To pain or not to paint.

[Deleted User] · August 2012

Are you/did you pain, why or why not?

DH and I live in an apartment. We have lived there for about 7 year and plan to live there at least a few more. Now we were told we could paint, however because technically we are not supposed to, if we did we would have to paint it back before we moved out. Now. We both work 40 hours a week and I am in grad school, not to mention its summer. So needless to say we have been pretty busy. Our nursery was our spare room / office / junk room etc and took quite a while to clean out and have a garage sale. Our plan is to thoroughly wash the walls and have the carpet shampooed. However we have been having a difficulty time finding time and motivation to do that. All the while things have been accumulating stuff and the room is now a bigger mess than it was prior, however this time its all baby stuff just pilled in there. Now finally this weekend we were going to get started cleaning and hopefully even putting stuff together.

All the while we have gone back and fort about whether we would like to paint or not. The verdict was always, yea it would be nice to have the experience and it would be cute rather than plain white apt walls. However the added time, money and frustration was not something we wanted to deal with.

Well, now that the time is finally here, DH says he wants to reconsider paining again. I really don?t. I want to be done, I am sick of worrying and thinking about this room. Painting will just put us behind and I for one really am not in the mood to deal with what I believe is a hassle. We plan to talk about it more this week. However DH is the most undeceive person on the planet and I am worried come this weekend we will end up doing nothing.

So after this long ramble, please tell me. Are you/did you pain, why or why not?

FrickandFrack · August 2012

We had DS1's room painted and plan to do the same with this one but I'm not sure when we will get it done.

LittleLocks · August 2012

We're in an apartment as well. We're not painting. We're refinishing the dresser, glider, ottoman and toy box so we have enough work to do!! lol If it was some crazy color or something we would paint but it's an off-white which goes good with anything plus we have all dark furniture.
By the time we paint the whole thing then have to paint it all back when we leave, it's just not worth it. There are all kinds of other ways to decorate and make the room cute and individual without painting the walls..

WVUPetunia · August 2012

I painted, but I own my home and can't stand white walls.

If I lived in an apartment, I would probably try to consider how long I planned to live there to see if it'd be worth painting it to have to change it back. If I were going to live there for at least a few years, I'd probably go with a pale color that'd be easy to cover back up with white. If not, I'd probably try to dress things up with some colorful art work, curtains, bedding, etc. Maybe you could consider those stick-on decals, too. They come off easily, but honestly can be more expensive than paint!

LollyBug18 · August 2012

With everything you listed, I'd say skip the painting. Or maybe just paint something on one wall to make it a quick project. Or you could consider wall decals, I don't think those would be too hard to manage once the room is put together or baby is already hear. Otherwise, I'd just hang colorful curtains and some kind of fun art on the wall. Add some other colorful punches like a crib skirt, pillows, paint a bookcase - you could make it cute and personal w/o having to worry about painting and repainting when you move out.

3litttlebirds · August 2012

I painted, but I own my home and don't like white walls. If I lived in an apartment (especially if moving out within a year), I would skip the painting and use other decor to bring color into the room....colorful linens, rugs, artwork, accent furniture, etc.

SoCoGirl · August 2012

I painted and I am renting a house. We plan on being here for at least another year and a half and I really hate white/tan walls. It wouldn't have worked at all with the colors I wanted.

The room is pretty small (10x10), so it only took an afternoon and painting it back should be easy too (just make sure you get the paint and primer in one if you are going to do it). It made a huge difference for me. I have been looking forward to decorating a nursery for a really long time and I wasn't going to let being in a rental stop me.

auburnbride2be · August 2012

We painted this weekend. By "we" I mean my husband did

It was a room that should have been painted 5 years ago when we bought the house, so it was really a neccesity. Plus, it was purple and we are having a boy. I'm so glad it is done. It made such a big difference.

Laura_Elaine · August 2012

We're renting a house, and have been told we can paint. However, we didn't paint before DS... though we painted the summer before DD (last summer, that is). I painted it all by myself, as I'm a stay-at-home mom and I had the time. (DS and DD share a room currently) It is a hassle, I'd say, especially if you both are working full-time. I currently work very part-time at Barnes & Noble bookstore, and we sell wall decals (flowers, Winnie-the-Pooh, Peter Rabbit, among a few others I'm not remembering right now). I'm sure Target or Walmart or some other such store has wall decals, which I think is a simpler way to go about decorating. And, they're removable & reusable if/when we move! (We're going to have to move before DD2 comes) If I had it to do over, I'd not paint and just decorate with decals or other wall art, as we don't own the place. If it were our own, it might be worth it, but it's not, so it's not...

knjzacher · August 2012

DH and his friend painted yesterday. We just moved in May to this new build house so everything was painted something like 'stone grey' so we chose a dusty lavender for LO's room. We are also doing decals (giant octopus and an anchor) for above the change table. And some other crafty things. Once I get motivated.

I would paint since you plan to stay another 3 years or so. Otherwise I'd do the decals only. But if you're too busy, I mean, you're too busy!

FloridaLady · August 2012

There was no question for us -- I never even entertained the idea of *not* painting. We even added beadboard wallpaper and a chair rail -- and we're renters. We're in the first year of a two year lease and will likely renew when our term is up in 2014 so we're planning to stay put for quite some time.

I hate white walls. I think they're sterile and unwelcoming and they really irk me to live in so I paint as soon as I take possession of a property, even if it means painting back when I leave or losing part of our security deposit. Luckily, in the house we're in now, our landlord has said we just have to leave the property in the same or better condition and he considers paint and trim better condition Big Smile I think as a whole paint is the cheapest way to really transform a house or apartment into a home and it's absolutely worth doing.

kerryann22 · August 2012

I painted my nursery over two separate days with a friend. It wasn't that difficult and I'm glad that I did it. It made such a difference! My hubby didn't think it was necessary, but knows it looks better

The wall was a neutral, beige color and I just didn't think it went well with the decor and everything I am getting for the room. I just painted it a light grey, so it wasn't difficult. I love it! We do own our home, but due to my husband's job stuff, we might not be there in another year...kind of just a waiting game.

benoitfan · August 2012

Keeping in mind that we own and don't rent, we did paint, or I should say, I painted DSs nursery. It really only took a weekend. I painted the trim on Thurs night and did the 2nd coat on Friday night. Then Sat, I did one coat on the walls and Sunday the 2nd. I did it when DH was OOT because he is a terrible painter and I didn't want him "helping". I did this when I was 5.5 months pg.

This time around FIL is painting DS#1s big boy room. I painted the closet and bedroom doors. Again, one coat night one, one coat night 2. FIL did 2 coats on the rest of the trim and should be starting the walls tonight. I'd do it all myself, it would be faster, but he wants to help, so I'll let him do it. I am also painting all the doors (2 closet and 7 regular doors) and all the trim in our lower hallway, stairwell and upper hallway and FIL will paint the walls for us. I've wanted this done for more than a year, and can not do it myself (2 story stairwell), so I am thrilled for the help.

As for renting and painting, if you want to do something to the walls, but don't want to paint, look at the nursery bedding packages you can get. Most don't use the quilt/comforter for baby, so you could hang it on the wall as art, or you could look at the many nursery themed wall decals available and get a few of them. There are flowers, jungle themes, ocean themes, etc available, they can be affordable and are completely removeable/moveable and non-marking. I just orderer three Cars Movie themed ones for DS#1s big boy room. Alternatively you can just make some cute artwork for the walls and maybe paint some wooden letters to hang above the crib or place on a shelf in the nursery. Get a nice area rug to cover the older carpet and voila, new room, no paint. You can check out pinterest for ideas.

GL.

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