Latest / Repcolite Home Improvement Show / How to Paint an Ombre Wall

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How to Paint an Ombre Wall · Repcolite Home Improvement Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone. Thanks for tuning in. You're listening to Home
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Speaker 1: in Progress by Repco Light Paints, sponsored by Benjamin Moore.
0:06
Speaker 1: And coming up on the show this week, we're going
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Speaker 1: to cover a lot of varied ground. For example, for example,
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Speaker 1: at the end of the show, we're going to be
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Speaker 1: talking about some things that you should get on your
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Speaker 1: calendar this fall. You know, jobs around the house to
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Speaker 1: plan on, but also some fun things that you should
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Speaker 1: be doing. That segment's going to be a good time,
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Speaker 1: and that's coming up at the end. I'm also going
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Speaker 1: to be talking about ombre walls, O-M-B-R-E, with a little accent. walls.
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Speaker 1: It's basically a way of painting multiple colors onto a
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Speaker 1: wall and then blending them together, you know, so there's
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Speaker 1: not a sharp line where one starts and the other stops.
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Speaker 1: I'll explain all of that in a little bit. So
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Speaker 1: that's coming up. But first, I want to talk about
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Speaker 1: some paint tools that you may have walked past a
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Speaker 1: hundred times in the store without ever really knowing why
0:48
Speaker 1: you'd want them. You know, they just don't jump out
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Speaker 1: at you. Or if you don't know their story or
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Speaker 1: their superpowers, you just don't realize why they're different from
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Speaker 1: other similar items. But when you find out, These are
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Speaker 1: things that really change how you feel about painting. So
1:02
Speaker 1: this is life changing stuff that we're going to cover here.
1:05
Speaker 1: All right. Right off the bat on the show, we're
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Speaker 1: changing people's lives. All right. Let's start with frog tape. Yeah,
1:12
Speaker 1: the life change thing. That's just that's just for dramatic effect.
1:16
Speaker 1: I said that for dramatic effect. You know, it's going
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Speaker 1: to be just like normal. The show. Don't get all excited. Anyway,
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Speaker 1: frog tape. You've probably seen it. It's bright green painters tape.
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Speaker 1: They have other colors, but I'm specifically talking about the
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Speaker 1: bright green painters tape. And what makes it different from
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Speaker 1: other masking tapes is that FrogTape uses something called paint
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Speaker 1: block technology along the edges of the tape. Now, I've
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Speaker 1: talked about this on the show before, but here's the scoop.
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Speaker 1: When that material comes in contact with the water in
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Speaker 1: latex paint, it reacts and it forms this tiny barrier
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Speaker 1: along the edge of the tape. And that's going to
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Speaker 1: help stop paint from bleeding underneath. You know, we've all
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Speaker 1: applied tape to a surface, done what we thought was
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Speaker 1: a great job, painted it, and then removed it, only
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Speaker 1: to find that really annoying jagged edge of paint that
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Speaker 1: bled under the tape, right? You know what I'm talking about.
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Speaker 1: It's really, really disheartening. You know, because taping isn't fun.
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Speaker 1: It's the opposite of fun to me. If you love taping, man,
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Speaker 1: come to my house next time I'm painting because I
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Speaker 1: don't like taping at all. And when it doesn't even
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Speaker 1: really do much to get me a good result, that's
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Speaker 1: really frustrating. Well, FrogTape dramatically minimizes or even eliminates that
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Speaker 1: bleed through. So you get really clean lines and it
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Speaker 1: makes taping at least feel like it was worth it.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't make it more fun, but it does make
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Speaker 1: it feel like it was worth it. So if you're
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Speaker 1: doing stripes, an accent wall, painting trim next to a
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Speaker 1: contrasting wall color, or you really, really, you know, want
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Speaker 1: that line to be sharp wherever you're painting, frog tape
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Speaker 1: can make a noticeable difference. Now, you still have to
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Speaker 1: apply it correctly, you know, a clean surface, press the
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Speaker 1: edge down well, don't just flood it with paint, but
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Speaker 1: there's really, you know, really is some technology that's doing
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Speaker 1: something really useful. Even when you don't apply it, you know,
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Speaker 1: the best, you're still going to get better results than
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Speaker 1: anything else that you used. So frog tape, Really, really
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Speaker 1: good product to be aware of. And until the end
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Speaker 1: of September, we've got three packs of frog tape on
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Speaker 1: special at all the RepcoLite locations for $ 12. 99 for a
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Speaker 1: three pack. So that means you're getting each roll of
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Speaker 1: inch and a half frog tape, green frog tape, for
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Speaker 1: about $ 4. 33 a roll. That's a great price. So be
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Speaker 1: aware of that. That's one tool in the paint store
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Speaker 1: that you may not have realized previously, you know, the
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Speaker 1: benefit of. But before we leave the masking tape section,
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Speaker 1: I do want to quickly mention the yellow frog tape.
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Speaker 1: You know, we just talked about the green. But the
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Speaker 1: yellow is slightly different, and it's really worth knowing about.
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Speaker 1: It uses that same paint block technology for sharp lines,
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Speaker 1: but it's also a delicate surface tape. And that means
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Speaker 1: it can be used on freshly painted surfaces that are
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Speaker 1: recently dried. You know, it's got to be dried. That
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Speaker 1: really shouldn't surprise anybody. If you're gasping that, oh my gosh,
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Speaker 1: this isn't going to work on wet paint, well, you
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Speaker 1: probably shouldn't be painting. If it's recently dried... You can
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Speaker 1: put this tape on it. You can even put this
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Speaker 1: tape on wallpaper. And when you remove it, it's not
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Speaker 1: going to damage those areas. If you use regular tape
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Speaker 1: on those spots, you're really, really gambling. Chances are you're
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Speaker 1: going to take up some of the fresh paint or
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Speaker 1: damage the wallpaper when you remove the tape. Keep that
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Speaker 1: in your mind. So yellow frog tape is delicate surface tape.
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Speaker 1: If you've got a surface that you're taping that you're
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Speaker 1: a little bit curious about, be aware this is out there.
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Speaker 1: This can really help you. All right, another tool that
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Speaker 1: you probably see, but you don't realize the value of,
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Speaker 1: at least not instantly. It's a painter's five-in-one tool or
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Speaker 1: a seven-in-one tool. Now, it basically looks like a really
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Speaker 1: weird-shaped putty knife, but there are reasons for its weird appearance.
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Speaker 1: You know, you've got a flat blade on it that
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Speaker 1: you can use for scraping and applying patching compounds, you know,
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Speaker 1: just like a putty knife. You've got a pointed corner
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Speaker 1: that can dig loose material out of cracks before you
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Speaker 1: patch them, you know, widen cracks before you patch them.
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Speaker 1: That's really handy. built into it. There's a half moon
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Speaker 1: shape cut along the side that's designed to scrape paint
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Speaker 1: out of a roller cover as you wash it. Different
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Speaker 1: versions add things like a paint can opener and all
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Speaker 1: kinds of other little functions. You know, some of them
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Speaker 1: have a little Phillips head screwdriver that flips up out
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Speaker 1: of the handle. It's basically the Swiss army knife of
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Speaker 1: painting tools. And once you've got one in your pocket
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Speaker 1: while you're painting, you're going to keep finding uses for it.
