Painting & Decorating

Seeing as winter isn't in a hurry to leave us here (at least we didn't the the snow that they were calling for yesterday!), we've had plenty of time to work on putting the house back together after the painting was completed last Tuesday.

We've had a lot of questions about how things have gone with the painting and what things look like now. Here are photos of the living room, dining room, upstairs hall and a look up the stairs (changing the paint color from black to white on the risers lightened up that area remarkably!!!). We're still playing with layout in the living and dining rooms - we'd brought in some, but not all - of the furniture for a large quilt guild meeting last week and came upon the current setting, which we like a lot (with the love seat in a corner). The new curtains are from JCPenney, the curtain rods from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and the rug from Pottery Barn. Had loads of fun trying out different samples from a variety of stores (and even more fun returning them later!). We're really, really liking the new colors and decor.

Built-in corner cabinet in dining room:


View from living into dining:


Looking towards the front of the house in the living room:


The fireplace and mantle:


Looking toward the back of the house in the living room:


View up the stairs (like I said, the white is amazingly different! the handrails are a different color now too):


Second floor hallway:


What do you think? I think Ben might be going into withdrawal as he no longer has the painter here during the way. But two weeks was long enough!

House Painting

We've finally gotten around to painting the downstairs area of our house, something we've talked about doing since we bought the house and moved in 4 years ago. And it's only getting done now because we opted to pay someone else to do it! We spent last weekend moving pretty much everything either out to the garage, to the spare bedroom, or down to the basement and the only things currently remaining in the rooms are the sofa, love seat, and oversized chair. After one attempt at getting the love seat out the front door, we decided to leave it sit.

The painters started on Tuesday and will be back this week. I guess I never really asked how long it would take, but assumed the week from some other comments the gentleman had made. While we're anxious to get back into the rooms - especially the dining room as we have been eating at either the desks in our office/sewing room or from a third chair sitting in the kitchen. Fun times!

So here are some in-progress photos for the dining room, entry hall, and living room. We really are loving the colors and I spent a good deal of yesterday looking for a new rug for the living room and curtains that will both match the paint but also fit stylistically with the rug. This is no easy task, apparently!

Living room before:


Living room now:
View from dining to living before:


View from dining to living now:


Dining room before:



Dining room now:

We're loving the colors and can't wait to move back into the space. Hallways into the upstairs space will be painted as well as the risers, handrails, and spindles, so it really is a good amount of work. I'll keep you updated on the progress!