Painting an Open Floor Plan

When we moved into our house four years ago, I was so thankful the walls weren’t painted white.  They’re a warm ecru.  It stands out nicely and every room looks great against the backdrop of that color.  I knew I’d want to wait a while before adding color, but this summer the day had arrived!  Yesterday I showed you the first room I painted – the dining room.  I painted all four walls, and really love it!

Yesterday I asked what room/wall you thought I painted next well…
In order to connect the dining room space to the living room, which is all open, I wanted to use color.  After the dining room paint was on the wall, I got to thinking about a gallon of paint I’d seen at Lowe’s on their mis-tinted rack.  It was marked to $9 and I was pretty sure it was a just a shade darker than what I’d put on these freshly painted walls and I felt sure it would look great on the fireplace wall of the living room.

I jumped in the car early the next morning and sure enough, that paint was the perfect shade to complement the color in the adjoining room.  And $9?!  What a great deal!  I always, always check the sale rack of mis-tinted paint before I pay full price for a gallon!  What someone else hated might be exactly what I need!

So, here’s what it looked like before it got painted:

Not bad, but…

I like this even better!! I decided to only paint the fireplace wall.  I didn’t want to overpower the room with blue.  It was the perfect amount of color.

Then aside from the paint, I also rearranged the room to open it up for summer.  In the winter months I enjoy having the couch facing the fireplace, but as I mentioned in a post here, I like to face the windows in the warmer months.  It also made the room look bigger.  Here’s the before and after:

I angled my desk in the corner, again, so I can look outside while I’m working there.

I’m trying to add more whites and weed out the red in these rooms.  I’ve had red as an accent for many years, but it’s time for a change, which I’ll do gradually.

The blue really freshened up the living room and made it feel calm and welcoming.  I’m so happy with this color choice and the room arrangement.

And what did it cost?  NINE DOLLARS!  Woo Hoo!

Do you have a room you’re wanting to paint?  Check out the discounted paints first and see if they have something that will work!  Does anyone else love to rearrange the furniture?

Refresh your living space!