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Speaker 1: So painters five and one, seven and one, Really good
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Speaker 1: tool to be aware of. You know, just check it out.
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Speaker 1: All right. Another weird looking tool that isn't obviously useful
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Speaker 1: and it's really not not flashy at all. You know,
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Speaker 1: if the five in one tool is flashy, this is
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Speaker 1: the exact opposite of that. It's a brush comb and
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Speaker 1: it's exactly what it sounds like. A little steel comb
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Speaker 1: that you run through the bristles of your paintbrush when
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Speaker 1: you're cleaning it. It's going to help separate those bristles.
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Speaker 1: So water can get farther up into the brush, and
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Speaker 1: it's going to pull out paint that's starting to accumulate
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Speaker 1: deeper in the brush. And all of that's important because
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Speaker 1: paint that builds up near the ferrule, you know, the
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Speaker 1: metal band, is one of the things that really, you know,
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Speaker 1: slowly ruins the shape and flexibility of a brush. A
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Speaker 1: brush comb is going to cost very little money. They're
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Speaker 1: super inexpensive. It's going to take up almost no room,
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Speaker 1: and it's going to help you get a lot more
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Speaker 1: life out of a good paintbrush. So it's worth snagging.
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Speaker 1: You know, think about it. Um, another, uh, really simple
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Speaker 1: tool that makes painting easier. And it's probably something you've
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Speaker 1: walked past without even looking at twice the handy paint pail. Uh,
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Speaker 1: basically it's a comfortable little container that you wear on
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Speaker 1: your hand while you're cutting in around ceilings or windows
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Speaker 1: or trim or whatever, you know, instead of carrying around
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Speaker 1: a full gallon or a quart can, uh, you've got
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Speaker 1: this manageable amount of paint right there with you. And
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Speaker 1: that's cool. But what makes it cooler is that there's
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Speaker 1: a magnet built into the side that holds your brush.
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Speaker 1: You know, in fact, this is the money part of
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Speaker 1: the of the product. It's got this magnet there to
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Speaker 1: hold your brush so that when you need to set
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Speaker 1: your brush down or, you know, get your hand free,
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Speaker 1: the brush is going to sit right inside the pail
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Speaker 1: instead of disappearing into your paint. OK, it's and it's
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Speaker 1: just always right there ready to go. It's handy. It's
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Speaker 1: a handy paint pail. They've also got smaller versions called
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Speaker 1: the handy paint cup. Now, the handle on these isn't
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Speaker 1: quite as nice. But it's got that same magnet for
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Speaker 1: the brush. Super inexpensive. Really great to work out of.
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Speaker 1: I have a number of those at my house, and
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Speaker 1: I use them all the time. You can clean them
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Speaker 1: out and reuse them. Handy paint pails, handy paint cups.
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Speaker 1: Be aware of those. Along the same lines, there's the
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Speaker 1: Wooster Pelican Pail. Now, it's really similar in concept to
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Speaker 1: the Handy Paint Pail, but I'm bringing it up because
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Speaker 1: there is a difference. The Pelican Pail is ideal if
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Speaker 1: you're using both a brush and a little roller. It's
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Speaker 1: the same kind of a thing. It's a handheld bucket.
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Speaker 1: And on one side of this one, though, there's an
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Speaker 1: angled roll-off area that's designed for mini rollers up to
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Speaker 1: about four and a half inches wide. It's got a
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Speaker 1: magnet inside to hold your brush. So again, just like
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Speaker 1: the handy paint pail, but let's say you're painting around
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Speaker 1: a door or working your way around the edge of
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Speaker 1: the room. With this one, with the Pelican Pail, you
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Speaker 1: can cut in an area with the brush, stick the
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Speaker 1: brush to the magnet, grab the mini roller, roll a
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Speaker 1: section out with that, put that back in, grab the
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Speaker 1: brush and keep going. All from the same pail. You know,
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Speaker 1: you're not balancing a brush, a roller, two different containers
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Speaker 1: of paint while you're standing on a ladder. It's an
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Speaker 1: incredible time saver. Once you get one and start using it,
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Speaker 1: you're going to think, oh my goodness, why was I
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Speaker 1: not using this all the time? It's inexpensive. You can
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Speaker 1: clean them out. They've got liners for them. So check
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Speaker 1: them out. Now moving on, here's one last one that
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Speaker 1: I'm really a big fan of. The Worcester Sherlock system.
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Speaker 1: This is basically roller frames and extension poles that coordinate
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Speaker 1: perfectly with each other. And I talk about them all
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Speaker 1: the time, but that's because they're high quality products and
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Speaker 1: they're gonna last and last and last. And on top
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Speaker 1: of that, they're huge time savers. For example, with this system,
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Speaker 1: if you've got a roller frame or multiple Worcester Sherlock
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Speaker 1: frames and the extension pole, instead of threading your cheap
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Speaker 1: frame onto the end of a wooden pole, like we
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Speaker 1: all have done, and then having it loosen or spin
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Speaker 1: while you're working, with the Sherlock system, you just snap
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Speaker 1: the frame onto the pole and it locks into place.
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Speaker 1: It's an instant connect. On and off with no threading
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Speaker 1: and no rocking itself loose as you work. What's really
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Speaker 1: fun is when you combine multiple size frames with the pole.
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Speaker 1: Let's say you're painting a wall and you need to
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Speaker 1: switch to a smaller roller frame for a second. You
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Speaker 1: can snap the one off, snap the new one on,
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Speaker 1: extend or lower the pole with a click, and you're
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Speaker 1: working again. And then swap back just as quickly. I
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Speaker 1: love these things. If you paint a lot, they're definitely
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Speaker 1: worth it. Anyway, I could go on and on, but
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Speaker 1: that's enough for now. Time to switch gears and let's
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Speaker 1: talk about ombre walls. If you don't know what they are,
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Speaker 1: do a little googling and when we come back, we'll
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Speaker 1: talk about them and how to pull that look off
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Speaker 1: in your own home. We'll get to all of that
9:43
Speaker 1: right after this. Home in Progress is brought to you
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Speaker 1: by Repco Light Paints and Benjamin Moore. You know, people
9:48
Speaker 1: often think of paint as just another line item on
9:51
Speaker 1: the project supply list, but here's the thing. Everything you do,
9:55
Speaker 1: every hour of prep, every stroke of the brush, all
9:57
Speaker 1: comes down to the quality of the paint. The paint
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Speaker 1: is the project. Make sure it's the best. Well, a
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Speaker 1: couple weeks ago, we spent a fair amount of time
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Speaker 1: talking about something called color capping. It's kind of a,
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Speaker 1: I don't know if I'd say a design trend. I
10:10
Speaker 1: guess it's a trend. We're seeing more of it. You know,
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Speaker 1: it's not just everywhere, but we're starting to see a
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Speaker 1: of using two or three related colors in the same room,
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Speaker 1: and then creating deliberate transitions between them as you move
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Speaker 1: up the wall. Color capping. You're listening to Home in
10:27
Speaker 1: Progress by Repco Light Paint, sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And
10:30
Speaker 1: with color capping, just to give you a visual, because
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Speaker 1: what I just said maybe isn't painting the picture for you,
10:36
Speaker 1: to give you a visual, you're using, let's say, one
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Speaker 1: color on the walls, probably the lightest color on the walls.
