Room - Minus Deer Tropy

What do you think of when you look at this room? That might depend on your gender.

We had a lively debate over dinner with friends about men's versus women's feelings about wood paneled walls. In my experience, the men dig the hunting lodge look and the women do not.

When I first saw this room my first impression was not beach cottage, it was hunting lodge. But I could tell that with a few coats of white paint, hunting lodge could be transformed into seaside cottage.

Ross kind of liked it hunting lodge. So did Dan. So did almost every other guy who has walked into the room. (I gave one lucky contractor's helper the mounted deer head for his enthusiasm!)

But the women all said the same thing: It's going to look great when it's painted.