"Show and Tell"

A local remodeler, Jim Carney,  had scheduled a "show and tell" with his banker in one of Jim's showrooms for Wednesday August 17th. The original plan called for white trim, an old plaster glazing finish for the walls, Giallo Santo granite countertops, white-washed oak vinyl flooring and cherry stained cabinets with gloss lacquer finish. Jim had gotten some local painters to come in and execute the faux-finish on the walls after doing some trowel texture and paint. Multiple attempts to glaze the walls properly didn't yield anything usable.

 I really didn't think the white-washed oak flooring would be appropriate with the glossy cherry wood. Given the budget there wasn't time to glaze the walls again so we had to paint rather than glaze. Bill Rhoten, of Metro Paint, had recently given me a stack of Ralph Lauren paint brochures. Metro is now the exclusive Ralph Lauren dealer for Fort Worth-Dallas.  It hides very well and is easy to use . And the colors available are lovely. I have traded with Bill for years and he has been consistently great. You can actually get a good match on a color--try that at a "Big Box" store.
I proposed semi-gloss black on the doors proper, satin coffee brown on the trim, and  satin olive drab for the walls. I wanted to set the cabinets off with a green. The granite pretty much had mid-tone grays and siennas. It would fit just fine.  Jim had talked about wanting a sanctuary away from phones, computers, and the like for the office. He agreed to the color scheme and also called the flooring store to change the flooring selection from the white-washed oak to something I would pick the next morning.  There was a multi-color "slate tile" in vinyl squares that was perfect and with a sufficient quantity in stock. The "slate" was not as dark as the trim would be but deeper than the granite making for a pleasing combination  in values. In color work the "value" of a color tells you how dark or light it is. Next, on to Metro Paint to pick out some color.

I examined some Ralph Lauren samples and then picked a semi-gloss "Marble" for the doors proper, satin "Cargo Brown" for the jambs, baseboard and crown molding. I decided on "Tenaya Green" in satin for the walls. Jeff and the "Grand Poo-Bah" of Metro Paint the inimitable Scott weighed in with their thoughts on the combination. (Scott has a beard that is perfect for a Pooh-Bah.) Jeff pointed out that the "Marble" was not a true black in that it had just a touch of brown to warm it up. Perfect. Perfectly perfect.

primed and filled yet to be sanded

There was filling, sanding, dusting and spot-priming to do on all the trim all in preparation for the actual painting. The granite countertops were scheduled to go in Tuesday around 10am. Monday afternoon Jim came in and expressed reservations about the deep colors we were using. I would need to come up with different wall paint.

I was back in the showroom at 4am mixing a new wall color. I had some gallon cans of eggshell finish interior latex in my shop that when combined yielded just the right pale warm taupe. I had a gallon of 1/2 formula "Linen White", 1 gallon of "Bleeker Beige" and 1/2 gallon of "Alexandria Beige". The new wall color was a hit. The eggshell finish was important in that it can be glazed over in the future. Dark stained trim with white plaster walls is, alternatively,  a common rustic treatment in countries on the Mediterranean.

The granite tops were installed Tuesday about 11am. without incident. By all accounts, the meeting with the banker on Wednesday was a success.

Lastly a heart-felt thanks to Bugsy, the dog, for his invaluable assistance in this post. He made phone calls. He twisted arms. He called in favors. Thanks, Bugsy--you really made it happen. He is tough--sometimes he is scary but he is the glue that holds Carney Construction together. Diane is his capable assistant. There is some dispute as to who owns whom.