Not only was it an eyesore to look at in general, they did something that makes me seriously hostile about painting over: a tape line edge. Now, yes, I know; I did it to myself if I ever decide I want to repaint the foyer area, but I have absolutely no plans for repainting that. Ever.
Last fall after a ton of sanding, and I mean a ton of sanding, like three or four good shots at sanding with the palm sander, it felt like the line between the colors was mitigated when I ran my hand over it, so off I went to the store to randomly pick a color.
I wasn't sure what to paint the hallway as even though the ceiling feels somewhat high despite being only about 8'-6," it feels dark and narrow and twisty and enclosed and tetris-like. It's not especially narrow when measured, three feet at its narrowest and 3'-6" at its widest by the door on the right above, although 2'-8" in that narrow pass further down....well anyway. You get my point, right?
I chose a color called Bleached Linen, a very light non-color for me to choose. A light creamy linen color with subtle undertones of pink and yellow, with the intention to warm up and brighten up the hall. It's fine. Or fine enough for now. Or who knows, fine permanent.
Not a great photo, sorry. Now that the hall is painted, my eye is drawn to the end of the hall, Mike's office. Dog vomit yellow. I created a new page at the very top by the way, Our House Plans, to help orient you a little better.
Anyway....So we have a couple of big blank walls in the hall and I saw this tutorial on Pinterest a while back for a dyed art piece. I thought originally I'd make one for over a yet-to-be-completed headboard in the master bedroom (which we planned to be your idea for the pantry floor, Micah, the wood tiles) but I thought, huh, wonder how a big dyed piece would look in the hall. I have two choices of wall. Just outside of guest room here below or...
....the wall we see when we come up the stairs, just outside the messy master bedroom. That open door below is the guest bath.
Several weeks ago I picked up two different canvas-ish tarps at Menards on sale, a 5'x5' and a 6'x9'. Handy tip by the way: painter's tarps are an excellent deal for large swaths of fabric, oftentimes cheaper than buying it at the fabric or art supply store and sometimes with no seams. These though, they're made of materials other than canvas so I'm not sure how well dye will take to either of them.
I opted to go with the five foot square one. Upon opening it, I discovered......
Huh?? There was a thin layer of plastic lightly fused to the back side. Weird. Had never seen that before. Disappointed, but happily it peeled right off.
I didn't want the fabric to be sitting in a pool of dye water so I placed a rack in the laundry sink. Pardon my messy laundry sink.
Next up, instead of heating up a large pot of water and soaking the fabric, I doused it in hot water from the tap. Why did I not heat up a pot of water? I don't have a big enough pot. :) I figured as long as it was well soaked, it should be fine.
So then, what actually prompted me to try this project today: the ice. Our ice maker was repaired yesterday and rather than tossing the first batches out, I thought I may as well use it. Turns out the dye was on sale today so, bingo!
After munching and remunching and adjusting and scrunching and mushing the fabric, it was time for the big action. The first time I poured the ice over, it scattered everywhere. I had a torn up garbage bag nearby so I decided to lightly wrap the fabric bundle which helped keep the ice piled on top better.
Ok, the moment of truth. Time for dye. Oy, I was nervous. And I still am. I picked four shades of Dylon* at Joann Fabrics: Flamingo Pink, Bahama Blue, Sunflower, and Dark Brown. Will it take? Will it be a mess? Will it be a big ol' blob of bleech? What's gonna happen?!? How is this all going to turn out?!?!?
About a half hour later, I went back down to sneak a peek at what was going on.
Looks pretty gross right now, to be honest, like weird melting oversized jelly beans or giant gross melting bugs. Ew.
Soooo, guess what....we have to wait and see. I know, I know!! I can hear your big awwww no fairs from here. We shall wait and see together!!
Continue onto part two here.....
*The Joann Fabrics Dylon link is an affiliate link. Mwah, thanks! Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.
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