It's a Horvath's Life: Tackling the Living Room

I finally completed a much-anticipated and much-dreaded project in the living room. I’ve been planning to paint the walls, trim, and ceiling since we moved in because while the color was okay, the finish was bad. There were spackle holes and cracks and dings and everything was dirty. So last week I finally jumped in and got it done!

First was the dreaded paint color decision. I wanted something mostly neutral since the color continues down the stairs and around the corner as well as down our main hallway upstairs. After trying a few samples and finding most of them too orangey, I decided to mix in a little gray and came up with a custom color. It’s a combination of Olympic colors Gravel and Toasted Almond with some gray thrown in there, too. I call it Toasted Gravel. :) But it’s more like greenish/grayish/beige. How’s that for a color?

Here’s what I’m talking about:

It’s a color changing wall paint. In daylight it looks more beige, in evening it appears grayer and in lamplight more green. It’s kind of interesting, but I like it!

I had some fun with ladders in order to finish painting the trim in the foyer. Good times. But no pictures. I wouldn’t relinquish my death grip on the ladder long enough to direct Michael to take a photo. Mama came and helped me paint the ceiling, too. It was my first ceiling painting adventure… let’s just say it’s not my favorite thing ever. :) But it’s much improved from the dingy off-white ceiling we had before. And now the hallway and living room ceilings match.

I love the foyer now… the color really pops against the white trim!

I’m hanging on for dear life to these floral print pillows I made last year. Riley is an avid pillow destroyer. I have lost three of my couch pillows because of these tendencies. So I keep these remaining two pillows in the chair across the room where she does not go in an effort to prolong their life. I also have extra fabric so I can make another set in case of accidental death. :) Evil doggy.

I added the Wake Forest trunk that was my grandfather’s as a side table of sorts next to the couch.

I have a lot more plans for this room now that the painting’s done. (It only took me four years to get it done! Oh and four full days of painting.. whew!) Next on my list is to recover the couches. I have already purchased the fabric which is a warm beige/gold color. And I also want to make new linen curtains in a brown/cream/green patterned fabric. Wish me luck with fabric selections!

In the meantime, here’s a look at the before and after!