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Help me with paint! I need your ideas!
Hi ladies,
I'm kind of an idiot when it comes to using the computer. I couldn't figure out how to directly add photo's to this post, so all of my photo's are in my profile, if you have time PLEASE look at them so you can see what the rooms look like and give advice! We are in the process of buying this home from my husbands parents. We are in escrow, everything is going through and we should be in within a month from today. We live 4 miles from the beach here in southern CA, and I was thinking of going with a beach theme.
As you can see (if you look at my profile pics) it is a blank canvas, I really like blues, greens, yellows, whites, and not quite coral but along that color scheme (coral but in a more sunset tone if that makes sense, maybe lighter value). What would you do to these rooms?
Re: Help me with paint! I need your ideas!
A few colors that I am going to be using could actually be used to give a beachy theme: http://www.rhodylife.com/2013/03/paint-planning.html. Make sure that when you choose colors, that they go with the finishes in the house that you may not be changing, i.e. the bathroom vanity cabinet color, the kitchen cabinet colors, the bathroom shower frame, the countertops, the color of the carpets, and the shade of the stone on the fireplace. Match your colors to those finishes so that everything looks cohesive and not out of place.
Also, if you have a floor plan of your house, use that to plan the colors. You don't want to have too many clashing colors in every room, because you want the flow in your home to be gradual and not sudden.
DIY & Home Decor Blog
I looked at your pictures. Based on the colors you love, that carpet is really not going to match. Do you know what is under it? Depending on the age of the house, there may be a hardwood floor underneath. It's worth checking into. If you have to decorate around it because of cost of replacement, I'd go with as much white as possible and accents of the colors you mentioned. A rug can go under the sofa in the living room in similar colors.
My living room, kitchen and our bedroom are done in coastal/cottage styles. I prefer white walls with accents in the decor (pictures, pillows, lamps, bedspread). It's much easier to change your prefered style around white walls. I use Behr Swiss Coffee, which is a standard "off the shelf" color at Home Depot that comes in multiple finishes (flat, eggshell, glossier, high gloss). That's important to remember because when you want to repaint, you don't have to worry about matching the paint. This has been a standard color for over 15 years, and I doubt they'll change that. The plus side to this color is that it matches Ikea's white items (desks, shelving, etc) perfectly.
I just redid my kitchen, link here
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/12451092/thumbs/Kitchen-upgrade
Houzz is a great site, it's free to join and you can search by styles, colors, etc.
This may be your first time doing DIY, but honestly, you will save so much money it's worth it. I've painted several wood furniture items, plus lamps, picture frames, my kitchen cabinets.........start small with something you are practicing on, then work your way up.
Also, many people make a mistake about their first homes and try to change too much too soon. Live in it a while. Take your time deciding. You won't know you want to knock out a wall to join rooms until you've lived there and figured out what will work for you. I lived with peach vinyl wallpaper for 13 years until I could afford to replace it and get the furniture I wanted to go in the "new" room.
Good luck and enjoy!
Thank you so much for your advice. You confirmed my initial feeling which was that I should stick with Swiss Coffee on the walls and not go with any crazy colors until we can replace the hideous carpet. The home was built in 1983, I don't think there are hardwood floors under there.
This is our first home and I am a bit nervous at taking on all these projects myself. Hubby also wants to remove the popcorn ceilings ourselves...looks pretty easy from video's I have watched. I really loved how your floors turned out! What kind of wood is that? You have a really cute style, kind of shabby chic? I love buying old antique furniture at thrift stores and repainting them. I'm also really digging your walls that are striped with light blue...is that a wall paper?
Again, thank you for your advice, excited to post AFTER pictures one of these days...
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Thanks for the compliments.
The flooring is from Lumber Liquidators. It was on sale, rustic oak "shorts". My living room, next to the kitchen, has original hardwood floors that are 2 1/2 inch wide planks, so I wanted to match that. However, I wouldn't recommend the particular "sale" hardwood we got. The price was good, but the quality of the wood was really not good. For the size of the room I had 14 boxes of flooring, but I lost at least 30% to spoilage.........mental note to self, do NOT get sale floors. It looks fine, but because they were "shorts", the bulk of the pieces are under 10 inches, not nice long planks like my living room. But, the color matches, so all is good (for now, LOL).
The blue & white stripes are actually wallpaper. I looked for it for a long time, and funny enough the local Lowe's or Home Depot (I can never remember, I shop at both) had just ONE roll on sale for about $9. I bought it and made it stretch to fit all the areas above the white painted panelling. Off topic: the paneling was dark brown when we moved in, my ex always said you "can't paint paneling". I proved him wrong, once he was gone
My style is cottage/beachy. I have always wanted to live on a house on the beach, but will never be able to afford it. So, my living room, kitchen and our bedroom are done in that style. Blues, greens, yellows, and lots of white. I got a white Ektorp sofa from Ikea in the living room, all the walls are white, I have white Ikea Billy bookshelves on each side of the white brick walled fireplace. I use the colors as accents. It should be noted that I didn't go to all this white until after my daughter was 15, LOL. NEVER would have survived any kid's youth. But, if you like that style, check out Ikea. Their Ektorp sofas come in different colors and some prints. They have the big comfy sofa look for a lot less than other stores.
I shop second hand stores like Salvation Army and Goodwill all the time. Once I learned how to paint with chalk/clay paints and how to distress items, I'm a new woman,LOL. This blog is by the woman who sells the products locally, and if this is a style you like, you should check out her info. She has lots of instructions. Not sure where you live, but these chalk & clay paints have about 4 main manufacturers and they are sold all over the country at paint & "finishing" type stores.
http://fabulousfinishes.wordpress.com/
My advice to new homeowners: TAKE YOUR TIME. If you try to do everything at once, you will run into decisions you will regret. Every room doesn't have to have furniture right away. Second hand can be beautiful if finished right.
Good luck with your projects! In a way I'm jealous, because for now, I'm done, LOL