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Speaker 1: Then you use another color, color. Generally, it's going to
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Speaker 1: be somewhat darker than the wall color. You're going to
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Speaker 1: use that above the wall. So maybe let's just say
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Speaker 1: on the crown molding. So you've got a darker color
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Speaker 1: on the crown molding, and then you put a third color,
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Speaker 1: the darkest color on the ceiling. That's color capping. Well,
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Speaker 1: when I was looking into that whole trend and writing
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Speaker 1: about it and talking about it, I kept running across
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Speaker 1: another term, ombre walls, O-M-B-R-E, and the E has a
11:10
Speaker 1: little accent over it. I went to the pronunciation people
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Speaker 1: online and I got all kinds of different official pronunciations
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Speaker 1: for it. I decided I like ombre the best. I'm
11:24
Speaker 1: sure I'm screwing that up. I have no doubt about it,
11:28
Speaker 1: but that's what I'm rolling with. Anyway, I've heard designers
11:32
Speaker 1: use this word ombre, ombre, you know, all different ways
11:35
Speaker 1: they say it. I've heard them use it plenty of
11:38
Speaker 1: times over the years. But I've never really stopped to
11:41
Speaker 1: think about exactly what they meant. That's just a fancy
11:43
Speaker 1: way of saying, you know, I'm kind of copping out there.
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Speaker 1: I had no idea what they were talking about. You know,
11:49
Speaker 1: that's really the truth of it. I acted like I
11:52
Speaker 1: knew what they were talking about. You know, even on
11:55
Speaker 1: the show here, I can go back and find episodes
11:58
Speaker 1: in the past where I act like I know what
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Speaker 1: I'm talking about in terms of ombre walls. You know,
12:04
Speaker 1: they were looking at me. They were talking like I
12:06
Speaker 1: should know what this term was. And so I just
12:08
Speaker 1: went with it. And there was one time, I don't
12:12
Speaker 1: know if it made it on air, but I do
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Speaker 1: remember it. You know, the first time that I heard
12:17
Speaker 1: the term and I just went with it, I assumed
12:19
Speaker 1: I knew what they meant. And I started talking about
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Speaker 1: brown walls. You know, I thought they were saying umber walls,
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Speaker 1: you know, brown, you know, umber, like the crayon, like
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Speaker 1: the colorant that we would use, you know, like the colors. And, um,
12:34
Speaker 1: when I did that, I could tell by their face
12:37
Speaker 1: that I had missed something along the way. Uh, so
12:40
Speaker 1: I've been more careful since then, but I still never
12:43
Speaker 1: looked it up. I just was careful about jumping in.
12:45
Speaker 1: I waited for cues. I waited for them to say something.
12:48
Speaker 1: And then I would double down on that. Like I knew. Well, anyway, eventually,
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Speaker 1: I don't remember exactly when, but I decided I got
12:56
Speaker 1: to just stop being dumb here. The Internet is at
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Speaker 1: my fingertips, right? I might as well figure out what
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Speaker 1: this means. So I dug into it. I figured it out.
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Speaker 1: And in case you're where I was a while back,
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Speaker 1: here's the deal on ombre walls. They're basically taking some
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Speaker 1: of the ideas that we talked about with color capping
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Speaker 1: and But instead of creating obvious transitions between colors, you
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Speaker 1: do exactly the opposite. You kind of blend them together.
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Speaker 1: So picture a bedroom wall, you know, behind the bed
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Speaker 1: at the bottom. Maybe you've got a fairly rich, dusty blue.
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Speaker 1: As your eye moves up the wall, the blue gradually
13:30
Speaker 1: gets a little bit lighter. And then as you go
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Speaker 1: up higher yet with your eye, it gets lighter again.
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Speaker 1: So that by the time you reach the ceiling, you know,
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Speaker 1: maybe by that point you've transitioned into a very soft,
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Speaker 1: pale blue. That's an ombre wall. But, and this is
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Speaker 1: the important part, there aren't three stripes on the wall.
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Speaker 1: You know, you don't see a dark blue band and
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Speaker 1: then a medium band and then a light band. Instead,
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Speaker 1: one color gradually melts or blends into the next one.
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Speaker 1: You know, kind of like a gradient. Exactly like a gradient.
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Speaker 1: If you've done it well, you really can't point at
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Speaker 1: the wall and say, okay, this is where the dark
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Speaker 1: blue stops and the medium blue begins. It just kind
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Speaker 1: of becomes the medium blue and then it becomes the
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Speaker 1: lighter blue. That's ombre. That's an ombre wall. And you
14:15
Speaker 1: can do it with shades of one color, which is
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Speaker 1: probably the easiest and the most subtle approach, or you
14:19
Speaker 1: can actually transition between different colors. However you do it,
14:24
Speaker 1: with whatever colors you bring in, a big part of
14:26
Speaker 1: the appeal is that ombre walls do something that a
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Speaker 1: single paint color really can't. Because the color is gradually
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Speaker 1: changing as your eye moves across the wall, that's going
14:36
Speaker 1: to naturally create a sense of depth and movement that
14:40
Speaker 1: that you can't do with just regular paint. You know,
14:42
Speaker 1: the wall's going to feel a lot less flat, and
14:45
Speaker 1: that is going to dramatically change the atmosphere in a room.
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Speaker 1: You know, if you've got soft, closely related colors, it
14:51
Speaker 1: can make a room feel calm, comfortable, relaxing. If you
14:54
Speaker 1: go with bolder colors, that same technique is going to
14:57
Speaker 1: become way more dramatic, but it's still incredibly, incredibly unique.
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Speaker 1: So ombre isn't just another way to put two or
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Speaker 1: three colors on a wall. the transition between those colors
15:08
Speaker 1: becomes part of the mood of the room. It really
15:12
Speaker 1: changes everything. It's a cool look. Google it, and you'll
15:15
Speaker 1: see a lot of different examples. It's definitely worth Googling,
15:19
Speaker 1: so check it out. And when I think about it,
15:21
Speaker 1: I especially like this idea as an accent wall. Maybe
15:25
Speaker 1: behind the bed, that makes a lot of sense. A
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Speaker 1: dining room wall, that could work. Maybe just one large
15:31
Speaker 1: wall in a living room. I think it could be
15:34
Speaker 1: really fun in you know, a kid's room, you know,
15:36
Speaker 1: especially an older kid's room, but really any kid's room,
15:39
Speaker 1: it could be cool. I've seen some online, again, Google them.
