Welcome back to step 1 of redoing our living room - painting! Perviously the room was dark, beigey, and begging to be updated. You can see the before photos here. In those photos you can see the swatches of paint that I had thrown on the wall while trying to decide what the perfect shade of creamy taupe was. Notice how the photo above is white? Yeah.
I must have looked at over 20 swatches trying to figure out exactly what I wanted. I lovingly taped them to the walls, I tried different types of lighting, I looked at them during the day and at night trying to see which little swatch was going to become the color for my new living room. I finally decided on Behr's Powdered Snow which was the perfect shade of warm, creamy, almost white with a hint of tan.
When we actually painted the walls it turned out white. It was even whiter than the trim and doors, which the swatch I had orginaly painted on the wall looked much darker. I was freaking out a bit while we were painting it, but you know what? I absolutely love it! It gives such a fresh, clean look to the space and it's so much brighter than before. It's almost like we knocked out another window or something.
I made the curtains and added them to the windows (stay tuned next week for an easy DIY!). I also added some artwork above the tv (which I now realize are crooked in the photo - whoops). These were a super simple, cheap way to add some interest. Total cost - $6.20. Seriously! I bought the frames from a dollar store. I was going to spray paint them with my beloved gold pray paint, but I decided that I actually liked them better black. Then I found deer silhouettes on google, printed them off, and framed them. Done. (Also, the garland isn't normally hanging on the windows, I just happened to take these photos in December and I was way to lazy to take them down. And yes, they might still be up. Maybe.)
We rehung the gallery wall, spacing everything much closer together than before, to make it look more cohesive and give us room to expand as we find new pieces of artwork. We also added the K&S from our wedding to above our bedroom door (which you shall not see because it is a mess). We also rearranged the furniture which you will see next time!
And yes, I did take these pictures in December, thanks for noticing my Christmas decorations
We left one wall tan for an accent. It's not really a bad color, it's just a bit much when it covers your whole house. This way it coordinates with the library and kitchen, both which you can see from the living room. Once we paint the library, I'll update the accent wall to the new color, but we don't have any immediate plans to do that yet.
Side note, the "library" isn't actually a library. I think it was supposed to be the formal dining room, but it's carpeted. We also don't have a giant table to put in it or host enough get togethers that merit a formal dining room. Right now it holds our overflowing book and wine collection so we affectionately call it the library. It's quite possibly my favorite room in the house for that alone. Once I start redoing that room it's going to be magnificent. But that probably won't happen for another year or so. In the meantime it has as residents our old ugly couch and an awesome rug that I scored on Black Friday. Now I'm way off track.
Painting! Back to painting. We used 3 cans of Behr Premium Plus Flat Enamel in Powdered Snow W-D-700. The paint itself was ok. It was better than the contractor grade stuff that we used in the bathroom, but it still took 2-3 coats to properly cover the walls. I don't know if it was because we didn't prime anything, or the color went from so dark to so light, or if it was our crappy painting skills. Maybe it was all three, but it took forever and lots of coats. Either way, it was worth it because I am so happy with how it turned out! Stay tuned for next week when I actually learn to arrange furniture like an adult.
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