Friday, January 28, 2011

Painting the Living Room

I'd say it's about time I shared the big change that I recently made to our cottage living room. It all began when we first moved in and painted. I chose some light blues to paint the majority of the cottage, with exception to the laundry and dining room. Because our home is so small and you can pretty much see every room at one time I wanted to keep the colour continuous so as not to break up the space and make it feel even smaller. I was happy with how most of the colours turned out, but I was not completely sold on our living room and dining room colours. While I have yet to take on our dining room walls, I have recently re-painted our living room and this time I am totally sold!

When we moved in we painted the living room walls a light, frosty blue called 'Fostoria Glass' by CIL. It was only a shade lighter than our kitchen walls, but the difference to me was noticeable and the colour ended up looking a little too 'baby blue'. It's really hard to show on camera because the colour doesn't always read the same as it does when you are actually standing in the room, but here is a picture anyway.


It's really not bad, but I wasn't happy with it. I also felt that I wanted to have a little more contrast in our home and with the nearly all our walls painted blue, there was hardly any contrast. When we first moved, I used these images of an 'elegant farmhouse' as my inspiration:


I love the blues in these rooms, especially in combination with that beautiful cream (the blue in the top right room was the inspiration for our kitchen colour). Anyway, back to the living room. After some deliberation, I decided to paint it a colour similar to the cream in the above pictures to try and better achieve this look and also to add some contrast to our home. Here are some more images I looked at when deciding whether or not I should paint our living room an off-white:



With these colours in mind, I head off to home depot to look at colour swatches. I narrowed it down right away to two Martha Stewart colours.

'Whetstone Grey'

And 'Talc'

I bought a sample of each colour and brought them home to try out on our walls. After the colours dried and I saw them during the daylight and at night, I decided that the 'Whetstone Grey' would be a little too dark and I went with the 'Talc'. Next step, I prepped our walls by filling all the holes and washing all the walls. Here's the living room as I was getting ready to paint:


Before I share the after pictures, here's one more picture of the living room before I painted:


And here it is after two coats of Martha Stewart's 'Talc':


Before:


After:


Before:


After:


 In the above picture you can see that I also took down the shutters in the living room and sewed a curtain for the smaller window. It really added a lot more light and openness to our living room.


The next couple photos I love because they show you the blue with the cream. I love the subtle contrast it provides- just what I wanted!




Here's a close up of the shelves above the couch. I added a couple of topiaries, a botanical print, some antique books, some glass bottles and a driftwood frame that I made. Oh, and a wreath!  


This one really shows you the two colours together:




 Anyway, I think I've probably bored you with all of those photos by now. Some of you may think it was an improvement and others may have liked it better before, but I am most happy with it now! I really feel like it warms up the living room, but keeps everything fresh and airy. Do any of you have stories of your struggles with paint colours? Have you ever chose a colour only to realize you're not happy with it once it is up? Do tell!

This post has been linked to the Beach Cottage blog!

35 comments:

  1. Jaimie, I too prefer the change in colour. It definitely adds warmth to the cottage. I also love the shelf above the sofa and the freedom it gives to change accents without putting more holes in the wall. Great ideas, as always! Dee

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  2. yep I love the new colour!

    thanks for taking part in BC Good Life Weds!

    happy days

    Sarah x

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  3. Hi Jaimie! I ADORE your new paint job! I'm a white-paint-obsessed kind gal, so I know how much larger and airier white paint can make room. When I moved into my old farmhouse, the living room was painted burgandy! UGH! It was the first room I painted creamy white. This week I'm working on a vintage wardrobe cabinet-turned tv armoire that was previously a pale green --- now creamy white! Great job on your living room and the new decor! :)

    xoxo laurie

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  4. Love the combination, but don't you think picking paint color has to way up high on the 'PITA'scale!

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  5. Great colour, makes it look very sophisticated.

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  6. I'm so impressed! Because the new color made the spaces look so much larger. Great job! I had my garden room painted blue only about a year ago. But you may just have swayed me with that paint job and I may be calling a painter soon!
    Brenda

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  7. Gorgeous, and I love looking through and seeing the peeks of blue. Maybe it gives me the courgae to go with blue in our new bathroom!

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  8. yes,you made a very good choice on the new paint color!! really updates it,very pretty!!

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  9. I love the new paint color, makes me want to get out the roller! Marcia

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  10. I love the paint color, the new curtain, shelf and the contrast from the kitchen to the living room georgeous!!

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  11. Wow your home is beautiful! Everything was already lovely and the color took it up another notch. Love it1 Thanks for sharing! I'm over from A Beach Cottage.
    Blessings,
    Courtney

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  12. Oh my - what a beautiful home you have. Love the colors!

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  13. first time visiting from a beach cottage and think your colour talc is gorgeous!!

    what a lovely fresh change...you must feel like you are in a new house!

    a very happy new follower

    melissa x

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  14. Gorgeous paint colors! The lighter color really brightens up the space, and I love the combination of the two colors together.

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  15. Absolutely gorgeous. Love your blog. Hope to see you at My Dream Canvas:-)

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  16. Hello! Gorgeous home and great blog! I'm glad I found you!

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  17. Thank you everyone SO much! It is so wonderful to hear from you all!

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  18. Your kitchen and living room look lovely. I love what you've done :-)
    Blessings,
    Marcia

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  19. Hi Jaimie-

    I love the MS color you chose and think it looks wonderful with the blue. White and lignt blue are two of my fav colors so I am loving all of your photos. Your home is so open and airy, yet feels warm and homey. The perfect mix in my book.
    My best- Diane

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  20. I couldn't find an email address for you. Just wanted you to know that you’ve been featured on my weekly Welcome Wagon Friday post, which is already up. You have a beautiful blog. You should be receiving neighborly visits soon. Welcome to our community!
    Brenda http://cozylittlehouse.com

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  21. Love the new color!! Great blog :)

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  22. So happy I stopped by...love your blog and I love the new color you chose! Looking forward to catching up on past posts!

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  23. The new color has a total calming effect! You did good!

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  24. The new color is beautiful...you can't go wrong with creams. They make everything look open, airy and fresh. Your living room looks just lovely...I like your white furniture and the shelf above the sofa is arranged so nicely. I also love the color of your kitchen.

    I am visiting from Brenda's, where you have been featured. Your blog is fasboulous and I am a new follower! :-)

    XO,
    Janie

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  25. gorgeous! and much better!
    Rosa

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  26. Your rooms are beautiful! I especially like the way your sofa faces the set of windows instead of a huge-screen tv set. :) It's perfect!

    Sherry @ A Happy Valentine

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  27. Your cottage looks just lovely! Looks like we have the same taste in decorating too!! Well done on the colours too...

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  28. I love the color combinations, and it really defined the spaces while still letting them flow together. The curtain, vs. the shutter, gave it some warmth, and I like the addition of the shelf above the sofa ... lots of personality. Your home is so neat and arranged very nicely.
    Ann

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  29. Hi
    Just wondering if you might be able to tell me where you purchased your wicker pendant light in your kitchen. I'm looking for one just like that for my daughter's bedroom.

    Thanks
    Ginette from montreal

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  30. Hi Ginette! Sorry, I am just seeing this comment! The wicker pendant was purchased at Ikea! I'm not sure if they still have them, but they may! Hope that helps!

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  31. The photos are inspiring! These can be really helpful for those who are thinking of improving their current living spaces and have that fresh look they have always wanted.

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  32. I really like the new color. Looks so calm and neat.

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