15:43
Speaker 1: I've seen some that almost give the vibe of space
15:46
Speaker 1: or the night sky just after the sunset, you know,
15:48
Speaker 1: so really cool for an accent wall. Now you can
15:50
Speaker 1: do it on more than one wall. You know, you
15:52
Speaker 1: can wrap your room in it if you want. I'm
15:55
Speaker 1: not sure that that's really what I would do. You know,
15:58
Speaker 1: if that's for me, I guess is what I'm trying
16:01
Speaker 1: to say there. I don't think for me, I need
16:03
Speaker 1: it completely wrapping or filling a room. For me, one
16:07
Speaker 1: wall I think is plenty, but that's for you to decide.
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Speaker 1: You can, and I've seen it done on multiple walls.
16:13
Speaker 1: I just think it'd be a little much for me
16:16
Speaker 1: and maybe a little tricky to get the blend just
16:19
Speaker 1: right so that it flows across the room or around
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Speaker 1: the room. But I haven't tried it on all walls.
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Speaker 1: So I don't know, maybe that's not as hard as
16:27
Speaker 1: it might, as it seems at least to me. But anyway,
16:30
Speaker 1: you decide. whether it's just an accent wall or for
16:33
Speaker 1: your entire room. When it comes to color, or I
16:36
Speaker 1: guess just the darkness or lightness of the colors, a
16:39
Speaker 1: common way that you're going to see it done is
16:41
Speaker 1: with the darkest color towards the floor and then the
16:43
Speaker 1: lightest color towards the ceiling. That's pretty common. You'll see
16:47
Speaker 1: a fair amount of that. That's going to give some
16:48
Speaker 1: visual weight down low, and then the wall becomes softer
16:51
Speaker 1: and lighter as it rises. It's a really cool effect.
16:56
Speaker 1: We talked last week about making rooms feel bigger, more spacious.
17:00
Speaker 1: When I see rooms with the darker color on the
17:02
Speaker 1: bottom and then it just kind of becomes lighter and
17:04
Speaker 1: lighter until you've got a white ceiling, it feels like, yeah,
17:08
Speaker 1: you've almost kind of blown the ceiling off of the room.
17:11
Speaker 1: It feels very open and airy. So that's one way
17:14
Speaker 1: to do it, the darker color down below and just
17:16
Speaker 1: get lighter as you go. But you can absolutely reverse
17:19
Speaker 1: that and put your darker color at the top. It's
17:22
Speaker 1: going to feel incredibly different if you do it that way,
17:24
Speaker 1: way more dramatic. You know, you're putting the strongest visual
17:27
Speaker 1: weight right up near the ceiling, but you absolutely... can
17:30
Speaker 1: do that. I definitely recommend spending some time looking at
17:34
Speaker 1: examples online just to give yourself an idea. And really,
17:38
Speaker 1: if you're not interested in it right now, still check
17:41
Speaker 1: it out. You know, it's really creative And there are
17:44
Speaker 1: a lot of different ways that you can do it.
17:46
Speaker 1: And you can produce a lot of different looks. So
17:48
Speaker 1: maybe what I'm describing isn't, you know, hitting you in
17:52
Speaker 1: the butter zone. You know, it's not perfect for you.
17:55
Speaker 1: It's not the Goldilocks thing. It's not even interesting to you.
17:58
Speaker 1: You know, maybe that's the case. But still, check it out.
18:01
Speaker 1: Because you might see a picture online that has a
18:04
Speaker 1: slightly different take on it than what I'm describing or
18:07
Speaker 1: what you're picturing from what I'm describing. And it might
18:09
Speaker 1: be perfect for your space or it might jumpstart your
18:12
Speaker 1: thinking into another idea that would be perfect for your space.
18:16
Speaker 1: But it's always good to explore some of these new
18:19
Speaker 1: things just to see what people are doing, see what's
18:21
Speaker 1: out there and see how you maybe could adapt that
18:24
Speaker 1: for your own home. All right. So check it out.
18:27
Speaker 1: Ombre Walls. O-M-B-R-E with a little, little, I don't even
18:32
Speaker 1: know what that thing's called. A little doodad floating above
18:35
Speaker 1: the E. I was an English major, but you know what?
18:37
Speaker 1: I don't even care anymore. I'm 53 years old. I
18:40
Speaker 1: don't need to know what the little doodad above the
18:42
Speaker 1: E is. The Internet will find what I'm looking for,
18:46
Speaker 1: even if I spell it wrong. So anyway, check it out.
18:49
Speaker 1: All right. That's what ombre walls are. That's what the
18:53
Speaker 1: whole thing looks like. But how do you do it?
18:55
Speaker 1: You know, how do you pull it off? It seems
18:56
Speaker 1: a little complicated. Well, it's not as bad as it sounds.
19:00
Speaker 1: And I think pretty much anybody listening can pull this off.
19:04
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you how to do it. And
19:05
Speaker 1: you can decide if you're going to tackle this in
19:07
Speaker 1: your own home. But let's do that right after this.
19:11
Speaker 1: Home in Progress is brought to you by RepcoLite Paints
19:13
Speaker 1: and Benjamin Moore. Think about it. You spend hours prepping, sanding, taping,
19:18
Speaker 1: and then finally painting. Don't throw all that work away
19:20
Speaker 1: with an inferior product. The paint isn't just another supply.
19:23
Speaker 1: The paint is the project. Make sure it's the best.
19:27
Speaker 1: And we're back. You're listening to Home in Progress by
19:29
Speaker 1: RepcoLite Paints, sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And last segment, we
19:33
Speaker 1: were talking about ombre walls. And if you missed it,
19:36
Speaker 1: ombre walls. O-M-B-R-E, and the E has a little accent
19:41
Speaker 1: over it. Those walls are basically a painted gradient on
19:46
Speaker 1: your walls. You know, instead of one solid wall color
19:49
Speaker 1: or even several colorways, you know, that like stripes or
19:52
Speaker 1: something like that, instead of that, you gradually blend one
19:55
Speaker 1: color into another so that the transition between them almost disappears.
20:00
Speaker 1: It just kind of becomes a lighter color or a
20:02
Speaker 1: darker color as you work your way up the A softer,
20:07
Speaker 1: more atmospheric look. It can add some visual depth. It's
20:10
Speaker 1: going to let you use stronger colors without feeling, you know,
20:13
Speaker 1: that those colors are going to overpower the space as easily.
20:17
Speaker 1: It's a really cool look. And before the break, we
20:20
Speaker 1: talked about what it looks like. You know, I kind
20:23
Speaker 1: of tried my best to lay it out. If you
20:25
Speaker 1: couldn't track with me, if my descriptions were subpar or inadequate,
20:30
Speaker 1: make sure you Google it. OMBRE walls. You know, take
20:34
Speaker 1: a look at some of the pictures. It's really cool.
20:36
Speaker 1: I think you're going to like it. Gets a big
20:38
Speaker 1: thumbs up from me. Anyway, that's what it looks like.
20:41
Speaker 1: Now let's get to the practical part. How do you
20:44
Speaker 1: actually pull this off in your home? Because when you
20:47
Speaker 1: look at the walls when they're done online, the good
20:50
Speaker 1: ones anyway, there's probably bad ones out there. I don't
20:52
Speaker 1: know that I saw tons of bad ones. I'm sure
20:55
Speaker 1: you can find some bad ones. But when it's done well,
20:57
Speaker 1: it almost looks like a painter took a huge airbrush
21:00
Speaker 1: and and kind of sprayed this perfect gradient across the walls.
