Thanks for the kind comments!
Mary, aside from having to step over Jack while he is taking his naps
, the plan is to use the room as my retirement man-cave. With the fridge to hold my adult beverages, the microwave to make popcorn and an ample supply of DVDs, the only thing I'll need to do is surface once in awhile to play golf and get a fresh drool towel.
Rick - the paint is an interesting story. It is Benjamin Moore, but the color is a Martin Secours shade called "Palace Arms Red". The camera plays tricks, but it is a deep, elegant dark brick color. I had the trim mixed to match the leather sofa (perfect match!).
After (way too much) research, Benny Moore turned out to be the paint recommended heartily by folks that paint for a living. A tad more expensive, but it was terrific to work with.
In general, research told me that red is pretty much the most difficult color to work with. Fortunately, the guy at the paint store got me past the problems with the following advice:
1) He gave me a primer tinted dark gray and told me to put two coats on before I painted. Also - let it dry for a day before putting the paint on. Worked great and avoided one of the problems with red - 3-4-5 coats for full coverage.
2) Buy excellent rollers and when applying the paint, don't use the standard "w" pattern in a small area. Rather, roll the paint straight up & down, from top to bottom and overlap the last column of paint before it dries. Don't try to use too much paint all at once. I generally got 1 to 1 1/2 columns out of a roller load.
3) There is a heavy concentration of red oxides in the paint. His advice was to allow each coat to dry for 3 days before applying the second coat. This lets the paint breathe. He went on to explain that it also prevents large paint bubbles from forming under the previous coats.
Net result - only needed two coats of paint and there is not a roller mark to be seen. Very happy with the paint.
