Happy Saturday Morning Everyone!
If you’re following us on Instagram or Facebook you may have seen this week that I took on my most ambitious DIY project yet at Gum Tree Kids…
It all started a couple years ago when I saw a photo on Pinterest of a dreamy pink ombre wall. I was determined to use it somewhere, but frankly I was not that confident that I’d be able to execute it and be happy with the results. Here’s the original photo…
Fast forward to last week when we finally got around to renovating the counter at Gum Tree Kids. The first counter was made to the incorrect specifications, so it felt like a huge fortress instead of an inviting retail counter, I had lived with it long enough!
Enter Erik Maki of Board and Block who came in and cut it down to the correct size, added a clean white top, and prepped it to be painted. (This talented woodworker also just made our beautiful new custom jewelry table at Gum Tree).
So I went back to Pinterest and searched for more Ombre inspiration, and hopefully some DIY content, to help me get it done right. I combined bits and pieces of everyone’s info…
Here’s what I used to get it done…
1/2 inch paintbrush
6 inch paint roller
blue painters tape
3-4 paint stirrers
6 small plastic paint trays (6 inch to fit the roller)
butcher block paper to protect the floor
3 quarts semi gloss interior paint
- darkest pink color for the bottom
- medium pink color for the middle
- white
Start by taping off the edges of the counter. The more time you take to do this carefully the better results you’ll get.
And now it’s time to mix the paint…
The first tray gets the darkest color paint.
The second is a mixture of 2/3 darkest pink and 1/3 medium pink.
The third is the medium pink.
The fourth is 2/3 medium pink and 1/3 white.
The fifth is 1/3 medium pink and 2/3 white.
The sixth is mostly white with a splash of medium pink.
It’s not an exact science of course, I added and mixed until I was happy with all the colors. But the formula above was the starting point.
Then I started with the darkest color on the bottom row. I washed and dried the roller well between each row of color.
Each row ended up needing 2 coats, so the first coat did not need to be perfect. I took a dinner break in between the first and second coats to let the first coat of paint dry a bit.
Had to pay a little more attention on the second coat, make sure the roller didn’t have too much paint to avoid dripping, make sure I was rolling it straight, etc.
Only at the end, but while paint was still wet, did I go in with the 1/2 inch paint brush (a bit damp) between rows to mix the colors. Then at the end did a little bit of touch up as needed.
And Voila…the finished product!
From start to finish it took about 5 hours. Thank you to everyone on Instagram and Facebook for your positive comments, I love it!
Hope you enjoyed this little bit of DIY Gum Tree style! Let me know if you have any questions.
We hope to see you soon,
Think Globally, Shop and Eat Locally!
Lori Ford