21:04
Speaker 1: It's really, really interesting. That's not what's happening. You know,
21:07
Speaker 1: you don't have to have a sprayer to make this work.
21:09
Speaker 1: You can absolutely create this with regular wall paint, rollers,
21:13
Speaker 1: and brushes. You know, it's more of a technique, of course,
21:16
Speaker 1: you know, a little more involved than simply rolling two
21:19
Speaker 1: coats of paint on a wall, but it is something
21:21
Speaker 1: you can do. And once you understand how it works
21:24
Speaker 1: and how you're pulling it off and you do a
21:25
Speaker 1: little practicing, I think you can nail this. I think
21:28
Speaker 1: it's really, really doable if you like the look. So
21:31
Speaker 1: let's talk about it. And I'm going to put all
21:33
Speaker 1: of this in the show notes if you want to
21:34
Speaker 1: check it out later. All right. Let's say you want
21:37
Speaker 1: to paint this effect on a wall in a bedroom,
21:39
Speaker 1: maybe the wall behind the bed. And let's just for
21:42
Speaker 1: sake of conversation, let's say you want to do it
21:44
Speaker 1: in varying shades of blue. So if that's your situation,
21:48
Speaker 1: first thing you need to do is get your three
21:49
Speaker 1: blues figured out. You know, a light blue, a medium
21:52
Speaker 1: blue and a darker blue. What I would do is
21:55
Speaker 1: I would start with color chips. Of course, start with
21:57
Speaker 1: color chips. get your blues narrowed down, and then move
22:00
Speaker 1: to Benjamin Moore color samples, the actual paint samples, so
22:03
Speaker 1: you can get the colors and actually apply them to
22:05
Speaker 1: a surface, a foam board, even the wall. It's going
22:08
Speaker 1: to give you a feel for the process, how it
22:10
Speaker 1: all works, and it's also going to show you how
22:13
Speaker 1: the colors interact with each other. You want to make
22:15
Speaker 1: sure that when the colors fade from one to the next,
22:18
Speaker 1: that new undertones that you didn't expect or that you
22:21
Speaker 1: didn't want don't show up. And that's certainly possible. You
22:24
Speaker 1: can blend a couple of different colors together, even colors
22:27
Speaker 1: that you think are from the same family, you know,
22:29
Speaker 1: blues or greens or whatever, and you can expose new
22:33
Speaker 1: undertones in these blended colors that maybe aren't desirable. So
22:39
Speaker 1: make sure you sample these things before you go nuts.
22:43
Speaker 1: And if you're new at this, I would probably try
22:45
Speaker 1: starting with colors from the same color chip as well.
22:49
Speaker 1: You know, just colors that are separated by a couple
22:51
Speaker 1: tones on the same color chip. That's going to help
22:53
Speaker 1: you with those undertones and try to keep everything working together. Now,
22:57
Speaker 1: you don't have to do that, but it is going
22:59
Speaker 1: to be easier. It's going to give you a little
23:01
Speaker 1: more confidence. You know, personally, I wouldn't choose three completely
23:05
Speaker 1: unrelated colors for my first try and start there. But
23:09
Speaker 1: if you want to, go for it. Just know you're
23:12
Speaker 1: going to want to for sure sample those colors to
23:14
Speaker 1: make sure that they're all working together to get where
23:17
Speaker 1: you want to go. All right, that's picking your colors.
23:20
Speaker 1: Once you've got that figured out, it's time to actually
23:23
Speaker 1: start the project. And the first step Really basic, really boring,
23:28
Speaker 1: and it's pretty much the same on all paint projects.
23:30
Speaker 1: You're going to have to prep the wall, right? Prep
23:33
Speaker 1: it just like you'd prep it for any other paint project.
23:36
Speaker 1: You know, fill the nail holes, sand where you need
23:38
Speaker 1: to sand, clean the walls down, tape off your trim
23:41
Speaker 1: and your adjoining walls if you want some extra protection.
23:44
Speaker 1: Do all the prep work that you normally would do.
23:46
Speaker 1: Once you've done all of that, you're going to start
23:49
Speaker 1: by painting the entire wall, you know, the wall that
23:51
Speaker 1: you're going to do this effect on, paint that entire
23:54
Speaker 1: wall your lightest color, top to bottom. You're basically creating
23:58
Speaker 1: a finished wall in that lightest blue in this example
24:01
Speaker 1: before you do anything else. So really straightforward, just get
24:05
Speaker 1: that lightest blue, that lightest color on the wall and
24:08
Speaker 1: then let it dry three to four hours. Once you've
24:11
Speaker 1: got that base coat established, then the next step, and
24:14
Speaker 1: it's dry, the next step is to roughly divide the
24:17
Speaker 1: wall into three horizontal zones. You could do more, you
24:20
Speaker 1: could do less, but for the sake of this conversation,
24:23
Speaker 1: three horizontal zones, you know, break the wall into thirds,
24:27
Speaker 1: you know, however you want to divide it. Don't tape
24:30
Speaker 1: them off. You're not doing that. We're not looking for
24:32
Speaker 1: sharp lines. You know, we want to blend. So no tape.
24:35
Speaker 1: You're just kind of figuring out by eye where you
24:38
Speaker 1: want these colors to break. Now, you can make a few,
24:41
Speaker 1: you know, light pencil marks if you need some reference points.
24:44
Speaker 1: But essentially what you're doing here is saying, OK, I'm
24:46
Speaker 1: going to put the light color up in this area
24:49
Speaker 1: and then right around this area here in the middle.
24:52
Speaker 1: That's where the medium color is going to go. and
24:54
Speaker 1: then the darker color's gonna go down here. Get that
24:57
Speaker 1: in your head, make the marks on the wall if
24:58
Speaker 1: you need to, and then once you've got that set,
25:01
Speaker 1: roll your medium color blue across the middle area of
25:04
Speaker 1: the wall, and then the darker blue along the bottom.
25:08
Speaker 1: Now at this point, these areas don't need to stay wet,
25:11
Speaker 1: and also the lines where the colors meet don't need
25:14
Speaker 1: to be straight. They can be a little wavy, they
25:16
Speaker 1: can be imperfect. There's no worries at this point. All
25:20
Speaker 1: you're doing right now is establishing the three main color zones. Now,
25:24
Speaker 1: once you've got that done, it's time to do the
25:26
Speaker 1: artsy and the creative part, the fun part, you know,
25:29
Speaker 1: the blending of everything. So I'm going to do my
25:32
Speaker 1: best to describe this on air. Again, all of this
25:34
Speaker 1: will be in the show notes if you want to
25:36
Speaker 1: check it out, but just roll with me a little bit.
25:38
Speaker 1: You're going to start by getting your light, your medium
25:40
Speaker 1: and your dark colors. So your three different paint colors,
25:43
Speaker 1: get them and put them in separate containers that you
25:46
Speaker 1: can work from and get separate brushes for each one.
