House Project #5: The Living Room

It's been a while since the last major house project, in which I painted the kitchen. I didn't do much over the winter aside from assorted curtains and hanging some pictures and paintings. Well, I'm delighted to report that I've finished painting the living room! This is the other third of the main room of the house. One third is the kitchen and the other third is the reading nook. I wanted to get this main space finished since this is where I spend most of my time, be it alone or entertaining.

the "front" half of the living room. great light! terrible carpet & drapes.

the "back" half of the living room. again with the carpet. . . 

mustard, anyone? classic 80s color - I'm guessing the whole space was painted in shades
of yellow at one point. the linoleum on the kitchen floor is this color, the inside of the kitchen
cupboards were this color, the wall beneath the wallpaper was this color, the sink is this color.
there was a block of wood attached to the wall here, where the house phone had hung.
I didn't figure I needed it since I don't have a house phone right now.
I would love to find a rotary wall phone, though not necessarily in mustard yellow. . . 

there was a lot of trim to prep. 

so much trim. 

late night painting party with g.
it looks a bit limey here, but it's so much better!

apparently g. has a clone. . . a little hulu to keep us going

done! and a little rearrangement of the furniture
looks great with the reading nook in the background from this angle

new arrangement - chair facing the window instead of next to it; tv on a new
little stand, tucked in the corner. I need to upgrade to a flat screen sometime.

super light & airy! and a great view south down the valley from the green chair

looks great with the blue from the kitchen, too!

Because the space is so light and airy, I didn't feel like I needed a lighter color although I toyed around with a grey for a while. I wanted something that looked good with the brown of the reading nook and the blue of the kitchen - another earth tone, but something that wasn't too dark, either. The color, dried parsley, was a bit of an impulse grab - I randomly selected it off the wall of larger paint chips at the local hardware store when I was perusing paint colors with a friend who was in town for the weekend. Of course it took another few weeks before I committed to it, but I think I knew from the beginning that it was the right green. Not too dark, not too light, not too yellow, not too blue. I continued the same light cream (woodland snow) trim that I've used in the rest of the space. I wanted something to tie the larger space together. I plan to use it on the doors, too, which I have a few ideas for updating.

I still need to put back up all my paintings and pictures, most of which were hanging where they were to strategically hide the grossness of the walls! Also, I decided to get rid of the TV console that was here. It was big and bulky, and didn't really fit with the other random pieces I have in the space. It was left by the renters, so I don't feel badly about giving it a new home through front porch forum or craigslist. The little table the TV is on now was a score from the ReStore in Burlington. I didn't intend to get something green, but luckily the color looks fine against the wall.