Ah, chalkboard paint. I love you so – in fact, I’d go so far to suggest you’re one of the most awesome inventions ever. I mean, come on. Chalkboard paint! Make anything into a chalkboard, and it comes in different colors, too. But, my gosh, are you fickle when you’re not applied to a perfectly smooth surface.

That’s right, my dear readers. If you love the thought of a DIY chalkboard do be prepared to brush on about a bazillion coats and sand thoroughly between each one. If it’s something like a chalkboard table you’re after, that’s one thing because most tables start out relatively smooth. But a chalkboard in the kitchen or in a kid’s room on a normal wall? That’s what we did, and what we thought would be a simple couple-of-coats job turned into a two-day, all day project for The Beard while the baby and I were in Florida.

Oh, things turned out all right – the baby’s room now has an almost floor-to-ceiling framed chalkboard (magnetic, even) that she’s going to love when she’s older. But ask my husband and he’ll tell you that it was a real pain in the rear.

So how do you get a DIY chalkboard like a pro? Easy: Chalkboard decals. There’s no painting, no sanding. You don’t have to worry about taping off an area, and getting cool shapes like fruits, elephants, and such becomes a whole lot easier when you’re dealing with a peel and stick panel. If I was doing the whole project over again, that’s what I’d go for, since the decals aren’t that much more expensive than a can of the paint. The only bonus to painting? A lot of leftover paint, so now I can find smooth things to chalkboardize!

Above: Word bubble decals from Scribble

One of my favorite bits from the movie Funny Face is the Think Pink! routine. And seriously, I’m a huge sucker for pink, more so now since having a girl baby. Not, mind that I set out to pinkify her life – but everyone else in existence apparently did. Now that I’m finally working on her room, I’ve chosen a deep pink, black, and white scheme, mainly because it’s solid, girly palette without being immature, and as a combo, it never has been terribly unpopular in my lifetime so it won’t look ridiculously out of date five or ten years from now. Pink can be babyish, of course, but it doesn’t have to be.

Here are seven sweet examples of how one might use pink inside and outside of one’s home, with not a single nursery in sight:

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Painted floors are a dime a dozen (okay, not really – not at all, in fact) but purple painted floors are relatively rare. So much so that when I wanted to find a pretty picture of a purple painted floor my options were worse than limited.

So instead may I present a real purple painted floor. One that is not making its grand debut in a magazine, but rather one that started out as a kind of crummy wood floor topped by wall-to-wall carpeting. You can read a short tale of this purple painted floor’s evolution. If you’re considering embarking upon a floor-centric DIY project, it may just inspire you to take some risks!

That’s right, I’m talking about whitewash. Who would think that slaked lime and chalk could make such a lovely paint for walls, ceilings, floors, exteriors, and furniture? And while whitewash can look delicate, it’s actually quite durable due to the fact that it cures through a reaction with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to form calcium carbonate in the form of calcite – a reaction known as carbonatation. And if that’s not enough to sell you on whitewash, it’s also mildly anti-bacterial and anti-microbial! (Er, though authentic, traditional whitewash will rub off on clothing, so I recommend using a more modern version of the stuff.) Isn’t it pretty?

(Images via: 1,3,4,5,6)

When it comes to plain ceilings (i.e., not tin, decorative plaster, or good-looking wood), you have a limited number of options. You can paint them ivory or cream or eggshell, or whatever incarnation of white looks best with your chosen paint color scheme. You can add embellishments like vinyl wall stickers, though that sort of thing can look a bit juvenile and typically works best in kids’ rooms. Or you can go against the grain and paint your ceilings a color other than white.

People are generally afraid to do this. They’re used to painting walls, so when they think of adding color to a room, their thoughts turn to vertical surfaces. It’s also more difficult to coordinate furnishings with accessories with floor colors with wall colors with ceiling colors, omg, but really, it’s not impossible. It’s even easier when you start with a nice neutral for your walls. One option involves painting all your walls the same color, then varying the color of your ceilings by room. Or you can go all-out and have coordinating wall and ceiling colors that differ entirely from room to room.

