Cindy Riddle: Free Paint Showdown

For Christmas my girls asked for their room to be painted as a giant rainbow. Uhh....

Here is an older Before photo

Let's just do this in stages and see how it ends up I recommend, and they miraculously agree. Great now I need a plan that will satisfy their need for bold crazy colors and my desire to not have to completely redo everything when My Vet decides it's time to pack up and get a different house. (This is the first home we've been in more than 4 years, so I have to admit I always have that possibility in the back of my mind, even though there are Zero, Zip, Nada, Nope, thoughts are plans in that direction.)

After blankly gazing at the room for several weeks and lots of thinking, I formed a basic plan.

Remove popcorn ceiling
Paint walls white
Paint ceiling blue
Hang wall decals
Row of hooks for jewelry
Single hook for each girls sweater
Alarm clock to start them thinking about waking up on their own
New lamp or something for the night stand
Accessories
A colorful rug? (Replacing the carpet isn't in the budget)
Improve the window treatments (I'm thinking faux wood blinds)
Rainbow painted picture frames
Small ledge for favorite things

I started by ordering the decals. I found some nice big ones on Amazon that I ordered and then hid from the girls. I knew that as soon as they saw them, they would ~~want~~ need to hang them. It also gave me the push to get the walls prepped and painted.

Removing the popcorn was as messy as before. As you can tell by the title, I got some free paint to work with on this project. (The methods I used to acquire free paint could have been done by any of you, it was not compensation for my mention or review. The opinions are mine and only represent my own personal experience with the products.) As a pretty serious couponer, I was able to obtain several free gallons of Flat White Interior Latex Paint using Menard's Rebate Program for a previous project. Since I had plenty left I decided to use it again.

The first project I wasn't impressed with the coverage, but, I was covering serious primer over really porous material. So I didn't notice really. This time I was covering a light beige/cream and was really disappointed that it took 4 coats. It was really thin and dripped all over the place. I spent almost as much time wiping up drips as I did painting. The first few coats looked like I was doing a white wash effect. In my opinion this paint is not worth the price. (Yep it was free, but time has value too.) If you don't believe me and want to try it for yourself, you are welcome to have my left overs. (4+ gallons left, like I said free so I REALLY stocked up.)

Next up is Ace Hardware exclusive Clark+Kensington Paint+Primer in One. I've used this in the living room, bathroom, and in the closet/quiet area in the girls room. It is hands down my favorite paint. One coat coverage, easy to use, cleanup, and dries nice. They give away free quarts every once and a while. Seriously I love this paint. (I am not compensated for my infatuation. I do take advantage of any free paint they advertise though.)

The final free test paint comes from Marv's Tru Value Hardware. While I was in the middle of removing the popcorn ceiling I attended a ladies night at Marv's and won a door prize. Free paint (I went with Tru Value Color Collection "Spooning")! I've had great results with the local guys, so I admit my expectations were high. I chose a shade of deep turquoise/blue to simulate the sky. The ceilings are really low, so I'm hoping that opens it up. The paint was a definitely thicker than the white, but I was mildly bummed it took 2 coats. The color I chose required the Deep Tint Base, which is probably why it took 2 instead of 1. But, I've gotten spoiled now and have unrealistically high coverage expectations.

Now that the paint is on I get to show the girls the decals!