Living Room {partial} Makeover

And even that is a super generous title. When we found out that Simon had matched in St. Louis 2.8 years ago we had a tiny little window of time to find a house (as do all residents - we weren't special at all) and our realtor was a smart man. He showed us a few fixer uppers that reeked of feline urine and stale smoke and had one entire bedroom (in the basement - it was weird) and saved our house (that only smelled like pets in the basement and the advertised "two bathrooms" was actually just 1.5) for last and it was a sight for exasperated eyes of parents looking at houses during 7 month old Julia's nap time SO we were as good as sold suckers. It's old and kind of small but it's been perfect for our family even though I have no idea how we are going to work the sleeping situation in May. Sebastian just might be bunking up with the washer and dryer if he continues to hold the title for lightest sleeper in the entire universe but ... another post or ten to be written, I'm sure.

The only minor detail that needed to be addressed was the wall colors. You can see the kitchen and Julia's room before we (ahem - Simon's parents) painted right here. I don't know why I didn't take photos of the dining room that was the color of Merlot? Cabernet? Basically dark wine and awful. We painted it medium light greenish and I still really love it. The laundry room and basement bathroom are both lavender (whywhywhywhy - I really do think the previous owners just bought the clearanceclearanceclearance paint and went to town before they listed it - I'm not sure) and the upstairs main bathroom is a gorgeous shade of light lime green. Whatever. I'm more concerned about the sink that has a birth date somewhere around 1938ish.

So the living room was tan - which wasn't the worst but since we spend the majority of our time in the living room it was starting to get to me and blah blah I already talked about this. So many people sent awesome grey paint recommendations and a lot of people strongly suggested that I get some samples and look at them in different lights and yes, someday when Simon is not working all the hours of all the weeks and the thought of hauling the kids into Lowes multiple times (where Julia WILL "riddy riddy need to use the westwoom!!!!!") doesn't send me into an attack of the anxiety variety ... I'll do that. But for now I just have to trust my gut and follow my heart and be stupid about it, I guess.

Camille (super talented Camille) told me about the shade "Quill" from Olympic Paints and sent the link to her schoolroom and I loved it and had my brother pick up two gallons and never looked back. Inititally it just looked white but after two coats and a day or two of drying -- there is a definite contrast with the floorboards and the trim. I just nodded off. I'm sure you did too.

Here.

Behold ....

and then ... not taken at dusk ... but still taken with the cellular ...

I also had Paul pick up two cans of white spray paint because I thought I could just pull a Sheena (also CRAZY talented) and spray paint my way into a success story but that was not the case. I went a little nuts and painted two picture frames, the tall lamp (the only one in the entire house that the  kids haven't broken), and the toy baskets. Simon walked in the morning after call and asked why I hadn't just gone ahead and given the couch a little coat as well. Not laughing.

I will say that Simon is a far more sensible soul than I'll ever be and usually asks for Lowes gift cards for his birthday and Christmas so the paint was free (not for the gift givers but you know) and the only things I bought were two throw pillows for the couches from World Market but I really wish I'd purchased two more. And the entire store.

So I know it's pretty sparsely decorated but for a terribly untrained eye like mine I think that's a better route to take and I have big plans for a wall to be decked in Instagrams cuz I'm classy. Or classay.

What a fun post.

I could've gone on a tirade about holiday call weekends and how they suck all the sunshine out of my soul but ... I think there are about 99 of those floating around the blog already and there's always next Thanksgiving. And Christmas.

Ah. And not that I didn't before but I have serious respect and admiration for people that do this kind of stuff on the regular. Even with Paul's help - it was super exasperating trying to paint with the kids and their needs (food! attention! more food!) around and at one point Sebastian dumped a cup of water into the gallon of paint - we dumped what we could but I'm sure it made the paint a little lighter. He also painted a nice square foot of the floor and the desk in the next room over with his hands. So. Respect and admiration to infinity and beyond.