Feeling a little BLUE?

We've been working really hard on our house and I'm excited to show you some of the results.  Of course, everything is in a "progress" phase, but it's encouraging to look at how far we've come in such a short time  The difference in the feeling and vibe of the house can be attributed to one main thing, my friends.  Paint.  It makes all the difference.  Paint breathes life into a tired room.   

 

We hired painters for the trim and to take down the wallpaper. While we love to do projects ourselves, we have begun to recognize the wisdom of occasionally hiring out a task, even if we can do it, if it saves us headaches, time, and frustration. After this experience, we are leaning heavily toward hiring these guys again when we are ready to paint the kitchen cabinets. Sometimes it's just worth it.

 

What we started with

 

We have painted nearly all of the main living areas upstairs. Once the wallpaper was removed and the walls were patched and prepped, we worked into the wee hours several nights in a row to paint the walls before the painters got to the trim. That way, the onus was on the painters to have clean lines and make it look perfect.  Clever, eh?

 

Walls painted, some of the trim done

 

The color of the living room is called Watery by Sherwin Williams.  It's very similar, just a little bit grayer, than our kitchen color in the last house. 

 

 

That color was Behr's Clear Pond.  You can find the Sherwin Williams one here and the Behr one here if you're interested.

 

When we first painted the room, which we didn't start until after dark, I was positive I'd made a mistake.  It was too bright, and not the calm yet vibrant color I had loved in my kitchen of yore.  Yet in every picture I took, the color showed as what I wanted it to be.  See how calm it looks here?  The color grew on me as more and more of the trim was finished in a nice bright white.  Now I love it and can't imagine doing anything else.

 

Trim done, french doors not finished, mini blinds still up.

After the main areas of the house were complete, we took a break from painting.  I was raring to go, wanting to complete the entire house before Nate started crawling, but Handsome Hero had a much wiser plan.  Instead of spending lots of money to get all the paint at once and feeling a huge pressure to push through to the point of neglecting other important things, like, I don't know, kids, we are going to tackle one room a month.  That way other projects can get done at the same time and we aren't breaking the bank over paint.  It also means I don't have to know my colors yet and can really think and plan what I want to do for the next month and make more thoughtful choices.

Done.  Now what to do over the fireplace?

Wise man, my husband. You'd think he knew me or something.

Once we were set on removing the wallpaper, I originally thought of going really neutral in the living room because the entry, hall, dining room, and kitchen all look onto it. Gray was an option, but I want charcoal sofas and sometimes when you put a piece of gray furniture against gray walls, unwelcome undertones peep through. It can turn purple or blue or pink when it hadn't looked that way before. So then I thought of going beige. Sounds boring, I know, but I was going to have lots of color in the accessories, so I thought it would be really pretty.

 

Nice, but the balance seems off.

 

Handsome Hero said, "You won't like it. You'll never be happy with it."
My sister said,"You'll hate it. You need color."
My mom said, "You''ll regret it. You aren't a beige person."
My dad said, "Do whatever you want, honey. But your mom is right."

 

Much better.  For now.... :)
 

I figured that there was wisdom in a multitude of counselors.  I mean, that many people who know and love me couldn't be wrong.

And they weren't.  I'm so happy with the vibrant yet calm and sophisticated color.  It makes me very happy each morning to walk into that room and every other color, from the kitchen to the dining room, entry to the hall, works with it.  I'll show you those very soon.

 

Update on our little Nater Gater:  Nate has continued to lose weight, regardless of the extra feedings.  We are starting him on solids today {avocados, for higher calories}.  Please pray that he will eat them and really "take" to solids.  If not, we're probably heading toward a feeding tube.  We are encouraged by his sweet smiley attitude and continued interaction.  He's not lethargic at all and you wouldn't know there was a problem except for his lack of interest in moving around and playing with toys.