The best way to approaching painting ceilings is to look for inspiration (some of which I have thoughtfully provided below) then play with color combos using Paint or Photoshop or The Gimp until you find something that works. You can even paint a small test area on one wall and an adjoining bit of ceiling just like you should do with the wall only so you see how the colors influence each other and the room in different sorts of light. To begin, check these out. And if you’ve painted your ceilings a color other than white, tell us about it!

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Brrr, so cold here. And the snow that’s still on the ground has turned that dismal gray color that means it’s no longer at all nice to use for snow ice cream. I’m entirely sick of winter at this point. I’ve exhausted my to-do list of indoor projects needing my attention, and I’m itching to tackle some outdoor projects. Alas, it is too cold for exterior painting and too wet for sanding, so I’m SOL. The worst part is my brain keeps retreating into itself where it can dream of places like this uninterruptedly.

Maybe not places exactly like this, as those lovely little bungalows are in Wells-Next-The-Sea, a seaport situated on the North Norfolk coast in England. I’m sure Wells-Next-The-Sea is quite picturesque just now with all those pretty colors, but I can’t imagine that it’s at all warm, which makes it less than inviting in my mind. Summer (or at the very least springtime) cannot come quickly enough, in my opinion.

(Photo by russelljsmith)

A block of apartments in Chartres, France — a lovely, lovely place — might have looked like any other, were it not for four months of what must have been strenuous painting.

Aren’t they fun? Various areas are done in differing styles so you get a little taste of everything. I sadly don’t know anything about these apartments other than their locale, but more pics can’t be seen here.

When I bought my house, I inherited an old, ugly fence. It’s sort of leaning over in some spots, and I’m ashamed to admit that a small (but rather unnecessary) portion of it fell in not too long ago. What really irks me about my fence is that the paint is peeling like a banana skin almost everywhere. We’ve been so focused on other things that the poor fence has been ignored for more than two years, most likely because it is a backyard fence and thus mainly visible only to us.

Perhaps I should do as Better Homes & Gardens says and invite the neighborhood children to a fence painting party? The recipe is easy… you need some willing youngsters (just don’t mention it’s a chore), some brushes, and a whole lot of paint. I’d also suggest adding numerous drop cloths to the mix unless you’re a fan of technicolor grass. Of course, a fence painting party will really only work for those who don’t mind a fence that looks like it was painted by children or less-than-talented adults, I suppose. But like I said, my fence is in the backyard, so I’m golden.

I’m a huge fan of hardwood floors for both their beauty and their durability, but I’ll admit that they can be pretty boring. Paint can do a lot to fix up a dull floor, but painted wood floors can be a little overwhelming if you’re not showcasing them as the focal point of the room.

Painted checkerboard floors that feature wood floors are a good compromise, as they’re not so in-your-face as, say, a bright blue floor or as blah as a plain white floor, but at the same time they appeal to the eye. Here are six examples:

A soft, low-contrast checkerboard floor doesn’t steal a room’s thunder.

This patterned floor adds a lot of oomph to what might otherwise be a fairly drab kitchen. (via)

This red and white checkerboard floor is playful and fun. (via)

The border on this painted checkerboard floor gives the floor the finished look usually provided by a fine rug. (via)

In a room with built-ins like cabinets, your checkerboard floor colors can match or not, depending on the sort of look and feel you want to achieve. (via)

And when I say you I mean *you* — as DIY projects for the home go, painting a floor is one of the easier ones. The Wood Floor Guide has a how-to that takes you through the floor painting process step-by-step, though I much prefer the how-to on the This Old House web site because it includes not only steps, but also a video.

Trying to figure out just which shade of paint to put in the living room, bedroom, bathroom, or den? While the sample color pots that a number of paint companies are now selling are great, sometimes you’re just not ready to throw a square of color up on an otherwise not-quite-ready-to-paint wall. But those tiny little paint chips from the Home Depot (or wherever) just don’t show you how the room will feel in that color, and to find the right paint hue, you want to view each prospective shade in all the different kinds of light the room will get, from full sun to electric.

Nantucket-based interior and architectural designer Deborah Timmermann has a solution perfect for those who’d rather keep their walls looking pristine before painting. She suggest that to get “an accurate assessment, paint pieces of shirt cardboard to make large samples and tape them to a wall. Stand eight to 10 feet away with your back to them, and look at them in a hand mirror. It helps you see the color in perspective.”

I love this tip!