Winter House Plans: When It's Too Cold To Paint

November was unusually mild in our part of Ohio this year. We were able to get some painting projects in before the cold snaps really started snapping. Now, however, the cold has come (we scraped the ice off of the van windows for the first time this morning) and it's probably not going anywhere for a while. The forecasted high temps for this week (without accounting for windchill) are in the upper 20s and low 30s. That means that with windchill, it will be cold. It also means that painting season is over for a little while.

So, I'm sure you've been wondering what we plan on doing to the house all through the cold, gray Ohio winter when we can't have the windows open for ventilation to paint. You haven't been wondering? Oh, well I'll tell you anyway :) If you've read about our plan to complete a foundational "first layer" in each room of the house before moving on to the fun stuff (wall art, pillows, accessories, etc.) you might have a few guesses. If we won't be painting, what's left? I'll give you a hint, we aren't replacing any floors, either. Here's another hint, Shug and I went to IKEA yesterday and came back with six packages of white Ritva curtains. Okay, that was a little more than a hint, wasn't it?



I'm in the process of washing and drying all of the curtains now (I like to pre-shrink them before hanging). Tonight, I ironed the first pair and Sam hung them around the living room window. I'll show photos soon! The other 5 pair are going around the living room sliding doors, 2 pair in the master bedroom, and one pair in each of the remaining bedrooms (bedroom 3 already has these curtains).

Then... Sam's been working away on getting the trim going upstairs. He was off from work two days last week for our window installation. He was able to get a ton of trim up! Right now, literally, he's down in SpareOom cutting and hammering away on another "header" (I cannot for the life of me remember what I should really call it) that goes above each door. Trim is going to be a BIG part of the next few months. I cannot believe how much of a difference it's already making.





And, finally, I think we're going to be able to get around to some of the overhead lighting fixtures, too. Although we're still planning on a few special lighting purchases like the one in our kitchen, we also think the house could really benefit from some old-fashioned charm in the way of something like this...



"Since about 1915, the Jefferson has been an all-purpose household lighting star." Yup, that's what we need all right - an all-purpose household lighting star! These guys are a little pricey, but our thought is that since they are period lighting they are more likely to last for a long time without looking dated. In case you're wondering, we purposefully chose a trim style that corresponds to the same time period as the Jefferson. Here's a preview...



We're really hoping for a big character boost with these choices. Because of the cost, we probably won't be able to buy too many of these lights this winter, but I'm hoping for one in the entryway, upstairs hall, and possibly in two of the bedrooms. We'll see!

By the time some warmer weather starts rolling in, we should have the upstairs hall and bedrooms in great shape for some paint on the walls and on the new trim. I'm not going to fib, it is a little hard to not just skip right past things like trim and doors in our enthusiasm to decorate, but with every checkmark we make on these foundational steps, I'm more and more convinced that they are going to make a huge impact on our finished rooms. We both know our style well enough to know how much we are drawn to a little architectural charm. More on the new curtains and trim progress coming later this week!

Thanks so much for coming back to read about our bit by bit gains, guys :) We really love to read the comments you leave!

Have a great one :)