A Lesson in Blue Paint

After tackling the office (first and foremost, so we could get back to work), we starting working on picking out a paint color for the living room. We decided on a light blue...little did we know what trouble that decision would bring. You can see in the above picture some of the test squares we tried out at first. We started out with two shades, one Behr (Caribbean Mist), one the new Martha Stewart paint. The Behr was way too saturated for what we wanted and the Martha Stewart was, well, cheap runny crap. On to two more shades, in Behr (Morning Breeze and Rain Water)...still not right. I should mention we tried samples on every wall in our living room and each wall looked VERY different. Blue, we found out, is just like that. It carries hints of green/yellow or red/purple and getting just the right tone took forever. FINALLY the 5th time was a charm...

Here is the living room color BEFORE:

Notice the drab, suck the life out of you tone of beige, and the old doorway. And here it is AFTER:

LOOOOOVE! It's so happy and modern. And it brings out the colors in the stained glass windows. And it makes the room look soooo much bigger! Why the woman who owned the house before us insisted on making every room dark and cave-like is beyond me. Rule of thumb: light colors push walls out, dark colors bring walls in.

And can we give some major kudos to Ian on building the new doorway and kitchen entry? How amazing is it?

Overall the biggest lesson was Don't Buy Cheap/Crappy paint. The Martha Stewart stuff was actually more expensive than Behr, but went on thin and runny. The previous owner's cheap Valspar paint wipes off when you try to clean the walls with plain water. So, pay the money for good paint. It goes on thicker and coats more evenly, requiring less coats, and therefore saving you precious time and money...and stays on the wall.

Materials:

Wall Paint: Behr - Pale Sky

Trim/Door Paint: Benjamin Moore - White Dove

**Everything else in this room came from the apartment and /or were wedding gifts, but here is where everything is from:

Couch: The Gifted Gardener

Antique Asian corner pieces (two): Ivey-Selkirk Auctions

Table lamps: Crate & Barrel

Table: Made by Ian

TV cabinet: Old TV armoire (modified by Ian by taking the top cabinet off and creating a new top surface and staining it to match)

Chairs: Estate sale ($5!), painted black

Curtains: Target

Pillows: Crate & Barrel

Throw: World Market

Also, here was a project from the spring:

Ian and his mom ripped out all the grass on the driveway side of the front yard and replaced it with a planting area. Ian also added stone steps from the driveway, so we don't have to make the choice of either sludging through the mud to get to the door, or going the long way around to the sidewalk.

We're also attempting to grow ivy on both sides of the walkway. Ian also cut back a LOT of the branches on the trees, so you can actually see the house.