25:50
Speaker 1: And as a side note, The handy paint pales or
25:53
Speaker 1: the pelican pales that we talked about in the very
25:55
Speaker 1: first segment, those are perfect for this. So whatever you use,
26:00
Speaker 1: get your three colors, get them in separate containers, and
26:03
Speaker 1: then get a separate brush for each one. And probably
26:06
Speaker 1: go ahead and get some extra brushes that you kind
26:09
Speaker 1: of keep as backups to use for the blending process
26:12
Speaker 1: because you're going to want clean brushes for that. Then
26:14
Speaker 1: you're going to start at the transition between the dark
26:17
Speaker 1: blue and the medium blue. Now, I know this is radio.
26:19
Speaker 1: It's maybe a little hard to track. But picture, you know,
26:22
Speaker 1: the darker color on the bottom. We got kind of
26:24
Speaker 1: a band down there with the darker color and it
26:26
Speaker 1: meets up with that medium blue that kind of sits
26:30
Speaker 1: in the middle somewhere, you know, right where they overlap,
26:32
Speaker 1: where they meet. That's where you're going to work. And
26:35
Speaker 1: you're going to work in just a couple of feet
26:36
Speaker 1: of wall at a time. You know, you're not going
26:39
Speaker 1: to be working on that whole distance or the whole
26:41
Speaker 1: width of the wall, just a couple of feet at
26:43
Speaker 1: a time. And you're going to get your paint, get
26:46
Speaker 1: your dark color and get your medium color. and you're
26:48
Speaker 1: gonna brush that color over the top edge of the
26:51
Speaker 1: already painted sections. So with the dark section, paint maybe
26:55
Speaker 1: two feet of the darker color right over top of
26:58
Speaker 1: the existing darker color. Maybe go down six to 12
27:02
Speaker 1: inches or so. So you've got a six to 12
27:04
Speaker 1: inch or so band of wet paint. Then immediately put
27:07
Speaker 1: fresh paint of the medium color right above it on
27:10
Speaker 1: the medium tone. So you've got another two foot band
27:14
Speaker 1: that's about six, 12 inches or so wide. Both of
27:17
Speaker 1: them are wet paint, you know, two wet colors that
27:20
Speaker 1: are sitting right next to each other. And that's where
27:22
Speaker 1: you blend. Grabbing a clean brush, work back and forth
27:26
Speaker 1: across that transition with loose diagonal strokes, you know, back
27:29
Speaker 1: and forth, back and forth, something like a 45 degree angle,
27:33
Speaker 1: mix it up a little bit. You know, there's nothing,
27:35
Speaker 1: you know, scientific about this. You're just pulling a little
27:38
Speaker 1: of the darker color upward and you're taking a little
27:40
Speaker 1: of that medium color downward and you're blending them together.
27:43
Speaker 1: You're not trying to erase the colors or the paint
27:45
Speaker 1: that you put on the wall. You're trying to soften
27:47
Speaker 1: the point where one becomes the other. So you've got
27:50
Speaker 1: to work that in wet paint. And that's why I'm
27:52
Speaker 1: saying don't paint those bands, those wet bands, all the
27:55
Speaker 1: way across the wall before you start blending because it's
27:57
Speaker 1: going to dry way too fast. You'll never get it
27:59
Speaker 1: blended that way. You've got to work in just, you know,
28:02
Speaker 1: a couple of feet at a time. And when you've
28:04
Speaker 1: got that two feet blended, you do another two feet,
28:07
Speaker 1: you know, with the wet colors and you blend them
28:10
Speaker 1: together and you blend them into the previously blended section.
28:15
Speaker 1: I know this sounds insane, but I think you're tracking
28:18
Speaker 1: with me. I know everybody out there is top tier
28:21
Speaker 1: intelligence level and you're tracking with me. You're making up
28:24
Speaker 1: for my inadequacies with your own incredible brains. Anyway, keep
28:30
Speaker 1: working in small sections, blending them across the wall until
28:33
Speaker 1: you get all the way across that transition. Now, once
28:36
Speaker 1: you've done that, then you're going to move up to
28:38
Speaker 1: where the medium color meets the light color and do
28:40
Speaker 1: exactly the same thing. fresh medium paint, fresh light paint,
28:44
Speaker 1: two foot, maybe a six to 12 inch band, maybe
28:47
Speaker 1: a little more depending on what you need. And then
28:49
Speaker 1: blend those two together while they're wet. And then just
28:52
Speaker 1: keep working your way across the wall until everything is blended. Now,
28:56
Speaker 1: one thing to think about as you're working on this,
28:58
Speaker 1: or not really as you're working on it, as you
29:01
Speaker 1: get to the edges, you know, you're going to have
29:02
Speaker 1: corners where your ombre wall is going to meet perhaps
29:07
Speaker 1: a solid color wall. When you get to those corners,
29:10
Speaker 1: it's a little tricky to do the you know, the
29:12
Speaker 1: whole feathering, the whole blending thing, just be a little
29:15
Speaker 1: cautious out there, you know, in that area. And probably
29:18
Speaker 1: that's where tape would be really handy. You know, the
29:19
Speaker 1: frog tape that we mentioned at the beginning of the show,
29:22
Speaker 1: that would be really nice there. Make sure you're using,
29:25
Speaker 1: if you did any, you know, fresh paint on those
29:27
Speaker 1: other walls that you're taping off to protect, if that's
29:31
Speaker 1: fresh paint, make sure you're using the yellow frog tape,
29:34
Speaker 1: which is a safe release or a delicate surface tape.
29:36
Speaker 1: It'll be okay on that surface. Other tape will pull
29:39
Speaker 1: your paint right off. So make sure you're using the
29:42
Speaker 1: delicate surface tape, but tape those areas off. Be a
29:45
Speaker 1: little cautious in the corners. You know, you're just going
29:47
Speaker 1: to have to fiddle with that a little bit. Anyway,
29:49
Speaker 1: once you've blended all of the transition areas, that's pretty
29:53
Speaker 1: much it. You're done. You got to just let the
29:54
Speaker 1: whole thing dry and then put the room back together.
29:57
Speaker 1: The whole thing is a really interesting look. And the
30:00
Speaker 1: colors that you choose, they're going to bring a lot
30:02
Speaker 1: of potentially different effects and create a different feel in
30:05
Speaker 1: the room. I mean, there's so much you could do
30:07
Speaker 1: with this. But as I mentioned earlier, before you start
30:10
Speaker 1: doing this on a wall in your home, practice. You know,
30:13
Speaker 1: get a decent-sized piece of drywall, foam board, something, and
30:16
Speaker 1: practice on it. Because there is a feel to it.
30:19
Speaker 1: You know, how wet does the paint need to be?
30:20
Speaker 1: How hard do you need to work the brush? How
30:22
Speaker 1: wide do you want that transition area, you know, to extend?
30:27
Speaker 1: all of that. You'll figure that out and how to
30:29
Speaker 1: make it happen very quickly if you work on a
30:31
Speaker 1: practice piece. And you'll also discover something else. There's a
30:34
Speaker 1: point when you need to just stop messing with the blending.
