Furniture, furnishings, and interior design

[Faust]

What's a good white to paint the walls with?

[endersgame]

Does anyone know of a good floor sanding service in nyc? I'm moving to Fresh meadows, Queens next year, and would like to stain the wood floors to a darker color.

i've always had good experiences with polish and irish contractors.

whoever you get, ask them to sand from varying degrees of grit to get the smoothest possible floor. oil based poly for durability. waterbased for no odor. the stain you pick will look darker than the swatch. if you can do it yourself and rent the sanders, you can save two to four thousand depending on sq ft. if you redo your floors, you might as well paint the whole apartment.

What's a good white to paint the walls with?

i don't know what it's called but i used somewhere between 15-18% gray. looks white on sunny days, gray on cloudy ones. sheen is your choice, but pick something that is easily cleaned with a magic eraser.

benjamin moore makes the best paint. they sell large sheet swatches so you can slap it on a wall before deciding.

[doldrums]

Benjamin Moore Decorator's white is what we chose as we continue to remodel.

It goes well with a fairly monochromatic - in our case whites and greys with black accents - palette.

Looking forward to the Vincent Vun Duysen interview. Bought some of his pottery recently after years of admiration...the closest I have come to first hand experience of his brilliance.

[endersgame]

also want to add that if your walls are damaged, hire a plasterer/painter and do a skim coat. don't waste good paint on shitty walls.

[zen dog]

^I'm probably going to be too general for you, Faust, but thats a fairly general question. No kissing up, but everything else you write seems advanced beyond the basic.

If its just brand, I am boring and non SZ and look at Consumer Reports for quality, There are some small, boutique brands that, if you want to spend the time, you can find in design mags, but that won't get you away from getting small samples and painting them on in a corner- that way you will see how they intensify whatever underlying tones are already present. I would go with a "warm" white (towards yellow) rather than one that goes toward blue.

Eggshell finish has a slight sheen and is easier to clean than a matte and high sheen is too garish. This is in latex.

I never had the place to try a milk or chalk finish which is just like it sounds like- chalky, dried milk powder.

Also, I was glad to see Bioshield http://www.bioshieldpaint.com/ still in business- they have clay paints that, again, I never could find a place for.

Buy some sample sizes, paint them in a corner, see how they interact with your furniture and see how they change during the day.

Your question has me reexamining my walls- I think one wall in clay paint would be a great showcase for whatever is in front of it.

[Faust]

i don't know what it's called but i used somewhere between 15-18% gray. looks white on sunny days, gray on cloudy ones. sheen is your choice, but pick something that is easily cleaned with a magic eraser.

benjamin moore makes the best paint. they sell large sheet swatches so you can slap it on a wall before deciding.

I think you might be referring to what's called a "bone" color, which is what I am also leaning towards.

[BlacknWhite]

i've always had good experiences with polish and irish contractors.

whoever you get, ask them to sand from varying degrees of grit to get the smoothest possible floor. oil based poly for durability. waterbased for no odor. the stain you pick will look darker than the swatch. if you can do it yourself and rent the sanders, you can save two to four thousand depending on sq ft. if you redo your floors, you might as well paint the whole apartment.

I don't really get the ethnicity thing o_O if they're professionals who know their shit, I could care less what they were.

It's a new house. I'm only redoing the attic bedroom (nothing is up there yet) which is about 150-170 sq feet at most. "Save two to four thousand"?!?!?!? this service seems more expensive than I thought damn...
Yeah, I know I can rent a drum sander at Home Depot, but I'd rather have a professional do this for me.

[endersgame]

i'm just saying. some people aren't licensed, some people don't answer calls, some people are just plain assholes to work with. and some people just don't show up for work.

if you want someone who is insured and licensed, it's minimum 2 grand labor and materials. the small sq doesn't matter. you still need to spend 3+ days on the job.

[Faust]

Enders, or others, do you know what's underneath the vinyl in NY's prewar building floors? Mine has to go and I don't know if I should raise it to see what's underneath or just put a new layer on top.

[BlacknWhite]

Damn, and here I see rates on google around 1 to 3 dollars per sq ft.


Best to ask the landlord Faust? My current apartment building is quite old, how old idk, but underneath the vinyl on mine is some dark grey concrete like material. I would assume yours is too.

[braver]

^^

http://www.littlegreene.eu/paint/colour/neutral-paint/grey-paint

Great colors, each with its own name, history and explanation.
Should be seen alive, not online.
Used their paints before, will use them again.

[endersgame]

it could be plywood or some type of engineered wood, or concrete for the subfloor. you need a heat gun to remove the old vinyl floor to see what's underneath. i suggest you get tiles. i have some lovely porcelain matte black 12" x 24" planks with black grout. it was not that expensive either. i get all my tiles at jac elan and tile spark in the tile district (flatiron)

[Faust]

Ok, thanks. If it's concrete, I'm kind of tempted to see if I can polish and leave that.

[endersgame]

now say you do have a concrete subfloor. the space was constructed with vinyl as flooring. so if you remove it, you have to adjust your moulding and trims to match the depression (maybe you lose 1/8" but it's noticeable). whatever adhesive used with vinyl floors will be very hard to remove completely.

you can demo the floor and pour new concrete. you can also pour resin that resembles concrete. i always wanted a resin floor.

[graydot]

Concrete and resin are noticeably hard on the feet i have found. For whatever reason, tile is a little more forgiving. Just my 2 cents.