Cleaning up with paint

This week has been a busy one for transformation inside the house. Paint is a powerful and cheap way to clean up the house and things are really starting to feel like home. For quite some time now, Tim and I have been collecting paint chips trying to decide what we like the best and also to come up with a complete color plan for our house. We want each room to flow into the next.


After much consideration, we narrowed down a few of our favorites and decided we like light, desaturated colors that we can easily accent with furniture and accessories.

My mom graciously offered (or maybe I begged a little, too) to come and help us paint a few rooms, including the dreaded red dining room. From Tuesday to Thursday, we worked tackled the dining room, Tim's home office, the downstairs half bathroom, the family room and our bedroom. It was busy, but we made some great changes.

Here are some before and after shots:

THE DINING ROOM

Looks dark and dingy, doesn't it?


Getting closer...


And now with a little of Colorplace's Cream in my Coffee paint....wa-la! A clean, crisp, grown-up dining room.


OFFICE

The office is located directly across from the dining room. We thought it would be best to keep these two rooms the same color since they are so close to each other. AND because we loved how neutral Cream in my Coffee looked.

Here is the adobe, clay colored office before:


Getting closer....


And now! We also added some chocolate bamboo roman shades from Lowe's to finish off the window. It's looking like a smart office now perfect for a pharmacist!


DOWNSTAIRS HALF BATH

This bathroom was so unappealing, that you literally wanted to do your business and then get out.


Using a soft muted green color with dark gray accents, we were able to transform this bathroom into a calming oasis. Next to the red dining room, this was probably the most remarkable transformation of them all.


We also changed out the fixtures to all brushed nickel, including the light fixture (thanks Mom for the lesson in electricity!).


The house is really shaping up!