Transforming the interior of the house

For the past week, I have been repainting the interior of our home. Totally changing the color scheme!  Making it cleaner (calmer), cohesive, and more modern. Once I finish the walls I will still have some trim to do because some rooms have the wrong color trim, though the eventual plan is to replace all the interior doors and trim. When we removed the carpet several years ago we were left with huge gaps between the bottoms of the doors and the beautiful hardwood floors. It's time to remedy that AND the current doors have so many coats of paint on them that I just can't stand the thought of painting them again because it just doesn't hold up well! I’ve learned though that I just need to move forward rather than wait until we have the doors done or I might never get around to changing the color! 

So far I've painted our bedroom, the hallway, living room, dining room, and kitchen. It's coming together. Sunday we removed the fireplace mantle (we haven’t used the fireplace more than 6 times in 29 years), I prefer the couch to be on that wall but it seemed weird with a mantle right above the couch. I like the absence of the mantle! I’ll have to come up with a new decorating style for Christmas though.  Need to decorate the wall and paint the rest of the bookshelves to be able to call the room done but I really wanted to get the furniture back in place 

Lest you get the (wrong) impression that I have it all together I'm sharing this photo of the other side of the same room. I've got a LOT of stuff to put away! 

I wanted to add a little element of fun to the hallway wall and I love how it turned out.  One thing always leads to another!  The doorbell (original from 1955) was brass and stood out like a sore thumb so I had to paint it to go with the new color scheme.  

I'm also really happy with the entry/dining room wall.  It's painted with chalkboard paint so that I can write messages on it but I'm a little hesitant to do that because I love the crisp black and once you chalk on a wall it loses that.  It has another few days to cure so we'll see...  Shown below with the front door open.  

Oh boy, that tan color HAS to go!  Once I got going I just couldn't wait to get the kitchen coordinated with the rest of the house.  I never really liked the tan color but it (sort of) worked with the floor and the other colors in the house. The truth is that about 8 years ago I chose what I thought was a fun sort of bright color for the kitchen.  The swatches looked good.  I painted the kitchen in the late evening and it didn't look too bad but it was a little more intense than I thought it would be.  The morning light made it look like a neon cantaloupe and I had that paint covered up within the next couple of days!  I just used the same color as one of the boys' bedrooms.  So glad to get it changed up this week. 

The boys' bedrooms, family room, and main bathroom will be done as I can. We need a new ceiling in the bathroom so it will likely be the last room. That will give me time to think about if I want to make other changes to the bathroom while we’re at it.   

Once I got started I haven't wanted to stop!  I love the transformation and I know myself too well.  I know that sometimes when I lose the momentum I don't end up finishing things.  THIS time will be different.  I WILL finish this project.  Last night I picked out some beautiful fabrics to cover the cushions on the wine barrel chairs (if you scroll back up you will see them in the messy picture, currently they are just wrapped with red table cloths to protect the foam cushions) and make pillows for the couches.  Need to pull out my sewing machine and get it to the shop for a tune-up because it quit working the last time I tried to sew something.  

I have never really thought that I enjoyed painting.  It's tedious work and there's so much room for making mistakes. What if I mess it up?  What if I spill and ruin something?  What if I don't like it when I'm finished? What if I don't get it perfect?  This time has been different! WHAT IF I really love the new look?  What if I mess something up and choose to redo it?  What if I decided that the imperfections give it a little more character.  What if I realize that this is an OLD house and is already full of imperfections and once I'm done with this job I won't really notice them anymore and it's likely that those who enter my house won't really notice them either.  What if I realize that perfect is an illusion?  So, I can actually say that I've really enjoyed all the work I've put in over this past week and I look forward to continuing on with it.  I've enjoyed the stillness of the house as I have worked while everyone is away.  I've had time to think, time to just be, time to listen to music.  

I've been so blessed that Tad has been on board with everything I've done so far even though each day is a surprise to him because I haven't shared any of the ideas with him before executing them.  One day he came home and our bedroom was 3/4 of the way painted in a color of my choosing.  One day he came home and the hallway was decorated.  Another day he came home to a black wall.  It's so different from anything we've ever had before and yet he has been so supportive and he even loves that black wall.  I'm glad he trusts me enough to let me just go with it.  

Today will be a light day of painting because it’s Cole’s 26th birthday and I have things I need to do and I've got to pack a lot into this day so we can celebrate with him tonight.