This seems to happen to me every year, the holiday’s end and I get this overwhelming urge to work on a project. The first year I wallpapered my entry way, the second year I de-wallpapered and then re-wallpapered the music room and this year the target is my living room.
Here are my reasons/guidelines for the living room redo: Firstly, if you read the blog you know that I’ve been day dreaming about living room furniture. We’re in the market to order a new sofa and chair this spring and to be honest, making the right choice has been stressing me out. In order to make the right decision I needed to investigate all the furniture layout options our living room has to offer. Secondly, being that we just shelled all the money in the world for Christmasy costs we’re feeling a little light in the pockets. Since I obviously can’t resist the urge to jump into a project I have to do it with little to no money. I’ve convinced Jeff that we can afford a gallon of paint. That’s all I’m working with, $50 bucks and nothing else.
So like any good thrifty gal you have to work with what you’ve got. I took all of my furniture out of the living room and then started placing it back very slowly. I started by rotating the rug, then putting the sofa on in front of the west facing window, allowing the south facing window to hang out in all it’s sunny glory. I moved the chair from one corner of the room to the opposite corner and then placed the coffee table back in front of the couch. Now behind the couch is our radiator with built in radiator cover. I decided to use that like a sofa table bringing height to the candles and vases behind the ouch by stacking books below them.
So there’s the no-cost furniture rearrangement. It looks great! This is the way that it should always have been. The space feels so much bigger, and this new layout could actually allow for a small chaise sectional if we wanted!
Next problem of course is the walls. Although I love my teal blue ‘Hallowed Hush’ walls, they are overstaying their welcome. I’ve been living with them for 5 years spanning 3 different houses and apartments, I just feel like it’s time for a change. I ADORE all my favorite bloggers and their white living rooms, I wish I could join the white club too. I probably would’ve painted years ago if I only had one thing… white molding. Sometimes this is the one thing I regret about our house.
“So Shut up and paint them Scoops!”
Well, this house has really nice beautiful wood molding. That pretty wood molding is the number one reason I was okay with buying a house whose main floor was covered in wood paneling. It’s wonderful quarter sawn oak with the perfect patina. I’m almost certain I couldn’t live with myself for painting it. I mean it hasn’t been painted in 100 years!
“Hey Scoops, just shut up about it already!”
Okay, okay, so now that you know that whole story, you know I need to figure out a way to coexist with wood trim and baseboard moldings in my living room.
I figure, just paint the god damn walls white, and don’t be a pussy, there’s no harm in trying it out, duh. I have a gallon of nice white paint leftover from when I painted the bedroom last spring just waiting to be used. It seemed obvious. I dive right in and partially paint (wuss out and paint only a wall and two corners) the living room, and here it is:
I need suggestions on a new canon lens to photograph interiors!!, but that’s another story
I’m going to live with it for a few days and see how I feel, right now I am not really loving it, and I miss my blue. I’m chalking this up to living with the same blue walls for years and going into shock upon seeing a sudden and drastic change. I’m going to give myself the weekend to decide if this stays or if this goes.
If I can’t live with the white, the walls are going blue again, only this time darker and tealier. Think Navy on the greeny side. I ordered samples earlier this week from Benjamin Moore in Teal, Galapagos Turquoise, Jade Garden & Dragonfly as a back up.
So tell me what you think? Can I pull off white walls with dark wood molding, or should I return to my beloved blue? I need advice like nobody’s business!
Aahh return to the beloved blue! The white is too cold. I had a serious crush on your living room in the before shot!
I think you all are convincing me (although I was pretty much right there with you). I gotta get my blue back :)
I don’t love it either. It somehow makes the room seem smaller, not sure why…also a little boring =(
I definetly noticed the room seeming smaller but brighter. Colors are weird.
I LOVE the white. So clean and really highlights your artwork and photos.
I wish you could come see it in person… I’m just not sure. I do think it makes the artwork look pretty.
I also find myself envying other people’s white walls, but in my house, I have really dark paint colors (navy blue, dark gray, etc). I think it’s because white looks really good in photographs, but in person it’s kind of boring. I think the white looks good (you know, in the picture), but I totally understand you wanting to repaint. Just think of it as a pallet cleanser. A little sorbet for the eyes so you can make a new choice.
