Living Room/Dining Room Update|The After Part II

Hi Friends,

Fall is here.  We’ve had cooler temperatures and fleeting daylight.  I love Fall.  I love sweater weather, boots and colorful mums.  I love the smell of fires burning and comfort food cooking.  Today I’m going to get some mums for our flower boxes and porch, but before I do, I’m sharing another update from my “Before the After Series.”  Come on in.

I finally got around to taking some pictures of my living room and dining room which I redid this summer in keeping with transitioning our home from beige to gray tones.   I gave you a glimpse into the sad state of our home’s living and dining rooms when we bought it.   You can take a minute to review “Before the After Part 2” before we move on.  I’d really hate for you to forget the beautiful pink floral wallpaper we spent hours removing.

I just viewed it myself and I have to say, I really am amazed at the transformation.  Let’s start with the dining room.   Originally I painted it a pale green at the advice of a friend.  I wanted to go with a much bolder color, but she talked me out of it.  Honestly, I never loved the light green color.  The lesson here is to listen to your gut.  Needless to say, it wasn’t long before I repainted the dining room with a much bolder color than this one…

Since that time SuperHouls added a chair rail and some box trim.  Painting the lower walls and trim white meant the upper walls could be more bold.  By-by green, hello dark red…

I really loved the bold red against the white trim but…I like change, and found myself moving away from the gold and red tones in my home.  We had already transitioned the 2nd floor to gray tones, and I knew these rooms needed to follow for a cohesive pallet.  I seriously thought about black but opted for BM Kendall Charcoal instead.

The color is reading a bit green in the above photo but it really isn’t.  It’s a beautiful dark gray.  Here’s some more photos where the color shows more accurately…

The mirror in the photo above used to be in my living room but it works so well here.  The gallery wall below was featured in previous posts which you can see here and here.

Now on to the living room.  After we removed the wall paper, we initially painted it a sand color, which was a huge improvement.  I think the paint is still wet in this photo from pre-blogging days…

I just realized that the lamp you see in the above photo is the one I made over this summer.  That was how it originally looked.  Now it looks like this.

We kept the sand color for the past ten years.  Here’s a photo that shows the room from the same view all dressed up for the holiday, and clearly showing the tan and red decor…

And here’s the updated living room,freshly painted with BM Pale Oak as it looks today.

Pale Oak has just a hint of grey that works beautifully against white molding and trim work.  Yes, we went with white couches.  As empty nesters we thought it was safe to do so. I love how they brighten up the space and contrast nicely with our dark wood tables.

The large sisal rug adds lots of texture and warmth to the space without adding another pattern.  And these barrel back cane chairs that I’ve been posting all over Instagram work so beautifully in this nook…

…which used to look like this…

And here’s a few final close-ups that you may have seen if you follow me on Instagram…

Those keys are decorative, but they are also the actual original keys to the doors in our home, and yes, they work.

The photo above shows so many changes we’ve made to this home.  The fireplace was originally red brick so I gave it a white wash, and SuperHouls added the custom molding that you see on the wall that leads up the stairs.

And just to really bring the transformation to life, here’s one more before and after…

Before

After

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Be well,

Eileen

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