min0u

up on the wall, my chosen woodsmoke grey looks more like a colonial blue. it’s funny how that goes. two walls are faux-paneled and painted, and two are left to go. i like it. my husband loves it.

i should have taken before-and-after pictures. i mean, we have pictures from when we toured the house before we bought it, but that’s not the same. with the prior owner’s things in it, the living room looked just fine. with our things moved in, it looked unfinished and awkward.

i think i can finish this project by tonight.

this morning, i ripped down the magnolia-print border in the living room. at first, it hadn’t bothered me – i had even kind of liked it, to be perfectly honest. it was better than the country-cute fruits print in the kitchen, or the mauve-and-teal atrocity in the guest bedroom. but it was still too busy, not restful to my eyes or compatible with our things. it needed to come down.

right now, our living room is not coherent. the furniture is mostly dark, and each piece stands out against the lemon-yellow walls to jarring effect. my husband’s television competes with the fireplace for visual dominance, while the seaglass-colored couch – the best piece of furniture in the room – is lost among the contrasts.

i am going to make faux panels out of molding strips below the chair rail. i will paint this lower part of the wall a smokey bluish-grey. the added texture from the faux panels should give the room a visual weight and coherency, and the color should lend the couch a greater prominence.

(choose a range of greys and place them next to one another. your eye will try to distinguish between them, so their differences are emphasized – i hope this works with the couch and the wall.)

next, i will repaint the upper part of the walls in a lighter blue-grey color. this might prove to be a substantial undertaking, as the ceiling is quite high and i am not sure that one of the walls is properly finished under its wallpaper.

finally, i will paint the wall above the fireplace in a more vibrant color, making it the focus of the room. and then i’ll probably start doodling flowers and animals onto the walls, as i can’t ever seem to help myself.