What I Did On My Snow Day(s) Vacation

Thanks to Ol' Man Winter Clay and I enjoyed 2 days home from work while we waited out the blizzard of 2011. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I couldn't access my work systems from home and so I had to find other ways of entertaining myself. (Yes I did try to work because I have a TON of things to get done). However, Clay was able to access his work's systems so he spent a lot of his time working from home. While other than a few conference calls, I was free to get to work on my home improvement projects!

Last weekend Clay and I went to Home Depot and purchased paint for several rooms. The priority was the living room since the plain tan walls just didn't speak to me. On top of that the former owners used the walls as pin cushions and had nail holes about every 6 inches. When Clay repaired the walls it looked like the walls had chickenpox! Also, once we got started we realized that the last homeowners apparently didn't believe in cleaning up after a spill since we found several areas where juice or wine had been spilled on the walls and baseboards but never cleaned up... SERIOUSLY!?!?

So here's the before...

We had already "fixed" the stripes a couple of weekends ago. But as you can see everything (other than the dizzying stripes) is the same drab tan color. And they used flat paint! Grrr.

I decided to go with the same color scheme I had in the last house. I originally thought I would do something different, but since I had only painted the living area in the old house about a year ago I realized I really enjoyed the colors and decided it would work for this house... at least for now :)!



The stripes are now a nice slate blue/gray. The tan has been repainted to a similar color but at least I've used a satin finish so the walls have some sheen and can be cleaned easily. And then I finished the living area in a nice chocolate color (or "breakfast blend"). The pantry area divides the room and I did a faux finish called "sueded leather" which used the tan and chocolate brown. The faux finish helped break up the space and still tie the color scheme all together.

Okay it's official I have watched too much HGTV!

Now all we need to do is hang some art and we will be officially settled (at least in the main living area)!