Room makeover, a before & after: Better than winning the lottery

Looking for a little more excitement in your life? Would you settle for some in your family room?

This redesign I recently completed for a client illustrates a few ways you can brighten things up.

First: I loosened up the furniture arrangement. There was not much space between the sofa that faces the fireplace and the wall behind it. Now the room has a much airier feel.

Second: I added lamps to the end tables. Even if there is plenty of overhead lighting, lamps will add a warmer, cozier feel to a room. They also add much-needed height to the tables.

Third, and perhaps most importantly: I sprinkled in pillows and accessories, adding the color blue. The rug has some blue in it, as does a print above the chair shown at left. Spreading that color around the room brings zing to an otherwise neutral color scheme.

1, 2, 3. Now that's exciting.

Where will it all end?

My friend Elisa wanted to make my head hurt and she didn't have a hammer so she posed this question to me instead: Where to stop painting?

Oh man, this is a doozy. The bedroom walls are being painted blue and the ceiling white. But, the two skylights butt up ("You said butt!"... sorry that's what my 5-year-old son would have said if he were reading this post over my shoulder.)

Back to work: The two skylights are really an extension of the wall.

So, I asked myself WWMWBRD? (What Would My Wonderful Blog Readers Do?)

I had a few ideas. I toyed with telling you what I told Elisa in tomorrow's post. But, let's face it, if you guys come up with better suggestions, I would have totally stolen them and claimed them for my own.

So, I'll tell you now what I said:

• Keep the blue paint going up through the middle of the skylight and paint the ceiling and the left and right walls of the skylight a lighter shade of blue. More work. I'm not sure she'll go for it, and who could blame her?
• Try painting just the middle strip and let's see what it looks like. If it looks like a plane is about to land there, paint the left and right sides blue, too.
• If you must end the wall at the ceiling height, then add a bit of crown moulding to create an end to the wall.

Not bad, but I'm sure you could do better. What have you got?

Note to self: Next time, insist on non-disclosure agreement

You've read about a few members of my family: my husband, my 5-year-old son, the cats. Not yet mentioned: The painter.

Let's just call him Eldin. He doesn't actually live here, of course, at least not technically. But he's painted nearly every room inside the house, and the entire outside of the house over the years.

And when he arrives...it's quite a while before he leaves. That's because he's meticulous (much as there are Dog Years, there are Painter Days...3 days to you or me equals 74 painter days, on average) and one thing always leads to another.

He is now re-staining the faded front of the house, updating a job he did about five years ago. (When we bought the house, the clapboards, trim and door were all the color of cement. We decided on a cheery yellow with white trim to set it off and a black door to ground it all.)

Now that the house is looking good, the deck is a little shabby, Eldin points out. He's right, of course, so that's next.

But there is a more insidious reason we don't hurry Eldin: He knows too much.

He knows the ins and outs of this household with a young boy, two busy parents and two cats. He's seen the basement laundry area...the tantrums (mine, not my son's)...the wine bottles in the recycling bin (again, not my son's).

He's seen the sad state of my garden (which he waters if it is too pathetic)...and my garage...and, oh no, the inside of my car.

Heck, he's seen me without makeup.

So, yes, yes, we will paint the deck. And I think the kitchen is looking a little tired, too...

A sneak peek at a surprise redesign

It's been hot in Rhode Island. I mean, seriously hot, especially for June.

So, what am I doing during all this? Spray painting tables outside (see them, up there, in the orange). Remember that client I mentioned? The nonprofit organization that won an office redesign? The office is in an old mill building and these tables are going to go in there.

I know what you are about to say... But, Mary, aren't you risking your life, spray painting outside in this heat?

Why, yes, I am. But I am that devoted.

I found these tables (and a cute little Chippendale mirror, too) in a consignment shop. The tables had been kicking around for a few months so I got the three for $30. They were pretty nondescript except for the shape.

So I spray painted them orange, and the mirror too. (They are the same orange, just took one photo outside and one inside. Try to keep up, please.)

Besides heat stroke, I got spray paint on my hands, feet, and the lining of my lungs. (Because gloves and a mask were upward of two to three steps away and I Don't Have Time For That.)

I know what you are about to say... But, Mary, aren't you risking your life, spray painting without gloves and a mask?

Why, yes, I am. But I am that devoted.

The tables are going to serve as a coffee table in front of a sofa in the office. Now that I look at them, aren't they shaped a little like bear faces? Like you could have painted them out as animals and used them in a child's room?

Oh sure, now everyone wants them.

Next time you are scouting around, keep your eyes open. You might find something you can transform.

But, hey, this is dangerous work. Let's be careful out there.

I double dog dare you

Was talking to a friend the other day (Hi, Elisa) about color, and we got around to the topic of painting only one wall in a room. (OK, technically painting all the walls in a room, but three of them white, or perhaps off white, and the fourth a color you really love.)

Unless you've got a really good reason for doing that, I don't recommend it.

If you love a color, go for it and paint all four walls. Think the color will be too dark and make a room seem small? Nah, it'll make the room seem dramatic. Think it'll be too bold? By the time you bring in the furniture, the artwork and accessories, you'll see far less of it than you would imagine. Concerned you'll be overrun with color? Then make your other color choices in the room (the drapes or couch for instance) a bit more tame.

Are you thinking you want to paint only one wall to highlight a fireplace or a bed, for example? Rather than painting all the other walls white, paint the highlighted wall a slightly darker or lighter color than your main color or choose a different color that you also love.

Go ahead, do it.

Color me convinced

My 5-year-old son did a little experimenting with color the other day. Using a few tubes of paint - red, blue, yellow - he diligently recorded the colors he created: purple, orange, green, aqua, grey...

He had a lot of fun...so I thought I'd pass along a tip if you like playing with color, too.

There are a lot of online tools out there where you can check out colors and color combinations in virtual rooms before you head to the paint store. (Never pick a specific shade strictly by using this method. Your computer monitor may not be showing the exact, true color. But this is a great jumping-off point.)

Give them a try:

• Benjamin Moore's Personal Color Viewer
  
• Sherwin-Williams' Color Your World
  
• HGTV's Choose Color
  

All of the fun of playing with paint...none of the scraping it off the tiled kitchen floor later.

I sale; you sale; we all sale

Do you yard sale? I think that can be a verb, especially if you do it a lot.

Since we were talking yesterday about my upcoming yard sale, I thought I'd pass along a tip for those of you who like to keep an eye out for bargains, or want to save the environment by re-using items, or appreciate the quality of older furniture...

Just about any piece of furniture will look good painted black (I like Benjamin Moore's semi-gloss).

I bought this armoire at a yard sale for $50 a few years ago. It was solid and clean, but its finish was, um, finished. A quart of paint and a few new knobs, and it makes for a great armoire for my office.

I added a few wire shelves inside for even more storage space.

Just one more tip when you are refurbishing a piece: Don't put it in your garage to tackle later...when you've got your painting clothes on...and after you've taken the "before" photo...but instead start to sand it just to see how that will go...and then decide to test the paint color...and, oh heck, might as well finish the whole thing and then ruin your favorite jeans by getting paint on them and order pizza for dinner cause you haven't done anything else all day. Don't do that.

A Snapshot: I love a compliment

My house is yellow, so I use a lot of purple in my garden. Yellow and purple are complementary colors, meaning they appear opposite each other on the color wheel. The contrast makes the colors pop!