30:39
Speaker 1: This applies to normal painting too, but it's especially important here.
30:42
Speaker 1: If the paint has started to set up and you
30:44
Speaker 1: keep brushing through it, you're not blending anymore. You're just
30:47
Speaker 1: dragging partially dried paint around. And that's when you start
30:50
Speaker 1: creating obvious brush marks, rough areas, weird patches that that
30:55
Speaker 1: you're going to notice every time sunlight hits the wall.
30:57
Speaker 1: So make sure you're working with wet paint. And one
31:00
Speaker 1: other thing to think about, I should have mentioned it earlier,
31:03
Speaker 1: but we have a product called Floetrol, F-L-O-E-T-R-O-L, Floetrol. It's
31:09
Speaker 1: for water-based products, and it's meant to extend the dry
31:11
Speaker 1: time a little bit. If you are struggling to blend everything,
31:16
Speaker 1: you know, you just can't move fast enough, even with
31:18
Speaker 1: that two-foot band that you're working with, Flow trawl is
31:21
Speaker 1: something to think about. It's something that we stock in
31:23
Speaker 1: the store. It's not, you know, a cure-all. It's not
31:26
Speaker 1: a silver bullet that's going to automatically mean you can
31:28
Speaker 1: just take your time, but it is going to extend
31:30
Speaker 1: the dry time a little bit for that latex paint
31:32
Speaker 1: and make it a little easier for you to get
31:34
Speaker 1: things blended before it does start to set up. So
31:37
Speaker 1: flow trawl, keep that in mind. Anyway, work wet, work
31:41
Speaker 1: in small sections, blend it, and then leave it alone
31:44
Speaker 1: and practice. Practice before you start. It's a really cool look.
31:47
Speaker 1: If you do try it, I want to see pictures
31:51
Speaker 1: unless it absolutely train wrecks. No, even then, I think
31:56
Speaker 1: I'd like to see pictures because that's kind of, I
31:58
Speaker 1: wouldn't laugh. I would commiserate with you. And if I
32:03
Speaker 1: was to blame, oh man, I don't want to see that.
32:06
Speaker 1: Let's just scrap that whole part. If you succeed incredibly,
32:10
Speaker 1: send your pictures. I want to see it. Radio at RepcoLite.com.
32:14
Speaker 1: I know it's more difficult than just painting a wall,
32:16
Speaker 1: but it is doable. And the end results really, really,
32:21
Speaker 1: really can change the look and the feel of a space.
32:23
Speaker 1: You know, it's got a wallpaper kind of effect. Paired
32:26
Speaker 1: with solid color on other walls, it really could be interesting.
32:30
Speaker 1: So think about it. Check it out. All right, shifting gears.
32:33
Speaker 1: Fall gets away from us fast. At least it gets
32:35
Speaker 1: away from me fast. So coming up, I've got a
32:37
Speaker 1: quick list of things to get done and a few
32:39
Speaker 1: things worth making time for before the season's over. We'll
32:42
Speaker 1: get to all of it right after this. You're listening
32:46
Speaker 1: to Home in Progress, where the projects are real, the mistakes,
32:49
Speaker 1: they're educational, sometimes painful, mostly educational, and the only thing
32:55
Speaker 1: more stubborn than that old wallpaper on your bathroom wall
32:59
Speaker 1: is your determination to get it fixed. Proudly sponsored by
33:02
Speaker 1: Repco Light Paints and Benjamin Moore. Paint with a purpose,
33:05
Speaker 1: people who care, and everything you need to get the
33:07
Speaker 1: job done right. And we're back. You're listening to Home
33:11
Speaker 1: in Progress by Repco Light Paints, sponsored by Benjamin Moore,
33:14
Speaker 1: and every year I don't know if this is your experience.
33:18
Speaker 1: This is certainly my experience. Every year, fall seems to disappear.
33:22
Speaker 1: Before I'm ready for it to be gone, it's gone.
33:25
Speaker 1: And when it's gone, when it's over, I usually have
33:28
Speaker 1: the same couple of thoughts running through my mind. You know,
33:30
Speaker 1: there were things that I should have gotten done that
33:32
Speaker 1: I didn't, and there were things that I wanted to do,
33:35
Speaker 1: but I never made time for them. So to help
33:39
Speaker 1: all of us out, to help me out especially, I
33:42
Speaker 1: made a list of both of those things. A few
33:44
Speaker 1: fall jobs worth getting on the calendar now, and some
33:46
Speaker 1: fun things that it's probably worth making time for before
33:50
Speaker 1: the season gets away from all of us. For example,
33:52
Speaker 1: let's get to a should-do job, the chimney. You know,
33:55
Speaker 1: if you've got a fireplace or a wood stove that
33:58
Speaker 1: you plan to use this fall and winter, it probably
34:01
Speaker 1: should be swept, might even need to be inspected. You know,
34:04
Speaker 1: if you haven't used it in a while, for sure
34:06
Speaker 1: get it inspected before you start using it. Make sure
34:08
Speaker 1: it's safe. Another thing to think about, and this one's fun.
34:12
Speaker 1: Go apple picking. You know, a lot of you already
34:14
Speaker 1: do this. But if you don't, it's crazy fun. It's
34:17
Speaker 1: like old-timey fun. You'll have a great day. You'll have
34:21
Speaker 1: a wonderful time. You'll have a bunch of apples. If
34:24
Speaker 1: you're like us, you'll pick some apples. It'll go really quickly.
34:28
Speaker 1: And you'll bring them up to pay for them. And
34:30
Speaker 1: then they'll say, that'll be $ 150. And then you'll have that,
34:34
Speaker 1: you know, crazy moment where you're trying to figure out
34:35
Speaker 1: how you're going to pay for all these apples and
34:37
Speaker 1: how you're going to eat all these apples. And you
34:40
Speaker 1: can't put them back on the tree. You know, so
34:42
Speaker 1: that part's not quite as fun, but the picking's fun.
34:45
Speaker 1: In fact, the picking's almost too fun. That's why we
34:47
Speaker 1: get to the $ 150 bill at the end. But still,
34:51
Speaker 1: you know, if you can temper that, it's worth doing.
34:54
Speaker 1: Get out there, pick a Saturday, pick an orchard, get
34:57
Speaker 1: out there and do that. All right, back to work. Gutters.
35:00
Speaker 1: You know, obviously gutters, it's not a one time and
35:02
Speaker 1: done fall job. You know, as the leaves come down,
35:05
Speaker 1: we're going to be cleaning gutters out more than once.
35:07
Speaker 1: But get going. It's time to get going. You know,
35:09
Speaker 1: we've had a lot of rain. We're getting a lot
35:11
Speaker 1: of rain. Fall normally brings a fair amount of rain.
35:14
Speaker 1: Make sure your gutters are clear and that they're moving
35:17
Speaker 1: water away from the foundation of the home. Once you
35:19
Speaker 1: get them clear, make sure you keep them clear. Another
35:22
Speaker 1: idea I've been thinking about is a trip north to Charlevoix.
