bedroom befores

i love before and afters. i have a lot of before and after drafts up my sleeve, but more often than not, projects aren't quite finished around here, and i don't really want to post almost-after pictures. that's way lame. but if i don't, i'll never have anything to show you because nearly every room is at work in progress somehow. so i guess i'll have to be a little lame :)
these are the before pictures of our bedroom. this room i hated more than i could ever explain for a few reasons:a) the paint colors, though not terrible, clashed with our bedroom set. BADLY.b) whoever painted it was likely blind. what a mess. AWFUL.c) someone was trying to get creative with the two-tone, but didn't finish the trim work and so it mostly looked ric-rac. ugh.d) the wallpaper on the ceiling (which is the only unfinished part now) really had to come down. it was so ugly and elias enjoyed peeling it off while he'd lay with us in bed. awesome.e) the list goes on. and on.
i'll post the after pictures of the bedroom in the following post and soon i'll reveal the plans we have for it in the months to come. if you're lucky, maybe i'll give you a hint...



























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bedroom afters

the bedroom: after

i have to admit i'm quite pleased with how this room turned out. then again, anything is an upgrade from the hot mess it was.

this first photo is of one of my favorite little details. it's actually a hook for a jacket, but i'm using it as a tie-back. i bought it at michaels (a craft store) for 70% off thinking i'd use it for the foyer, but when i realized there's no place in there i want random things hanging, i decided to use it to sweep my too long curtains to the side.

the paint is a custom mix very close to behr's "english channel" (ul230-2). i adore it. the trim is a creme color called bare (oc-98) by benjamin moore. i'm going to switch the window shutters for the white ones i had put in the bathroom since now there is no more brown trim. hallelujah!

this will eventually go on the slanted wall where we took off the old wallpaper. as soon as i'm not to nervous that i'm going to screw it up royally. eek. wallpaper scares me.

ta-da!

tomorrow's post will be a sneak peek of what i have in store for the bedroom :)

my crayon box

Okay, let's talk paint some more, since I love paint :)

In the past, I've never been a bold color girl. Maybe in handbags or shoes, but never on say, walls. But this house is different. We live in a 1847 Cape, and traditionally people stick with airy, beachy, soft Cape colors in a house such as ours. But I found this amazing green when we were re-doing the foyer that threw me straight over the edge into bold and saturated and fabulous...

My predicament with the main floor, however, is this: It's currently running the risk of becoming a Crayola crayon box. I'll elaborate...

Here is the foyer- deep rich mossy pukey green. My very favorite paint choice ever (Benjamin Moore's avocado):

That armoire, by the way, was $20 on Craigslist. I just painted it :) Oh yeah, deals on wheels...

A quick family pic :)

Off the foyer is a bright red bathroom, which was red when we moved in and I actually like:

When you walk through the foyer, and into the kitchen, you are greeted by Benjamin Moore's "ol' blue eyes" which is really bright and fabulous, and works because there isn't much wall space at all in the kitchen.

And off the kitchen is the dining room, which as you know, I've felt tempted to paint again, given its school bus yellow-orange condition. Still undecided on the paint here, and still not convinced I want to go pumpkin, though I likely will just to steer away from the "crayon box" syndrome.

I mean, this yellow, Valspar's "morning sunrise"...is electric, boogie oogie.

Off the kitchen is the kids toy room/my office, and it's yet to be painted because the windows need to be replaced (we'd really like to blow the whole thing off and make a bigger addition to expand the kitchen and give us a little bit of basement that's not dirt, but that's not in the cards for now). This room is a pale pale blue grey, and I'm thinking of painting it a warm darker tan. Any thoughts?

Lastly is the living room. As you can see, we tore the ceiling down (a while ago now) to see if the beams underneath were nice enough to expose...but not so much, unfortunately. Eventually, rough pine board will replace the non-ceiling and that sad excuse for a built in will get ripped down, too. My original thought for this room was to paint it red. But now I'm shying away from red and moving towards the blue in the pillows below. A steely blue. Again, thoughts?

The curtains:

i thought that I had found the same paint that was on the walls when I did some patch work. Apparentlyyy not.

So c'mon, all my design/paint/interior decorating girls (you know who you are)...I need some feedback so I can get to work!

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