I’ve learned a couple things about myself throughout the last couple of weeks: I love painting walls (the trim in particular – I’m a freak!) and I should never DIY anything without someone’s help (who knows what they’re doing) or very specific, detailed instructions.
Before I attacked my first room with paint, my mom was a wreck and rightfully so. She knows that I’m often not the most patient human being and that I also semi-destroyed our old office in Tennessee by getting paint all over the trim and ceiling. Jamie’s grandmother (Mamaw) had quite the time (and many laughs) trying to fix all of my painting errors when she came to turn the room into Hadley’s nursery last summer. When Jamie told her that I was about to start painting various rooms in our new house, she picked up the phone to give me all of her sweet tips so that she would not have to come from Indiana to fix my accidents. 😉
I was determined to show my family that I, Erica DeSpain, who has no crafty/handy talents whatsoever, could do this.
Fast forward to today, and the following rooms are successfully (I think) painted (whew):
Let’s talk about the living room and it’s original green accent wall. So bad. SO BAD.
Our living room is where we play, occasionally eat (keepin’ it real), watch TV, take naps (yeah right), work out, read, and hang out. It’s literally where we do life, and I’d been looking for the perfect paint color for it for months. I was finally sold on Benjamin Moore’s “Gray Owl” thanks to one of my friends who used and loved it, but the nearest Benjamin Moore paint store is over an hour away. I did the color matching thing at Home Depot for the sunroom and was very pleased (though the picture above does nothing for the true color), so I figured I’d try it again for the Gray Owl paint.
After one thin coat of primer and two very carefully painted coats of the Gray Owl, we had this STARK WHITE WALL. Forget the fireplace accent wall, which I hated from the second I finished it. I was so upset about how this wall turned out. The lighting made it look 85 different colors, and none of them were Gray Owl. Color-matching FAIL.
After taking a couple days off from painting to see if I could live with it, I decided I couldn’t. Jamie, who is usually super easy to please, also agreed that this white wall had to go.
I also decided that I absolutely, positively cannot live with the oak trim, windows, and doors. I also have zero desire whatsoever to paint those myself. I am excited to use my time and energy on a number of big and small projects around here, but painting that oak is surely not one of them.
All of this took place about 10 days ago, and today I’m over the moon excited that we now have a fab handyman who is giving us a killer price to come in the end of October and repaint every inch of oak trim and windows and replace every single door (20!!) with a six-panel white door. The previous owners put all new hardware on every door upstairs, but we’ll also be putting in new hardware in the basement.
I know the living room and sunroom paint colors are just going to pop and look so much better with the glossy white trim and windows. So pumped! Crossing our fingers that this improvement will not only make our interior much more bright and beautiful but that we’ll also see this money back when we sell it in a few years.
A few tools that I’m in love with –
Finally, if you follow me on Instagram than you may have seen our new kitchen farmhouse table. I’m in love, I’m in love, and I don’t care who knows it!
My husband and brother-in-law built it this weekend and I stained and painted it all day yesterday. More on the table later this week.
My motto with this house is to be content with letting each room evolve over time and not rush and settle with just throwing things up on the walls. Of course I have a wish list of furniture and décor for each room, but for now I’m just happy that we’ve started slowly chipping away at making this place our own. It’s fun!
See ya later this week!
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo