The sitting room is DONE!!!! (Well, the painting at least. Well, the painting except for the shelves. But for tonight, I'm just saying DONE!)
How did that miracle occur, you ask?
Danny came over. (Of course.) He did a final coat of trim paint and all of the walls in a few hours on Saturday. He managed to do in those few hours what would have taken me several days. I mean, he does it for a living, but still. He's so good. Then Sunday morning he came over and finished by painting the back walls behind the built-ins in...dum dum dummmm...all Sea Salt!
You'll note in these pics the baseboards are missing. We pulled them out in order to replace them with chunkier, more substantial baseboards down the line (to match the entryway baseboards).
The master at work. Look how warm the Smoke Embers color looks here - almost beige!
Goodbye, brown!
Final coat of paint on the trim. It looks SO gorgeous all painted white. I was seriously considering pulling out the arches - or AT LEAST taking off the decorative wood twirly bits on the front of the arches - but I'm so glad I didn't. That chunky crown molding is just to die for. Gorgeous. And there's the story of how you can take cheaply done built-ins and trim and make them look substantial and custom and beautiful just with some paint.
1. To tie that wall into the dining room (as you can see into the dining room from the front door through the sitting room)...
and
2. To warm up the room. I love love love love the Smoke Embers color and I love love love love the white trim, but with the tall ceilings of the sitting room, it was looking pretty stark in there. Obviously adding the furniture and a big rug would warm it up and make it cozier, but I think the Sea Salt wall helps with that a lot too.
We popped the drawers back in and replaced the hardware on them - from dated gold-plated handles (but very heavy - I bet they were $$$$ originally) to simple oil-rubbed bronze pulls (the same ones we have in the family room built-ins). I also moved the new buffet into place (although...it kind of grew on me in the dining room where we were storing it. I might need to look for another one??) and cleaned up a little bit. I still need to finish painting and installing the shelves but probably won't get a chance to work on that until later this week.
Carys displaying the before and after hardware swap, and helping out with the installation.
So here's the final (painted) product!
Staging by Carys. She's available to hire.
I'll mix things up and throw the "before" pictures right here in the middle to make it easy to see the updates.
....and back to the "afters" now.
Looking from the dining room into the sitting room
I made the Sea Salt x3 call, but we'll see what I think once the shelves are in place and they're covered with frames. I went back and forth and back and forth between all Sea Salt and Sea Salt just in the middle, but it will be easy to paint the sides white if I decide I don't love it later. And fear not, ye who urged a stencil or pattern - I'm still considering that for the middle section. I always feel the need to live with something in basic mode and see it "finished" before taking it to the next level. I'm also considering going with an even darker version of Smoke Embers down the line, maybe. It's a airy room so I feel like it can handle that.
Now I can think about furnishing the room! Exciting! Except we have no furniture for it and we have no money to buy furniture (#reallife), so it will be a while before that's done. We REALLY need a rug in there as well (and a rug the dining room, and either a rug or carpet in the family room) so we have lots of needs but none of the dolla dolla bills ya'll to buy that all yet. I'll be watching Craigslist, but in my many years of Craigslisting, I've only seen couches/chairs in the style I want for that room maybe twice and both times were way out of my price range. I'm hoping for something like this:
Sources - Left to Right, Top to Bottom:
That first one from World Market makes me tingle. WANT. Too bad it's a) $350 and b) not available anymore. Something kind of slim and streamlined and not overstuffed - modern, clean lines - but still comfortable to sit on. Like the holy grail of chairs, right? And then a matching/similarly styled loveseat (although maybe a contrasting color?), with a small table - I picture a rustic, warm/dark wood trunk, maybe. In the end, I want it to be a nice place to sit and have a conversation away from the commotion (and endless toys) of the family room. It gets the best light of the entire house, so I imagine many quiet hours will be spent reading in there as well.
Goals:
2. Finish shelves.
3. Win lottery.
4. Furnish sitting room.
5. Profit (?!?)
I'll leave you with a few rooms that I've pinned as inspiration. Hopefully I'll end up somewhere in this ballpark when all is said and done.
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This makes me want to a) Go Goodwill-ing for a gazillion books and perhaps a giant coral and DEFINITELY a globe and b) add a chandelier of some sort to the room.
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Look at those gorgeous black window frames. I have that on my "maybe someday" list.
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Not so much the colors/patterns here, but this seating arrangement is exactly what I have in mind. I love the greens and yellows and grays together, but the two patterned chairs plus the patterned rug is a little busy for my tastes. Also I'm kind of over that Ikea light. The lines of that couch, though - yes please!
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I pretty much want to steal this inspiration board straight up. Except replace the polished chrome with a mix of metals, anchored with oil-rubbed bronze. (I just threw words together there, I don't even know if they make sense. #notadesigner)
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Absolutely adore everything about this. Livable, comfortable, not too stuffy. They even have my trunk coffee table!!! HEART EYES. A little on the "white" side for life with two small children, but sub some darker neutrals for the white chairs and we're good.
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YIPPEE! I truly love the all Sea Salt - it looks amazeballs :):) That white trim is to die for. Congrats on getting it done!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt looks awesome!!! I know you are sooooo glad to have the painting done! We renovated and painted our whole house BEFORE kids....now we are finishing the basement
ReplyDelete(Phone cut me off again)
ReplyDeleteAnd I have no idea how you are painting and getting anything done with 2 kids under foot. I feel bad as I can't get down in the basement to help hubby like I would have before.