The Ceiling Project

Before I get started on our progress with our ceiling, I did complete a little project in the kitchen. I put up a valance over the ginormous kitchen window. I made it myself and I think it looks pretty good. Take a peek:





Now I just need to get a small shelf put up above the window and then it will be all done.

Okay, on to the ceiling. Based on the start we've had to this project, I have a feeling that I'll really regret it if I don't document the project from start to finish. Although we're not done with the ceiling yet, it's had a lively start. A couple weeks ago, Mr. Frisby headed off to Lowe's to get the wood and stain for our ceiling project (a quick recap for those not aware of what we're doing: after scraping the popcorn ceiling before we moved in, our plan is to put up tongue and groove paneling on the vaulted ceiling in the living room. After much debate on the color of the wood, we decided to stain it a nice cherry color). I was not home when he went and I couldn't go with him, so our color decision was made with me looking at a Minwax brochure and directing him via the telephone. He got all the wood and then we agreed on what looked like a nice cherry color in the brochure. It was called "Cherry Blossom".

We set up shop in the garage and began prepping all the wood for the stain.



When it was time to stain, I opened up the can of "Cherry Blossom". Upon seeing a very bright purple color staring back at me, I called Mr. Frisby in. "Does this look right?", I asked. "Wow", was his response. After commenting on the brightness of the purple color, Mr. Frisby said he didn't know what it was supposed to look like because he'd never stained before. I was in the same boat, so it's pretty much the blind leading the blind over here. We decided to try the stain on one board and see how it turned out. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't at all what we had in mind. Behold, the Cherry Blossom:



My sister's comment upon seeing the Cherry Blossom in all its glory pretty much summed up my feelings: "You can't put that up in your house." Agreed. Cherry Blossom is out. And, it looked nothing like it did in the brochure. The next day I headed to Home Depot. I looked at the wood samples they had for all of the Minwax colors. When I saw the Cherry Blossom wood piece, it was indeed the bright pink color we had sitting in our garage. Blasted brochures! Why can't they make them more accurate?

Scout didn't like the Cherry Blossom either.



After looking at the samples, I decided on a new color called "Rosewood". This hue was a more natural hue - one that might actually occur in nature. So, I picked up a couple quarts and headed home to see what we could do. The new color was a huge improvement. In fact, both Mr. Frisby and I decided it was a nice color and it should look good in our living room.





So, now that we're back on track with the wood color, we have a garage full of wood to stain and then coat with polyurethane. And, then we'll finally get to see if all of this hard work will be worth it. Hopefully there will be no more surprises.