I agree, white looks better in pictures most if the time. I have friends who can pull it off beautifully but I had to actually try it to know that was true in my house. Plus there is something about having some kind of color (even if it’s a cool tone) in geographical locations that have little light in the winter months.
You’re right, i’ll use the white as a tool to pick the perfect new blue, I like that idea very much.
@the lazy fair is right. I think white looks great too in photos, but in person you have to have the perfect natural lighting for it. I just don’t have that in my house, or I’d have white walls too! I love that our houses are so similar! (Maybe because we live in neighboring neighborhoods) I also have beautiful unpainted dark oak woodwork that I sometimes wish was white, but then I remember how it’s white upstairs and it’s nice to have a floor of each. And my blue paint really helped the living room too.
http://www.janelletubbs.com/at5053/2012/11/18/new-shiny-floors/
Hey janelle!
Your comment hit the nail on the head. I too have white trim upstairs and unpainted woodwork downstairs and it is nice to have both! Thanks for making me feel better about that. I’m also glad you commented because I was reminded of how lovely your blue living room is with the wood trim and beautiful white crown molding. It’s such an inspiration…. Someday I will be in the white white crown molding club :)
I like the white quite a bit, but then I’m a minimalist and I automatically like a space that looks bright and airy, and this is it. I also admire your ability to just up and paint a room!
I adore it too, I really envy all the beautiful light and airy white homes I see around the internet and in magazines, but I’m just not sure it feels right in my house.
We will see I guess, I’m still giving it the weekend to see for sure.
Dark dark dark – navy-tealy blue for sure!
I think that is where my heart is :)
I have a 125 year old house with crazy wood mouldings and I painted the walls white. The rooms are huge and we get lots of light. If the rooms were smaller I would definitely opt for a darker colour though. The white is nice for my artwork but kind of dulls out the character. I say go with the blue!
It is true, the rooms on my floor are not huge and I feel like the darker color makes them feel bigger. I especially like the contrast of my light curtains on the dark walls, it makes the ceiling seem taller.
Your house sounds beautiful.
I grew up with dark woodwork and white walls. It isn’t for everyone, but it makes a great backdrop for art. In our house, all mouldings are bright white already, thank God, because that step takes guts and is probably illegal in some states. It is truly a breath of fresh air in our tiny house in the land of winter.
I do love artwork on a white wall. I bet your house is so bright and pretty. Jealous.
Please don’t join the white brigade! I LOVE YOUR BLUE WALLS! So much beauty and character. I often go back to gaze at your blue room just for the lovely feeling it gives me.
Ali
Awh, this is so sweet of you to say. I think you’ve convinced me, I do love a white room but I LOVE my blue living room!
Thank you!
Sunday afternoon and I’m starting to appreciate the white. It’s growing on me, not on Jeff though.
I like the white. I’ve always thought white/light colors made spaces feel bigger and darks made them feel smaller, more intimate. We’ve got white everywhere but one room these days (a dark, cool grey) and my favorite thing about the color is how it makes up for the lack of natural light in our space. Best of luck in hashing it out!
I used to be violently opposed to white walls. Growing up my room was the only one with color, a “Golden Girls-Miami” seafoamy green (1986 ‘holla!). I just bought a 1948 ranch and painted all the walls white and I LOVE IT! (No one else does but whatever). I painted my trim too but my trim is gross thin window trim not beautiful yummy thick historically accurate trim like yours. White walls make the art pop and the light flow, but I loved your blue walls too.
With that said,this comment is completely useless, but I will say this, wait a month before you and your love decide to change it, it might grow on him too. :)
Anya!
We’re definitely giving it a go, I don’t know if we can make it a whole month be we’ll try. We’re also trying out a few blue shades while we’re at it. My living room currently has 4 different colored walls. Probably not the best way to make a decision but we are getting there. I bet your ranch home looks beautiful. I would have white walls without a doubt if I lived in a ranch too.
Thanks!
Give the white a longer trial! I painted my dining room white (from bluish grey) and hated it for a really long time. But now it’s totally grown on me and I wouldn’t change it back.
This is good to know, we’re def considering the white hard core.. I really wish we had white trim, I think I’d be sold then.