the biggest transformation in our house
i wonder if most people have the experience that one room or one detail of a house really sells it to them. for me, the part of our house that really sold me was actually an addition to the original home: a 2 story great room. this room is pretty enormous and has a TON of windows. it gets so much light and connects the kitchen to the dining room, and sort of serves as an anchor to the house. you can walk out from this room to the deck and backyard, and have the best view of our dear deer friends (scott hates this joke, i make it constantly) when they come to visit. another giant bonus as a parent: i can sit on the couch in this room and see fiona whether she's in the dining room, play room or kitchen. she can run a loop around our first floor and i don't (necessarily) have to move from the great room. yes, everyone, one of the reasons i love this room is because it totally enables me to be lazy.
but this room was probably my LEAST favorite color when we bought it. it was a very rich, very saturated, very offensive orange-y yellow. here is what it looked like when we bought the house.
it was truly horrifying to me, a hater-of-color. it also felt really 90s in style, and i could just imagine brown couches with maroon accents and a giant tube tv in the corner.
but that's not all this beauty had to offer. while this room was pretty great in terms of function and design, there was one giant and very confusing flaw.
a window right in the middle of the wall... that goes... to the master bedroom. because you know how you always want to be able to hear everything that's going on in the main living space when you're in the master bedroom, probably trying to sleep? ME NEITHER. this design decision truly baffled us and was actually the only thing beyond paint that we addressed immediately in the house. i have no idea why anyone would ever live with an open-air breezeway from the biggest bedroom in the house to the most frequented spot in the house, but we remedied that right away. here's that process.
this process included drywall on both sides of the window, so we had to paint over the mess on the master bedroom side as well. i chose a very light blue that was like 2 shades lighter than the existing color in the room. some might say that was a wasted effort, and i am here to tell you... you're probably right. but hey! i love it and i don't have to think about painting that room again for many years.
once the drywall was done, we were able to move forward with painting over the heinous yellow in the great room. you can see in a few of these pictures we considered many gray paints. at first, we really thought we wanted a nice light gray color. but then, as we painted the kitchen, play room and dining room pretty shades of gray, i panicked and realized how much i love white and how i didn't have any white spaces in the house. a lot of people think white looks unfinished or stark, but i completely disagree. i think white is serene, fresh, and timeless. i knew i would never get sick of a giant white room with huge windows and tons of sunlight. so, we went for it. the day the painters did the room was a super bright and sunny, hot day, and one of the guys was like, this room is the brightest room on earth. it made me nervous but then i realized this was exactly what i wanted.
but this room was probably my LEAST favorite color when we bought it. it was a very rich, very saturated, very offensive orange-y yellow. here is what it looked like when we bought the house.
but that's not all this beauty had to offer. while this room was pretty great in terms of function and design, there was one giant and very confusing flaw.
a window right in the middle of the wall... that goes... to the master bedroom. because you know how you always want to be able to hear everything that's going on in the main living space when you're in the master bedroom, probably trying to sleep? ME NEITHER. this design decision truly baffled us and was actually the only thing beyond paint that we addressed immediately in the house. i have no idea why anyone would ever live with an open-air breezeway from the biggest bedroom in the house to the most frequented spot in the house, but we remedied that right away. here's that process.
this process included drywall on both sides of the window, so we had to paint over the mess on the master bedroom side as well. i chose a very light blue that was like 2 shades lighter than the existing color in the room. some might say that was a wasted effort, and i am here to tell you... you're probably right. but hey! i love it and i don't have to think about painting that room again for many years.
once the drywall was done, we were able to move forward with painting over the heinous yellow in the great room. you can see in a few of these pictures we considered many gray paints. at first, we really thought we wanted a nice light gray color. but then, as we painted the kitchen, play room and dining room pretty shades of gray, i panicked and realized how much i love white and how i didn't have any white spaces in the house. a lot of people think white looks unfinished or stark, but i completely disagree. i think white is serene, fresh, and timeless. i knew i would never get sick of a giant white room with huge windows and tons of sunlight. so, we went for it. the day the painters did the room was a super bright and sunny, hot day, and one of the guys was like, this room is the brightest room on earth. it made me nervous but then i realized this was exactly what i wanted.
LOOK at all that sun! so bright, so fresh, so not-yellow!
with couch and rug, and a handsome couch-dweller.
and as we have it today, with one adorable toddler and a repeat handsome couch-dweller. i LOVE this room.
and the other
side of the room, where frequent guest of honor, elmo, resides. we spend a LOT
of time in this room and i'm so glad we did the work that we did to get it
right. i know i'll never regret the white paint (benjamin moore super white, by
the way) and i'm sure we'll continue to evolve the room decor-wise.
next up on my list is this dated fireplace and mantle... stay tuned.
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