After four paint colors, I have finally decided to go with my initial instinct. Funny how that happens, huh? When we moved in to our apartment, each room was painted the standard-issue “apartment tan.” Since then I have painted our bedroom and the living area.
The process for choosing a color for the living room has been difficult for this indecisive girl. I initially laid out my ideal plan for the room, furniture placement and all, which you can read about here. The furniture is still the same as it is in that post, but we have sold the love seat and are hoping to sell the pine entertainment center – we call it The Alamo – soon. Wish us good luck that someone will be searching Craigslist for one!
Below is the color our living room/kitchen/dining area were painted before we moved in – the typical apartment tan. One thing we didn’t really consider when we moved was the positioning of our furniture in the apartment. With the sale of the love seat, our living room feels wider, but it’s at an in-between size that makes it a little precarious. It is definitely something we’ll take more seriously in the next place we live; we were so eager to get the heck out of the old apartment that we were perhaps a bit hasty in the choice of the unit we are currently renting.
Here are some pictures of the next layer of paint. It was Behr’s color-matched version of Benjamin Moore’s Kona. I was impressed at how precise the color match turned out, and I think if our living room was a bit bigger and an enclosed space (meaning it wasn’t open to the kitchen), I would have loved it. I did not paint all of the walls, which was totally an eyesore, but from the beginning I felt non-committal to the color. Yikes, look at that splotchy paint... I knew it wouldn't stay this color for long (OK, long is relative, it was painted in May and I FINALLY repainted in September!).
Here you can see how enthused Aaron was about repainting it all with me.Please pardon the mess... we moved most of the stuff in the living room to the middle of the room so we could work around the sides and not clear out the room completely. In the picture below, you can also see our halloween mantle! Like I said, we didn't get to this project until September.
As you can tell from the picture below, I removed one set of cabinet doors, I had a hare-brained scheme to paint the cabinets white to match the trim, or try out open shelving in the kitchen, but I decided against both, citing cost and how long we’ll be living here as reasons to just deal with it. But you never know until you try, right? You can also see the color I tested above the stove, which was actually a color we did not choose for our bedroom. It was a little too loud for our tastes. Again, never know what it looks like until it's on the walls!
You might also notice the hack-job I did on the trim painting. My poor daddy, who is a perfectionist by nature and a home remodeling expert (thus a fantastic painter) would be so embarrassed if he saw these pictures, but, rest assured, I have the trim paint and will make it right. In the picture below you can actually see the paint color we chose for living room and kitchen, Behr's Paint and Primer in one in Vast Desert... Aaron tested the paint on the side of the faux bar.
Isn't he a happy little helper? Ha! He actually didn't mind too much. Please pardon the mess you see through the door right behind him - that is Aaron's office AKA the room I never go in AKA where we will put you if you come to visit us.
Coming up later this week, the process of painting our living room!
2 comments:
I have always been too noncommittal about the places I rent to paint them. I did once, only because I didn't have to paint it back when I left. The landlords these days are pretty picky - especially the one we have now.
However I will say I am not as "noncommittal" as JD. He hardly finds it necessary to hang the curtains we bought, let along paint the walls. :)
That's why we're painting, too; we paid a non-negotiable fee when we moved in that covered decoration fees, so we are going to paint if we want to!
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