I'm At It Again - Painting!

That's right, I'm painting again. This time it didn't start as my idea, though. Our master bedroom hadn't been painted in 9 years, and J said he was growing tired of the sage green. I thought it was pretty, but I could see the paint needed updating. I got a bunch of paint samples from Lowe's and brought them home to see what worked best with the furnishings. At the same time J told me he was going to Central Florida to work at some stores and would be gone for about a week. I thought it would be a perfect time to do the painting - since J is asthmatic, the smell of paint bothers him. I could do all the painting and the smell would be gone by the time he got home. So that's what I did.

When he left on Sunday, the bedroom looked like this:

When he got back on Friday, it looked like this:

Here's the view from the other side of the room:

In case you can't see much difference, let me show this view, of painting in process. The previous color was sage green; the new color is called Faint Maple. It's a taupe color, or what I like to call cafe con leche.

Because of the large wall unit in my room that I couldn't move because it's so heavy I wasn't able to finish the entire room before J got home. However, the paint samples I'd brought home started me thinking. The main living area, except for the dining room, hadn't been painted in over 5 years and was starting to look drab. I wanted to do something dramatic. I'd always loved the look of one wall a different color from the rest of the room, but couldn't find any combination of colors that worked well with the flooring we had. Just this March, though, we put in wood floors and new baseboards. I went through the paint samples and made my decision. I started in the formal living room, and came up with this:

The color is called Rare Sienna. Depending on the time of day, it might look more orangy or more red, but basically it's a kind of rust color (remember that Crayola crayon color burnt sienna? Pretty much like that). As soon as I started putting it on the wall I fell in love. The color is so beautiful! I couldn't stop at just this room, so I moved into the family room:

Since the furniture in our home is a golden maple color, it looks spectacular against the darker red tone. Here's a view of the kitchen:

The best part was J's reaction when he got home. R and I were sitting in the family room when he came in. We were expecting to hear him say something when he saw the living room. Instead, he went straight to the bathroom! J drove straight down from Central Florida, making no pit stops for 3 1/2 hours. He ran past the living room wall, into the bedroom, yet noticed absolutely nothing! We didn't know what to think, but R said, "Don't worry. The minute he walks out of the bedroom he'll be facing the family room, and he can't help but notice it then." Sure enough, J walked out and said, "Whoa!" R and I couldn't stop laughing! J came into the kitchen, looking totally surprised, and said, "I didn't know you were painting." I told him to turn around, and he let out another yell when he saw the living room! He turned back to me and said, "I thought we were going to paint the bedroom!" Nope, he still hadn't noticed! So I told him to go into the bedroom, and he was even more surprised than before! I asked how it was that he'd walked through the house and hadn't noticed or even smelled anything. Truth is, there's very little paint smell in the house. I bought Valspar paint from Lowe's, and it doesn't leave any lingering smell. It goes on smoothly too. Of course, J had other things on his mind when he came home - he needed a potty break! But he was all smiles as he looked at all that had been done while he was gone.

So, am I done? Not by a long shot! The rest of the walls in the main living area need to be painted, and the dining room will get a fresh coat too, since the garden green in there now doesn't work with the other colors. After seeing the Rare Sienna in the rooms, I've decided to go lighter on the rest of the walls so the rooms don't look too dark. The new color that'll be going on is called Churchill Hotel Maple. It's a much lighter shade than the Faint Maple in the bedroom, more like a beige color. I know it'll freshen the place up quite a bit. The darker wall will serve a purpose too - a dark accent wall recedes, giving the impression of a larger room. It tricks the eye into thinking the space is bigger than it really is. I can already see the difference, and I'm loving it! There'll be more pics to come as I continue to beautify my home. Stay tuned!