{ Living Room | Before }
Remember how I said I was super into my living room’s kind of Aspen-y vibe, what with the dark wood and exposed beams and such?
I changed my mind.
It’s just that our living room really is pretty small and dark no matter how you slice it, and needs all the help that it can get to brighten it up. I think if the beams were, like, gorgeous bare planks of pine or something they might feel more like an essential structural element of the house, but when I took a good look at them I realized that they were really just pieces of wood that had been painted near-black. In the winter this was fine – I wanted to huddle up in a cave with my fireplace and lots and lots of plaid things – but now that spring is here all that dark wood has been starting to feel sort of stifling (and the weak-tea-colored walls are just terrible; I was always planning on dealing with those at some point). The office makeover that opened up a wall and let in more natural light made a big difference, but still: it needed more.
Lighter and brighter, please.
So I painted the beams and the walls* (Valspar Du Jour, specifically). And then painted the fireplace (which was a sort of yellowish brick surrounded by wood planks painted that same almost-black) white, too, except this white was a semigloss as opposed to a flat, to make the mantle area stand out a bit.
And now? It is clean and open and – yes – bright (I also swapped out our grey linen curtains for white sheers). It feels way less Aspen cabin and way more beach house…and that’s exactly what I want it to feel like.
* * *
*Note: “I painted them” might be a slightly less-than-accurate way to put this. To clarify, a service called “Style Painting” that I found on Thumbtack painted them. But I was there! So, by the transitive property (if you’re going to ignore the actual properties of the transitive property, as I am completely willing to do), I totally painted them. …Didn’t I do a nice job?
P.S. I get a lot of questions about my couch, so before you lay eyes upon the glorious photographs below, allow me clear up any doubts: this couch? Is THE BEST. It was the first grown-up piece of furniture I ever owned, and continues to be the best (furniture-related) investment I have ever made. Kendrick and I have literally started mild fights with each other so that we can say things like “FINE WHATEVER, I’M GOING TO GO SLEEP ON THE COUCH,” because both of us not-so-secretly really want to sleep on the couch. Like every night.
P.P.S. In related news, my massive Sputnik chandelier, which is also The Best, is on sale for over 40% off, and you can get free shipping with code FREESHIP100. Just in case you were in the market for a massive, alien-ish gold thing to hang from your ceiling.
* * * More “After” Shots, below * * *
{ Rug | Coffee Table Tray | Lamp }
{ See that attractive sloping dent-thing in my couch pillows? That would be Virgil’s fault. Damn it, Virgil. }
{ This chandelier is 40% off, which makes me sad because I didn’t buy it for 40% off. But you can! }
{ Stay Gold piece by artist Laura Ricciardi, whose work is also available on glam | camp }
