Sep 18, 2022

Color Game : Here's to Newly Painted Rooms

We had our main floor walls painted when we moved in twenty-two years ago. Various shades of yellow including canary yellow half walls I painted myself. Those made my contractor literally wince when he'd come in. As you can imagine, it was beyond time for a refresh. After the new floors were laid, the painting took 10 days in June to complete. I'm thrilled with the wall paint color - White Duck by Sherwin Williams. Every room on the main floor (save my study) has been painted. Let's take a spin around the almost-finished main floor.

I'm happy the creamy wall color doesn't fight with my new floors. A pair of IKEA picnic chairs in the entry way.

The color changes a bit depending on the time of day. Oh, and did I mention I named my new roommate Fred Fiddle Leaf? Every morning, I turn his pot a quarter way round to ensure all the leaves are getting sunlight. And ever Saturday morning, he gets 2 quarts of water.

Most of the woodwork was painted in Benjamin Moore's Simply White. The baseboards were painted the wall color as they're nothing special and I didn't want to draw attention to them.

I know I should have an area rug but I'm struggling to find something affordable. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!

Shortly after moving in, we had bookcases built and the widows enlarged (they all had a prison cell look -12" wide) to turn this dining room into a room for watching birds and wildlife just outside.

Here's my sunroom perch for reading, napping and wildlife watching.

Since moving to California, I've been a work-from-home sales rep and for the last years, worked in this room. Now, it's moved from an "office" to a "study" as there's no more long hours in front of a screen. My old IKEA table is now free for all kinds of projects. This year, new hardwood replaced twenty-year-old carpet.

A few years ago, I had my study painted the same color as the bedrooms so this time, just the baseboards and trim was refreshed.

The guest bathroom got new floor tile grout, a Miracle Method treatment on the tub surround, new shower hardware and in two weeks, will get a new window. It's going to be a 36" square and should light up the room. Gotta say, I'm as excited for this as anything!

The new wall color looks A-OK with the 2006 cabinet color (Glidden's Autumn Haze). It was suggested painting the cabinets Simply White and the island coal black. I thought that would have been swell until the quote came in at $6,000. That wasn't in the budget but new quartz countertops and backsplash were.

Refinishing our kitchen table top was my first project of the year. I dared sand it without even a drop cloth as I knew the floor guys would be in to work their magic the following week. It's been seven months of refreshing and the main floor projects are almost complete. Soon, contractor Jesus and his team, will be putting in the enlarged bathroom window (in addition to some exterior maintenance work). Then, I'll get the windows washed to celebrate finishing. P always said our house was really my playhouse and I've got to admit, I've been playing hard this year. Since he died in early January, I've seemed to use this house as grief therapy. Next week, I'll shop my basement for colorful room accessories to celebrate fall. In the meantime, enjoy the last weekend of summer!

For the full story of the interior painting (including hiring a colorist) - please check out these articles :