35:26
Speaker 1: And what you're going to Charlevoix for, amongst other things perhaps,
35:29
Speaker 1: is to see Earl Young's Mushroom Houses. Do you remember these?
35:33
Speaker 1: I talked about them on the show a few months ago.
35:36
Speaker 1: And I loved that segment. But if you've never seen them,
35:39
Speaker 1: if you missed that segment and you have no idea
35:42
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about, they're these crazy, strange stone homes
35:45
Speaker 1: with curved roof lines. Huge boulders are incorporated into the architecture.
35:50
Speaker 1: You know, they look like fairytale houses. You got to
35:53
Speaker 1: see them. They're really only in Charlevoix and you can
35:57
Speaker 1: go check them out. You know, most of them are
35:58
Speaker 1: private homes. So you're going to be looking at them
36:00
Speaker 1: from the street. You know, that's important. Don't try to
36:03
Speaker 1: get into them. Or the only thing you're really going
36:05
Speaker 1: to be seeing is the inside of a police cruiser.
36:07
Speaker 1: And you don't want that. It's not a good day trip.
36:10
Speaker 1: But you can see them from the road. And Charlevoix
36:13
Speaker 1: has a self-guided route that you can follow. Just go online,
36:17
Speaker 1: Google them, and you can get more information. Mushroom houses.
36:20
Speaker 1: That's really cool. Another thing that you can think about.
36:24
Speaker 1: And this one's not so fun. But it is something
36:25
Speaker 1: to get done now. Is to get out the snowblower.
36:28
Speaker 1: You know, I know it's September. I get that. That's
36:30
Speaker 1: why I'm bringing it up now. You know, change the oil.
36:34
Speaker 1: Make sure it runs. You know, that's the big thing here.
36:36
Speaker 1: Make sure it runs. Because if it doesn't run now,
36:38
Speaker 1: that's annoying. But if it doesn't run at 530 in
36:41
Speaker 1: the morning, you know, when you're looking at eight inches
36:43
Speaker 1: of snow in the driveway in late November, well, that's
36:47
Speaker 1: a whole different thing. Now you've got time to fix
36:50
Speaker 1: it or get it fixed. And schedules at repair shops,
36:53
Speaker 1: they're not as full as they're going to be later.
36:55
Speaker 1: So get that snowblower. Make sure it's ready to go
36:57
Speaker 1: for the upcoming winter. Another little job. that I always
37:02
Speaker 1: manage to forget about until it's later in the year
37:04
Speaker 1: than I'd like is sprinkler winterization. If somebody else comes
37:08
Speaker 1: to your house to blow out your sprinkler system, get
37:10
Speaker 1: on their schedule now. You don't necessarily need them at
37:13
Speaker 1: your house tomorrow. You just don't want to be the
37:15
Speaker 1: guy calling in late November trying to get on the
37:17
Speaker 1: books before everything starts freezing. Here's another fun thing to
37:21
Speaker 1: think about. Tour a historic home. We talked about mushroom houses,
37:25
Speaker 1: but we've got some great historic homes right here in
37:28
Speaker 1: West Michigan. the Meyer May House in Grand Rapids, Meyer
37:32
Speaker 1: May House. It's a Frank Lloyd Wright home. It's beautifully restored.
37:36
Speaker 1: Tours are free. So check that out online. Or you
37:39
Speaker 1: could drive to Muskegon and tour the Hackley and Hume houses.
37:43
Speaker 1: These are incredible. I've been through these as well. They're beautiful.
37:46
Speaker 1: Queen Anne Victorian homes from Muskegon's lumber era. And this
37:50
Speaker 1: time of year, it's especially interesting for some of these
37:53
Speaker 1: tours because a lot of the places have special fall programming.
37:56
Speaker 1: Hackley and Hume, for example, They've got a flashlight tour
37:58
Speaker 1: on October 9th. You can get more information on their websites.
38:03
Speaker 1: Check it out. Just think about the historic homes. Those
38:06
Speaker 1: are just two of them. There's more things that you
38:08
Speaker 1: could see. Felt Mansion in Saugatuck area. Check those things out.
38:13
Speaker 1: Great things to do. Back to the house. Let's do
38:17
Speaker 1: a couple more little jobby things. Your furnace. Change the filter.
38:20
Speaker 1: Do what you need to do to make sure it's working.
38:23
Speaker 1: If you do have an issue, you don't want to
38:24
Speaker 1: find that out during the first cold stretch. Because everybody's
38:28
Speaker 1: finding out at that point. If you can find out
38:30
Speaker 1: some of these things earlier, you can get them taken
38:32
Speaker 1: care of before there's a big rush on it. That's
38:35
Speaker 1: something to think about. A few more fun things because
38:38
Speaker 1: time is running out. Go to a high school football game.
38:42
Speaker 1: Get that on your calendar. Do that. Have a bonfire.
38:45
Speaker 1: You know, we always say we should have a bonfire
38:47
Speaker 1: and then we never get to it. If that's you,
38:49
Speaker 1: you know, get it on the calendar. Do it. A
38:53
Speaker 1: lot of you already do that. Maybe that's a dumb one.
38:55
Speaker 1: I don't know. Get out to Lake Michigan. We've got
38:57
Speaker 1: these amazing lakes all around us. You know, get out
39:00
Speaker 1: to Lake Michigan. You don't have to swim. Just walk
39:02
Speaker 1: the lake. Enjoy the sunset. You know, there's plenty of
39:05
Speaker 1: time for this yet this fall. But it's another thing
39:07
Speaker 1: that we as a family talk about when winter hits.
39:10
Speaker 1: You know, wish we had gone a little more. You know,
39:12
Speaker 1: why didn't we? Get your last visits in before it's
39:15
Speaker 1: freezing cold out there. Finally, let's end with a job,
39:17
Speaker 1: you know, because we want to be responsible. If you're
39:20
Speaker 1: wrapping up your outdoor painting projects, get your leftover paint
39:23
Speaker 1: out of the before the temperatures start dropping below freezing.
39:27
Speaker 1: Water-based paints don't do well when it freezes. So get
39:31
Speaker 1: that paint inside in your basement, whatever, and give it
39:34
Speaker 1: a nice little place to rest for the winter. You know,
39:37
Speaker 1: have a nice little Christmas with your exterior paint. And
39:40
Speaker 1: then in the spring, get it back out to the garage.
39:43
Speaker 1: All right. Bunch of little projects. There's a million more
39:46
Speaker 1: that we could have talked about, but that's all the
39:48
Speaker 1: time I've got. We're going to have to wrap this
39:50
Speaker 1: whole episode up. As always, if you want to find
39:53
Speaker 1: it online, you can find it at repcolite.com. Just click
39:55
Speaker 1: the podcast tab on the homepage. All right, whatever you
39:58
Speaker 1: do today, make sure paint's a part of it. Have
40:00
Speaker 1: a great weekend, everybody, and I'll see you next week.
40:03
Speaker 1: For Home and Progress by Repcolite Paints, I'm Dan Hanson.
40:06
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.