I am in the process of painting the baseboards and trim around the windows, and had chosen something called "Georgian Green" in Benjamin Moore semigloss latex. Luckily I just painted around one window---when I stepped back and looked at it, I realized it was hideous. My teenaged son confirmed it by saying it looked like someone hawked a gigantic loogie on the window. So----do I have to scrub and sand the window trim all over again? Or can I just put a new paint color over it? (The next color will be medium blue, which was my first choice until the salesman convinced me green was the "in" color.) The paint is already dry to the touch, though it's only been 24 hours since I put it on.
Just paint over it. Take the paint back and tell the salesman the problem. He may make good on his bad choice. If he won't help you with it, perhaps the paint can be re-tinted darker for a different use.
Paint over it and don't worry so much. I've noticed that people have a tendency to freak out about paint-related issues - it's really almost impossible to mess up anything so bad that you can't easily fix it just by painting right over your mistakes.
The only situation I can think of where you really should avoid just painting over a mistake like this would be a door jamb or door, since too many coats of paint can actually make a door impossible to close. Also, if you've got some really detailed moldings, you need to be careful about paint and may eventually just need to replace them if you've got too many coats and the paint obscures the detail.
But window trim, if it's anything like most window trim I've seen (i.e. just a few boards nailed together), you can load up with as many coats as you want and it's not going to matter.
As everyone else has said, just paint over it. I think the only time it's a problem is if it's uneven (so you'd just sand the uneven bits off) or if it's a really light color going over a really dark color (even then, you can either prime or just do multiple coats.)
Also, never let anyone tell you what color you want unless they're your partner. (Then you can just argue about it). It doesn't matter what color is "in", it's your place, your taste and your style. :)
I only partly agree with that. If you're thinking of selling your house someday, you have to weigh the benefit of having something that's much more sellable even if it's your second choice.
With the exception of stained trim, it isn't often that one sees trim being painted anything other than some form of white or off-white. Anybody that tells you green trim is "in" should be checked for flasks of alcohol. I don't see a lot of blue trim, either, though I've seen it more often than green trim.
Sand lightly, then repaint with the color of your choice.
Actually, a soft green sage *is* currently fasionable for trim. I've seen interesting and beautiful use of colors like turquoise blue for trim, also.
If one has conservative tastes, of course, then white or off-white or stained medium wood colors is the norm. Not to say there is anything wrong with that.
I did take the paint back, and a different salesman mixed a new can for me, same color, Georgian green, which looks actually like a light basil green on the sample chip.
I painted a sample patch, and it still looked a little sick. It may be the light, as this window is in a long hallway, but I decided green just wasn't the color for this area.
I am in fact preparing the house for sale, but I didn't want to paint everything beige, especially as I may be looking at these walls for awhile. The real estate market in our area has deflated and houses in my neighborhood that went up for sale in May are still sitting around. My house isn't another suburban ranch house, however. It's a
19th-century farmhouse. There isn't a lot of fancy gingerbread or rococo trim to worry about because these farmers were dirt poor, so the window trim is in fact just boards nailed together. Because it is an old Victorian house, however, I think I have a little more leeway in color choice than say, someone who's trying to market a McMansion in a newer suburb.
I appreciate the advice however, and if anyone has any experience in selling a really old house, please let me know....
Since it's an older house, research and find out the colors that were used back during the time when it was built. (There is a Canadian magazine called Edifice that may help you in this.
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I'm not sure how good the website is, but the magazine has had articles about the colors used during different periods.) There are probably a number of internet sites that suggest colors for older homes, as well as how to simply decorate them to reflect the period of the house while still keeping it modern and appealing to a variety of people. By keeping it close to the original feel and look to the house, you should peak the interest of those who are looking for older homes.
Any time I've seen an older home go up for sale, the owners have made sure to showcase the older features such as fireplaces, huge porches, little details within the home and always dressed the home in simple but appropriate ways so show the buyers how to live in the home (aka: they didn't fill it with Ikea furniture!).
I see colored trim most often in cottages. It usually doesn't look that great, but it's cute. During my stint as a professional painter for the last 8 years, I've never painted interior trim any shade of green. I'm not saying it couldn't be made to look great, just that it hasn't been popular around here. Turquoise trim would be a hard sell. Maybe in one of the kids' rooms. Or at the cottage.
Personally, I wouldn't mind a shift away from white trim and white ceilings. Consult someone with taste first though - the guy in the Home Depot paint department doesn't count.
All colors look good with white. Same with black, but black trim is rare for some reason. Maybe in the teenager's room.
Repainting trim often means repainting windows and doors as well, which is very time-consuming. If the house is going on the market soon, choose conservatively. It is better for a potential buyer to see a new canvas than a raging display of bad taste. If you might sell the house in three years, do whatever you want now.
"Ninetails" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com:
are the other houses in your neighborhood the same age as yours? if they are newer construction, you might want to consider finding a real estate agent or agency that handles primarily antique properties. there are buyers (like me) that can't live in newer construction due to hypersensitivities to formaldihyde, adhesives, etc. lee
My house was built in 1894 and was surrounded by cornfield until 1962, when a developer began putting up block after block of suburban ranch houses and split levels. As you can imagine, it really stands out. People driving through the neighborhood will slow down and stare at it, and it does have a lot of curb appeal.
Inside is another story: the rooms are small, which is typical for working class homes of that period. I've replaced most of the plumbing and electrical work, put an addition on the back (you can't see it from the street, so the house's antique profile is unchanged), and remodeled the kitchen. I've also replaced a number of the double-hung windows and put up sheet rock in the hallway because the original plaster was cracked and "wavy." I've tried to decorate the rooms in keeping with the house's architecture and time period, but kids don't necessarily want to live in a Victorian bedroom, so we have one room in Teen Pottery Barn circa 1990s (yeah, I'm thinking of just stripping that one, but my daughters still come home for the summers and they complain if I even move a chair in their room).
Old houses are very deep money pits, I have found, which is why I want to get out, especially as my last kid will be leaving for college next year. Whenever something breaks in this place, it's never a simple Home Depot job done in a day: it almost always means complete replacement of one thing or another, a wall that has to be torn open, a system that has to be re-fitted. Sometimes I've been able to do it myself, but lately the repairs have been more complex and more expensive, and at 50 I don't want to crawl under floors and climb 20-foot ladders to get onto the roof.
Both the city tax assessor and real estate agents have compared my home's value to the neighbors', which during the real estate boom ranged in the high $400s. I doubt if I can sell my house for that price---it's too small inside and too "odd." But that might be to my advantage: I don't think people who are interested in an older home are looking for beige walls and neutral decor.
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