I've Been Painting Things Again

I've been doing a little painting & a big switcheroo lately around my house.  I'm beginning to think this is a pattern for me..seems to me I did this last winter.   (Like the sideboard above..it's moved).  We've lived in this very basic builder home now for 5 1/2 years, and it's taking a while - and some cash, to slowly transform it.  It's complete with light floors, stuccoed ceilings, and lots of "boob" lights...I'm not complaining, I'm just stating the facts.   I see it as a great challenge having only lived in century homes before, to transform this house.  I'm a firm believer that you don't have to have a lot of money to make a home look good, but it may take a little more time...and a lot of paint!  

 I seem to be painting everything dark gray or (as I call it) almost black. When I moved into this home I wanted everything very calm and serene so I painted a lot of the furniture a soft gray.  We had just come out of a very stressful time in our lives and I wanted a calm space... now for some reason, I'm going almost black.  I have a great love for French & English antiques (like Anton & K and that whole gray, black, taupe thing they have going on).  I first decided to change out my dining/kitchen light from a little drum light to a massive dark gray Hektar pendant light (below).   What a change that made... talk about lighting drama.  Also, things started to go a little industrial farmhouse so I painted this sideboard black (which actually is an island from Home Depot but I use it as a sideboard in this house). I've talked about this before...painting & changing the use of a piece of furniture.  (You can read about it here.)  I then got these massive baskets from Target, which is sadly leaving Canada, but that meant that I got them on sale so that was good.  

The "dining room" in my house is actually part of the kitchen, so I was going for a little more sophisticated look.   I usually like my spaces to have a more relaxed sophisticated look...hence the Hektar and gray velvet curtains.  (Just an aside here, when a house doesn't have a dining room, I think it's important to treat the eating area in the kitchen like a dining room).  This space has always been a work in progress, and I need to get an area rug and  slipcovers for the chairs... the list goes on.

  

Then I decided to paint the white shades on the lamps black. I just used some latex paint I had left over from another project and started painting.  I painted fabric before when I painted my pillows.

Then I went to the front hall and decided to paint my hutch black. I found this hutch at a garage sale about ten years ago. It houses all our stuff...you know, the stuff that everybody needs just inside the front door. Still need to get pulls for the drawers though.

Before

After

Are you still with me?  There have been a lot of changes, and I haven't even talked about my master bedroom yet ...it's changed too.   

So here's the lamp I painted in the master bedroom.  It's an antique light that I got at a thrift store years ago for $17.00  that I had stored in the basement.  Originally it was red and then with all the painting I thought..wait a minute...what if I paint that red light black and get a black shade? And what a change.  (Just an aside here,  "Unbroken" is an amazing book.  But definitely not a light read.) 

Oh ya, and I moved a couch into my master bedroom because I switched the family room all around.  But more on those two rooms later.

Here's a little sneak peek at the family room with the painted lamp shade. 

 I haven't painted these yet, but I still want to do it!  

Have a great weekend!!!