Paint Makes a Difference

Choosing paint for a room is such an important part of the decorating scheme. Choosing paint for a whole house is monumental.

I looked at a lot of Mid Century Modern homes and rooms, especially on Houzz and Pinterest to determine colors that would be appropriate.  Before my kids (who were living there for several years) repainted some of the rooms, the house was painted a latte or tan color, except for my old bedroom (butterfly wallpaper and the trim was painted white), the Master Bedroom (painted a soft green) and the kitchen (painted a soft yellow.)  I’m sure the tannish color was very modern in the day, but I don’t think it did anything for the rooms.

Frankly I think everything looks rather dingy and uninteresting.  In the early stages of the construction, I spoke to my contractor about paint and he suggested a white (similar to the old Navajo White) for the walls and a Latte for the trim.  So, the palette I chose is here:  Kelly Moore Palette.  But, the more I looked at example of Mid Century Moderns, the more neutral I wanted the walls and trim to be.  I wanted the beautiful wood ceilings to be the focal point of the house and add the brick for the two rooms where the brick shows.

So, I decided to go a soft, warm white for the walls and the trim in the whole house.  I think we will add a color to one wall of the Master, but white will be the neutral background for the furniture and accessories.

Friday, we caulked, spackled and primed many of the walls.  We had already painted the bathrooms so that the tile guy could tile the bathrooms.  Saturday we began painting the front bedroom and the front room.

You can see that we are not quite finished with the painting.  We still need to cut in around the windows and ceiling and finish up the back wall, but I can’t believe the difference a lighter paint makes.

This paint color picks up the white on the bricks and shows off the ceiling.  We still have not determined what we are going to do with the floors.  The husband would like to put hardwood floors throughout, but the expense may require us to put carpet in the front room and the bedrooms.

The grout is in both bathrooms and it looks great.  We chose a light gray or silver color.  And I love the way it has turned out.  I see that the electrician has also installed the floor warming mats under the tile.  That will be so nice.

You can see that my dog, Obie T. Dogg, is stress panting in some of the pictures above.  He does this every time he comes to this house.  So, I try to take him for walks around the area so he will enjoy coming to the house. Wednesday night, after I dropped off some of the tile, I took Obie down to the high school for a walk and we met this woman and a great group of dogs.  They were all quite happy to meet him.  I found out this woman owned two of the dogs (the two beautiful poodles) and she was dog sitting the rest of them so that their masters could go out of town for Thanksgiving.

I told her we were moving to the area and she told me about a dog-walking group that meets every Saturday morning at the high school to let their dog play together and get some exercise.  She said that Obie would be a good fit for the group and we should join in after we move. I think that will make Obie quite happy and maybe help settle him a bit.

Although I won’t really miss the long drive to the house we living in now, because it is 20 minutes from the nearest town, I will miss our neighbors that love to decorate some of the pine trees at Christmas Time.  Last year I counted over 30 trees that were decorated.  Some parts of this road, the decorators must have taken their lives in their hands to decorate these trees because the road drops off precipitously and it is only one lane.

We celebrated our last Thanksgiving at the Schmautzhaus.  It was a wonderful time with my family.  Next year, God willing, we will be living and celebrating in my childhood home remodeled.