Paint. Finally.

Finally. This is going to be a regular house blog again for the next couple of posts! And maybe even longer.

We painted our living room and kitchen/breakfast room allllll the way back at the beginning of June, which, since it turns out it's September now, was a long time ago. And then I started my full time job and was waylaid by stomach issues and pictures just never happened.

Until this past weekend. Labor Day + sunshine was just the combination I needed.

So here's the living room before... The paint color is the same throughout the house and it's such a neutral that I don't mind it, but it definitely doesn't have any interest. The paint's biggest offense is being a flat paint, because if anything even brushes against the wall it leaves a scuff and drives me crazy!

I decided I wanted COLOR. We had a light blue at our last little house, and I loved how it opened up the rooms and felt cleaner and brighter. It was a cool blue, however, and I wanted to make sure that this house still felt cozy, especially during the long winters. I ended up choosing Woodlawn Blue by Benjamin Moore (had it match in Behr) after seeing it in Pottery Barn catalogs and a number of pictures.

We love it! It's definitely cozy and a distinct color that adds a lot of character. This isn't the best picture of it, but it's a little hard to capture in pictures. It always ends up looking really light, even though in person it's more a medium blue.

I also made some fun pillows for extra color. This was my favorite: some thrift store lace plus happy coral fabric! (This was an instagram pic so it's filtered.)

I also wanted to up bring some color to the frames. The neutral maps were nixed in favor of a random mix of prints... Easy to do and so fun. I think it took me a couple of hours of playing with images and then about $7.00 to print at Staples.

I used things around the house like these books to make some of the "art"... I scanned in the covers of two of these pretty books and played with them. Not a permanent solution, but I like changing it out.

I found this super cute yarn embroidery at Salvation Army for $5 awhile ago and it fit perfectly in one of the frames!

Here's the other side of the room, and I think it's a better representation of the color. My sweet wingback lady ended up behind the desk. We couldn't get her to fit in the other part of the living room but I love the fabric with the blue, so Miles suggested putting her behind the desk. Still cute.

This is another fun addition to the living room. Miles' mom actually brought this amazing cement horse head on one of their visits a couple months ago! I love it, of course.

This is a temporary set up, but I threw a couple things in this corner after our fish died. Well, one died of natural causes and the other was the fate of us being tired of caring for a fish tank. Having a fish tank was a silly idea anyway, haha.

I found the hobnail milk glass lamp at an estate sale for $1! The shade was horrendous, however, so I need to find a little one for it. And a better place for it to go.

This frame is one of my FAVORITE finds ever. There's a gargantuan antique mall north of us and I found it on a trip with a couple friends there. It was a bit of a splurge for me, but it's so fabulous. Look at that relief! :) I just need to find somewhere and something fabulous to put in it, but for the moment it can hang out there on its own.

Here's the breakfast room with the paint color. This is a good representation of it... I love it! I like how it makes the trim pop and the brick wall stand out better. On the table is my very first cutting of flowers from my own gardens! I've never had flowers big enough since we've been married to actually cut from them, but my knockout roses have been very happy this summer!

I'll add some pictures of the kitchen with the paint color in the future, but with no natural light and the orange cabinets and floors it just looks rough in pictures. Maybe in the next few months we'll paint the cabinets! :)

Pictures of the new curtains and paint and bed frame in our room are coming soon! I already have them uploaded so really, it's going to happen.