And here's one at Christmas time.
Phase I
- Update fireplace (last week's post)
- Paint clock (also last week's post)
- Replace the full length mirror that the boys broke playing over-the-door basketball over a year ago
- Make some wooden signs with some type of sentimental meaning to me and my husband
- Freshen up the bookshelves by tidying up
- New bedspread/shams
- Add some "real" houseplants
- Add/update some family photos
Phase II
- Add new light fixture
- Replace the white standard blinds with textured cordless bamboo blinds
Phase III
- Replace carpet with either new carpet or hardwood, if possible
- Change out current bathroom door with barn doors (maybe... Mr. Home Matters is not convinced on this one)
- Paint the ceiling if I ever muster up the energy.
Some prior projects are staying...
Several years ago (about five or so), my first furniture painting project EVER using Annie Sloan paint was painting our two dressers. I have a teaching degree in French and spent six months living with a host family and studying at L'Universite d'Haute Bretagne back in 1994. While I've been out of teaching French for way more years than I was even in (thus extremely rusty), that time in my life was hugely impactful. Our bedroom incorporates my love for France and I started that with painting the furniture. I used Annie Sloan French Linen followed by Cream and then heavily distressed. A local library happened to have an old overhead projector that I borrowed to project the French images on the two dressers. It was hours and hours of tracing and then painting and then more distressing. These photos not only show the furniture but also the newly painted three (of four) walls...
A couple of years later, I purchased a jewelry armoire from a friend and decided to keep it for myself. The same color scheme and French theme made it the perfect addition, even if I really don't have any good jewelry. (I do have a boatload of costume jewelry though!)
If you read last week's blog post, I talked about purchasing that piece on a local swap site. The guy admitted that the insert did not work but that a new one could be purchased but, for me, ditching the insert altogether was perfect since I just wanted a "faux" fireplace. This was last week's project...
On to the updates...
Since I recently painted the main spaces of our long ranch home in Sherwin Williams Bungalow Beige, and we are, in fact, in the middle of a quarantine, using what I had was a starting point. I had about 3/4 of a gallon left and I had three walls to cover. That you can already see in the previous photos. The fourth wall was a toss up between the "safe" peel and stick wallpaper just like I used on a couple of walls elsewhere -or- black! I've painted furniture for other people black. Black is what I used on our painted piano. And, of course, black now adorns our faux fireplace. But never have I ever painted a wall black! So I started scouring Pinterest for the best blacks. I narrowed it down to three Sherwin Williams colors shown in this pin which was exaclty what I needed to compare! Tricorn Black, Caviar and Black Magic. I knew that my white Ikea curtains would really stand out nicely against any of them, so in the middle I went.
The bedding is from Pottery Barn and was our first purchase for the room using money we received for Christmas. It became the inspiration for the rest of the room. We love our headboard (mentioned again later) and I wanted to be sure it blended well with whatever updates we chose to do. The headboard itself was added inspiration in that I wanted to keep with the same general tones - blacks, grays, browns, and almost white. The large black shams are from Ikea. They are just covers so I re-used our old large euro pillows that were cream.
The worst part of painting is patching and prepping and taking those darn outlet and switch covers off!
But the BEST part about this particular black is that I did not have to prime my striped wall! Two coats (three in some spots) did the trick!
I knew in my gut I made the right call, but I still worried that the black would keep the room from being as bright as it can be. I stayed the course and painted on. The more I painted the more I loved it. It felt like 47 years of playing it safe in life and in decorating decisions came to a screeching hault with my decision to paint a wall black! Ha! When I got to the corner where two windows meet, I felt like I needed to keep going with the black all the way behind the bookshelves. 
My husband helped me take the headboard off the wall. (That's a project I did shortly after my furniture painting project. Because it was a long time ago, I don't have a post about it but maybe one day I will.) There's nothing like a painting project that is the only reason for moving the bed away from the wall to cause you to feel like you've suddenly been living in filth for years! The dust back there was... well, you can imagine. Yuck!
Putting it all back together...
While phase I included replacing the full length mirror, and while I did find one, good old COVID-19 means it will take a little longer than usual to arrive. I've been trying to blend the black with the neutrals/creams/whites as well as some wood tones, so the mirror I found has a black metal frame inside of which also has a wood toned frame. I hope I like it as much in person as I do online!
Houseplants got rearranged and hope to add more when it's safe to shop normally again. I played musical lamp-shades, too. Now my DIY floral lampshade sits on my nightstand instead of by the chair and I love the change. To see how I did that, you can click here to see my Facebook demonstration!
Finally, my husband frequently plays songs so that we can dance around the kitchen island and one of his favorites is a waltz to the song "Can I Have This Dance" by Anne Murray. I decided the lyrics would make a great set of signs that I could create as a surprise. A white background provided another pop of the brightness and, coupled with the Early American stain,I love the added warmth.
On the other side of the room, I hung my wedding veil. I've always had it hanging in here but now it stands out nicely and I mixed in some other special momentos from over the years.
Even Lucky blends right in even more than before. But man is he desperate for grooming after all this time in quarantine!
Stay tuned for the next phase! In the meantime, what's the boldest color paint you've ever used and where?
4 comments
At first I thought, is she crazy? Then thought, no she has the vision and talent to make this work. Looks beautiful and with the room size, the black certainly works! I love your wedding veil idea too! Looking forward to your next project. Thanks so much for sharing. God bless
My bravest paint decision was painting my oldest son’s favorite lacrosse team’s colors of navy and orange. I did the walls half and half with a white band separating the two colors with navy on the bottom. We lived with that for a long time. It wasnt till recently that I updated that room in a very relaxing shade of blue.
Well the rooms in our home were all white when I convinced the landlord to let me paint our bedrooms and bathroom. I don’t know exactly colors but Mikey’s room is Incredible Hulk green, bath is Smurf blue and our bedroom is red. This was my first time ever painting anything other than a craft project and I did all three rooms complete with ceilings myself. For a first time and a pure amateur I’m still very happy with 2 out of the 3.
I love your new black wall, it’s stunning. Painting a room makes me feel like I moved again which we did a lot of moving in our early years of marriage. Your have my vote, enjoy .