I will be the first to admit that Stephen and I have been rather hesitant to tackle the behemoth project that is our living room. The popcorn-ceiling-scraping that we so excitedly tackled in our kitchen, dining room, and never-ending hallway definitely does not sound like fun for this vaulted-ceiling cave of a room.
Nor does taking down the fabulous faux ceiling beams and patching whatever lies beneath or figuring out a way to patch the holes between the drywall and our brick fireplace that our builder so cleverly covered up with wood trim circa 1981.
Those of you who are lucky enough to experience visiting or living through our renovation with us will also be quick to point out that we have yet to settle on a wall color, despite several test paint swatches smattered throughout the living room. Well, I’ve added another color choice to the mix. Part of the reason I couldn’t settle on a color (most recently narrowed down to Valspar’s April Thicket and Sage Bud) was that I wasn’t sure if such a teal-y blue would translate in that big of a space. Would the darker shade be too overwhelming? Would the lighter feel too pastel? At the end of the day would Stephen and I feel like we were sitting in a big ol’ aquarium?
Enter the “youngsters” over at Young House Love. After browsing their House Tour pictures for the millionth time the other day, I realized that I was definitely digging their master bedroom paint color (Glidden’s Gentle Tide). Now there was a blue that was light and airy, looked good in a relatively large space, and most importantly didn’t make you feel like you were drowning! Not being a Home Depot girl in general, I decided it was high time I gave the old Depot a chance and checked out what Glidden had to offer. Glidden’s standard paint colors aren’t the same now as when John and Sherry painted their bedroom, so of course there was no paint chip for Gentle Tide, but luckily all the names of the old Glidden colors are still stored in the computer. At $3 a sample, I figured it was better to know than not to know if this could be the color for us. As soon as I got home I added yet another color to our living room walls and sat back to watch paint dry.
The funniest part of this whole experience? When I was finally sure Gentle Tide was dry, I stepped back and could BARELY tell a difference between it and Sage Bud!
There may be a touch more blue in Gentle Tide, and in certain lights it looks a bit more bold, but if I didn’t know which sample was which, I’m not sure I could guess correctly! I guess it just goes to show that we were on the right track in the first place. Stephen came home and approved Gentle Tide, so it may just be the winner. 🙂
Now that we’ve been bitten by the R&D (that’s Renovate and Decorate) bug again, we can’t wait to tackle that living room!
Here’s a rough to-do list:
1. Patch small hole in roof from January ice storm
2. Take down faux beams and patch ceiling
3. Scrape popcorn off ceiling, prime and paint
4. Patch or re-trim edges of brick fireplace
5. Paint fireplace, fireplace grate cover and walls
6. Build and stain new mantle
7. New hardwood floors!!!
8. Replace and paint trim
We’ll keep the updates coming as we start crossing things off that list!
