Uncategorized

Paint Makeover: Parent’s house

November 15, 2010

We believe we should all love where we live.

We’re a couple of homebodies, working to uncover the home our home wants to be. And we’re so happy to have you here. 

Portfolio

Projects

Design

We're Chris + Julia

read more

What we're                   right now

Loving

browse the shop

Befores, afters, mood boards, plans, failures, wins. We’ve done a lot of projects, and they’re all here. 

We have a long-standing relationship with DIY, and love rolling our sleeves up and making it happen. 

Even when you don’t want to rip down a wall, you can make that space in your home better. Right now.

browse all

browse all

browse all

02

01

03

Popular Posts

1.

2.

3.

Top Categories

The last time I spent a few days at my parent’s house was back in June.  Chris was putting on a conference and he would be gone for a week (sound familiar?), but I kept plenty busy.  I decided to makeover my parent’s family room.  Here is a before picture:

Okay, it wasn’t taken RIGHT before I broke out the paint cans, but I forgot to take a picture.  I am such an amateur.  This was actually at my baby shower, but it gives a nice span of the whole buttery room.  Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with a good buttery, egg-noggy paint on the wall–in the right space.  Maybe one with some white and celery-colored accents, but since my dad was insistent on keeping all of his oak–oak, the wall color HAD to change.  A couple other things: the two chairs were completely blocking the bookcase and had no visual access to the tv.  And the extra long couch was taking up a lot of entry room into the space.  The furniture needed to be moved around.  Also you can’t see them that well, but there were vertical blinds sucking all the comfort out of that room on the right wall.

This is when my parent’s started freaking out a little bit.  Next to the yellow, the darker gray paint color that I picked for the fireplace wall, looked close to black.  I was a little unsure myself, but I was confident in the whole vision and I kept going for it.  
Once the whole back wall got painted, everything starting looking a lot more calm.  Onward to the other walls!
I picked a lighter gray for the other walls.  It creates an elongated effect, but keeps things light and non-dungeony….not convinced?
What about now?  Such a difference, right?  I also added very few accents, like that painting of the Poppies to add a red pop and the matching red pillow on the couch.  Also, those white twigs in the corner from Ikea and the gray-ish leaf-print pillow on the couch really amp up the nature feel the room had taken on.  
A large mirror over the couch makes the room look even bigger.  We also moved the larger couch to that wall, the two chairs opposite of it, and the smaller rocker loveseat opposite the fireplace.  Everything flows a lot easier now.  My parents were ready to buy new, updated furniture–but the current stuff still had a few more years left in it.  To bring it up a notch, we did use a staple gun to staple all of the ruffles underneath.  It made everything less frilly and more classy. 
The big difference in this room–paint color.  *Sigh*  I will be happy when my renting days are through and I can throw paint on a wall whenever I want.  However,  this morning I made an online purchase to spice up some of my walls without paint–stay tuned and get excited.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

What do you think?

  1. Nicole says:

    You’re quite the little decorator! Great job updating the space! I’m obsessed with gray right now…so I LOVE the choice of wall color…nice work.

  2. That looks so much better! I do love that mustard color but it just depends on the amount and the right space. cute in a bathroom maybe?

    I’m way excited and I’m staying tuned for more updates!

all the latest

We believe we should all love where we live.

We’re a couple of homebodies, working to uncover the home our home wants to be. And we’re so happy to have you here. 

HI! We're Chris + Julia

read more

Load More

Reader Faves

SHop all

What We're                     Right Now

What We're                 Right Now

Looking for our favorite things? A place to shop our home room by room, or just catch up on what Julia's wearing / loving right now? Browse the CLJ shop. 

Loving

looking for inspiration? 

A reader recently asked me if I’m starting to fully embrace traditional style and whether we still consider our house to be a “modern Colonial” and why. It was a really great question and so timely — I had really just been thinking about my approach to this home and how my style has changed […]

Can We Send You Our Love Letter?

Another way for us to stay in touch! Joining our weekly newsletter gives you access to exclusive content, never-before-seen photos, your questions answered, and our favorite DIYs. Sign up below!

Follow Along on Instagram

Welcome to our online community where we've posted home, DIY, style, renovations, and family since '09. Renovating our #cljmoderncottage in Idaho and headed for new adventures in Raleigh, NC. #cljfam #cljtransformations

@chrislovesjulia