After reading Ellen's post over at at Scribbler Unfocused, I looked around my house and realized I'm living in an all brown world here. All my furniture is brown. The vinyl tile floors are brown. The carpets are brown/beige. The trim is brown. Yuck! Ellen's home is so full of color and light and fun. This house is very dark, even in the middle of the day because it's shrouded in oak trees.
Hubby and I had a chat about it and there's not really much we can do right now. The house is not ours so we can't do any major renovations. I'd love to punch a hole in the ceiling and put in some skylights like I had in my previous home. And I'd love to pull up that flooring and have the whole house tiled, but I can't.
The furniture we have will have to suffice until we can afford something else. We've had it since the 1980's Hubby mentioned painting the furniture. But what color? White, blue, green? All of the above? I'd really like to get away from the country style and get something more streamlined but useful with lots of storage.
So, what to do now then? I looked around and I decided to make some small changes to at least perk things up a bit, albeit temporarily. I had been storing my mother's paintings in the back room since moving day. I didn't hang them up when we first moved in because I didn't think they would work in this house. Well I was wrong. I pulled them out and hung them up.
Here is the dining room before:
And here it is after:
There are a few more on the other side of the room which is my office area.
I took down all the framed prints that I had up and replaced them with mom's colorful canvases.
We will look into getting some area rugs once the puppy has gone at least 3 months without an accident. That should add a little more color.
Those paintings really go nicely - so colorful! It is tough renting, not being able to make the changes you want to.
ReplyDeleteWe're limited to simple and inexpensive changes. Things like area rugs are something we can take with us when we move again.
DeleteOh, I love how those paintings just brighten up the place! I just came from Ellen's post too and was marveling at all the color she has packed into her space as well. I love it! I think your mom's paintings do brighten things up. Shoot, if the furniture you have is yours and you don't have any plans for it, I say slap some paint on it. As for color, go with what makes you feel happy. Since you are concerned with how dark everything is, I'd say go for something light and bright. . .maybe a yellow! For now, I think the paintings do a great job of bringing some color into your home.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to give the paint color some serious thought. Maybe I'll go and check out the chalkpaint at the Antiquery for some inspiration.
DeleteThanks for the mention! Your mother's paintings are wonderful, and they are just the shot in the arm your home needed! All the better that they came from your mother.
ReplyDeleteIf you are not used to painted furniture, my (unsolicited) advice would be to choose one major element in each room and paint it, perhaps picking up a dominant color in one of the paintings. For instance in your dining room, choose one of the colors you like best in that big painting and paint your your chairs! I think you would be surprised what that will do for your room. Then you can pick up other colors in that painting with some of your accessories. You can possibly paint some things you already have.
Just a thought!
Well, I'm leaning toward a turquoise blue and butter yellow theme.
DeleteLuv, luv, luv your mother's paintings!! They look great, so glad you brought them out of storage!
ReplyDeletePeace,
Debbie @ Flower Child Designs
Thanks Debbie. She was an abstract painter, obviously. There are some paintings in the FRG Realty office in Fairhope on Section St that remind me of her style.
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