Decorating!

So, at the start of December, I decided that the living room/dining room needed a bit of a make over. It had been painted a grey white for many years and I'd always been quite happy with that but it was feeling a bit lack lustre without any real focus and I thought it needed a more 'pulled together' look.

I have some dear friends who own an interiors shop Upstairs Downstairs and they kindly came round one evening with large paint samples to pin to the walls.  I wanted to use Little Greene paints because the coverage and quality is so good and I've messed up in the past using cheap paint.  Let me tell you, it is just not worth it....

So we came up with a colour that we thought would work and I did the classic thing.....I didn't get a sample pot!  Oh no, I was so sure I had the right colour (and I'm just so damn impatient), I just bought the whole tin (all 5 litres) and went for it.  Big mistake.  After painting two walls with two coats each, I hated it.  It just wasn't right at all.  Don't get me wrong, it was a lovely colour (perennial grey) but it had a warm tinge and just didn't work with the furniture or the room.  Our room is a reasonable size and south facing with almost a whole wall of bi-fold doors, so we get a lot of light in the day.

So, after much thought and discussion with the other half, we decided to try again.  This time I got a paint sample pot and painted the new colour in several places, sat back and then went for it!  This time we went for the mid lead colour.  Quite a dark grey and a brave choice but I just knew it would work.  Then rather than the whole room being painted in grey, I decided to define the dining room end by painting the back wall a lovely green (Boxington is the colour).  Finally I made some new cushions, bought some new throws to complement and rearranged a couple of areas.  I love artwork on the walls and we already had quite a few pictures with turquoise, teal and green colours in so I wanted to use accessories that brought those colours into the room some more.

Next job is to re-paint the dresser.  It's looking a little tired.

I rearranged my shelves and added a few Christmas ornaments (as this was December).  Ignore the very messy before photo!!

I found this great knitted pouffe in this amazing acid green.  It helps bring the green down to the other end of the room.

It's hard to capture the whole room in a few photos, but I'm loving the grey.  It really helps all my paintings and ornaments stand out and with all the new accessories I feel the room is really pulled together now.  We just need to sort out a new rug, but that's taking some time and I don't want to get just anything.  So glad I didn't stick with the first colour!