Tuesday, April 24, 2012

To Paint or not To Paint?....That is the Question

I have been debating with myself about the whole painting issue. RH recommends that you don't paint until after your 10-month inspection. I know there will most likely be nail pops, but will that really happen in every single room? What if we don't paint and then magically we don't have any problems with our walls? We would have lived in our house for almost a year with white walls!

I like the idea of painting before we move in because we won't have to move furniture around. We are also definitely hiring someone to paint for us. My husband and I HATE to paint and we are not that good at it either. It would take us FOREVER to paint our new home - not to mention the two-story foyer! We would also have to hire a color consultant. I just don't trust myself to pick out colors, especially since the floor plan is so open. Each room flows into the next so it's important for the paint colors to compliment each other.

What is everyone else doing? Painting right away or waiting until after the 10-month inspection?

14 comments:

  1. There is no problem painting prior to the inspection, you will just have to re-paint the touched up areas yourself with left over paint after the drywall guys are done, it really shouldnt be much work but some nail pops could be out of reach and might be a pain to fix unless you get a pro at that point.

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  2. oh wow I was just thinking about writing a post on this earlier today! We are in the same situation, we want to paint (when I say we I really mean I lol) and I think it will drive me crazy to live in an all white house for almost a yr, Chris on the other hand doesn't really care. Our SR made it sound like Ryan WOULD NOT fix any damage if we painted our walls before the 10 month inspection. From what I have read however, it seems like they will fix it but you will have to go over the spots where they fixed the issues. So for now we have compromised with having accent walls in most rooms so there will be some color and then once the 10 month is over we will do the whole house. I can live w/ that =-)

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  3. Before we moved into our last house that we had built we picked out a dark red for our dinning room. I am sure it is due to my lack of painting prowess, but even with a primer coat, it took endless coats of paint to make it look right with those thirsty walls. Still have nightmares **shudders**

    We had white walls for years and still even some rooms were the original white when we left! Regardless, I think I am going suck it up and try it again here before we move the stuff in, since painting around the furniture is not appealing either. Starting anew!

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  4. If you are not good at painting, and plan to spend hard earned money to hire somebody to do it, you may want to wait. It will suck to spend all that money to have it done, and then in 10 months, have patched walls that you then need to re-hire them to come back and re-paint.
    What kind of "sheen" you use is important as well. Ryan uses Flat paint because touch ups blend in perfect. You put up a semi-gloss and then want to touch up spots 1 year later, you may notice it.
    As a thought, we payed the upgrade for Ryan to paint the whole house Sherwin Williams "Whole Wheat". Although it's Flat paint still, having color is awesome. Now all I have to do it paint an accent wall here and there and I am good to go.
    You will have nail pops.
    my .02

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  5. It's too bad you're in Ohio -- I have a great friend/decorator here in Western Pa who owns a cool shop and does color consults (as well as full on decorating). A few years ago I was really stuck on my current home and she helped me come up with a palette that really flows room-to-room. A color consult is definitely worth the money.

    We're waiting on paint -- mostly because we don't mind doing it ourselves. But I have had lots done professionally, and it's kinda awesome to see what they can accomplish in a day or two. My .02: If the white walls are going to bother you, go for it now. Just ask the painters to leave you their leftovers for touchups. AND make sure to post pics of your color choices! ;)

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  6. We are going to wait. There are so many things going on, picking out new furniture, placement of our existing furniture, the whole moving process, etc. that are taking up so much time right now. Sgt. makes a good point about the sheen, I personally don't like flat paint so waiting makes the most sense for us. Also I would like to see how everything will look first furniture and accessory wise before I decide on a paint color. With thousands of colors to pick from at about $30 a gallon, this is where the most flexibility is so this will be one of our last decisions to make. I just hope the 10 month mark is enough time to have everything else in order...

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  7. We are in the process of moving in. In my previous Ryan home, they used an awful greyish white that was depressing and looked dirty. Ryan now uses a nicer color in our area (Cool Platinum) and white trim, so it looks like something I can live with for 10 months. It marks up easily but, as other posters have said, it is easy to paint over and flat paint blends well. We have a 2-storey foyer, kitchen, and great room, so I only want to have to paint that once. We'll wait.

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  8. Just thinking of a whole white house gives me hives. :) It's not that I love color (although I do-I really really do), mostly it's the 3 yr old, 10 yr old, 15 year old-and 30-something year old that have me worried. So we plan on hiring painters right away to get as much painted as possible. We can paint, I just know we will be busy. Basically I'm allotting for a specific amount of money, and then I will list rooms in order of paint importance so when the money runs out, I just have to do the rest myself. And I'm investing in those paint touch up paint roller bottle things.

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  9. We made the decision today to just wait. We are going to use the money to hire someone to paint our condo instead. We were just going to leave the walls the way they are in our Condo but we hired a property management company who suggested we make the rooms more neutral.

    You all made very good points. I don't want to spend a lot to have someone paint the walls just so that I have to touch them up later. There is also a lot of other things going on with moving in and now we will have one less thing to worry about. I would prefer to pick out furniture first anyway. It's easier to compliment the furniture with paint than the other way around!

    I guess those of you who are curious about our paint colors will just have to stick around for the first year after we move in :) We will definitely be having a color consultant come out and we will be hiring professional painters at that time!

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  10. I'm glad I saw this post. I'm early in the process (put down the deposit to reserve our lot over the weekend and scheduled for our first good faith deposit tomorrow). I didn't even start thinking about paint colors. Naive me thought you tell Ryan colors and....poof....they paint rooms to your liking. I don't mind painting, so its not the end of the world. I couldn't live with white everywhere for a year. I'd have to paint right away to give the house some color and personal touch.

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    Replies
    1. In our region they paint everything eggshell. Our SR said it's enough color to make the trim work pop. You can purchase a paint package from RH but They use the same color everywhere. I think it's a yellowish neutral color. I would check with you SR.

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  11. We are going to paint shortly after we move in (and hopefully before most of the heavy furniture arrives). I know that the recommendation is to wait for nail pops etc., but creamy white walls will drive me crazy for 10 months or so. We are hiring a paint crew and using coordinating colors from the HGTV Sherwin Williams line. All of the colors go together....so no need for a color consultant :)

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  12. Sherwin Williams will come out and do a free color consultation if you buy a $75 gift card from them. One problem solved, anyway.

    I like the creamy white walls - I guess I'm the only one. (Except for my husband, who likes them, too) I wish they weren't flat, but now that we live here, and I've touched up walls already, they are growing on me. I never thought I would say this, I always hated flat paint. Your decorating style and window coverings will do a lot to add color to the house. I enjoy the serenity of our eggshell colored walls and our creamy sheers on the windows. The bathrooms are where I really want to paint. I'm waiting until I decide on board & batten, beadboard, and moldings before doing any painting.

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  13. Our PM told us that when you build in the summer, there are less nail pops because of the temperatures. He said it's super easy when they do repair the pops to just touch up the paint with the leftovers. Of course, flat paint would be the best so it would blend nicely. I want to paint at least some of the walls on the main floor immediately...at least that is my plan. By the way, I also love Ashley Furniture! We have a lot of it and plan to get more soon!

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