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Repainting the Living Room

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I steered off course a little doing my room makeovers, I’m supposed to be working on guest bedroom #2, but I’m back on track now. After the long and miserable winter we had, I just couldn’t stand how dark the living room was.

I did a small living room redo last November and, although I knew it was  bit dark, it seemed like it would work.

Well it didn’t. The room faces North so it’s on the dim side anyway and we had not gone through a winter in this house so I had no idea how the color would hold up.

I finished up the 1st guest bedroom and just dove into repainting the living room, in Benjamin Moore Gray Owl, at 50% strength.

I had used Gray Owl in the bathroom and loved it so I thought I’d give it a try. I ending up having to paint the hallway and the living/dining/entry.

Repainting the Living Room | Chatfield Court.com

I found this picture on my phone. It’s definitely not the best quality but you can really see how much lighter the Gray Owl is compared to Thunder.

Repainting the Living Room | Chatfield Court.com

I have to say that I wasn’t loving it when it first went on but I think I like it. Does that sound convincing? 😉 Of course it doesn’t look the same as it does in my bathroom because the lighting is so different but the room is definitely lighter and brighter. I am also liking my new seagrass rug better than the black bordered rug.

Repainting the Living Room | Chatfield Court.com
Repainting the Living Room | Chatfield Court.com
Repainting the Living Room | Chatfield Court.com

Here is my hallway painted with the BM Gray Owl (50% strength). I do love how it looks in this space and how it works with MS Plumage in the guest bedroom.

Repainting the Living Room | Chatfield Court.com

I think that the one thing that bothers me is the media cabinet. I’m not quite sure I like the color of it against the new paint.

Repainting the Living Room | Chatfield Court.com

I would love to hear what you think. Should I leave it as is or paint it a different color? Any ideas?

I still have a few things to do in this room, like figuring out the media cabinet color, installing crown molding, and the redo of my dining table, but I am happy to move on. Now I am really going to get moving on the 2nd guest bedroom makeover. Pinky promise. 😉

Thanks so much for reading!

21 Comments

  1. Thank you Denise and thanks so much for hosting such a great party! Love your blog too! 🙂
    K.

  2. I love the lighter color and before reading the other comments was thinking navy for the cabinet. If it were me I would just paint the drawers and doors blue first to see how that looks and then paint all of it if needed. I would make the pulls a gold color, too.

    1. Thanks for your suggestions Kim! I am loving the lighter color too. Love the idea of gold pulls with the cabinet painted navy. 🙂
      K.

  3. Hello I just started reading your blog and I am really enjoying it.
    The living room looks great with the new wall color. Love the furniture, rug, pops of blue and all of your accents. Personally I would paint the tv hutch black. It looks like you have a piece already painted black on the other side of the room and by painting the hutch black, it will balance both rooms.
    I’m sure whatever you decide it will look great.
    Looking forward to following along on your decorating journey.

    1. Hello Michelle and welcome! So glad you found me and are enjoying CC. Love your suggestion about painting the media console black. Right now I’m considering either blue or black. I’ll be sure to update when I decide. Thank you so much for visiting and for your input. It is so appreciated. 🙂
      K.

  4. The blue for the media cabinet is a good idea. It would pull in the blue in your throw pillows and how about bringing some burgundy and blue covered pillows to pull together the burgundy chair. Sounds like it may be disappearing soon, so there wouldn’t be too much spend on items with that color. I think you need to treat your sofa and rug as a neutral instead of the focal color and use greys and blues to tie in the new wall color. Definitely paint the media cabinet in a blue, maybe similar to the blue I see in your throw pillows.

    Hope my suggestions help, but you have to decide on your own what really will work for you. I think it is great getting some brainstorming from other people and sometimes it gets you to thinking about other ways to decorate and color choices!

    BTW, love your blog and your decorating ideas have been helpful to me. I actually liked the old wall color too!

    MJ

    1. Thanks so much for your input MJ. I agree about the blue for the media cabinet. I just wanted to make sure I was on the right track. This room is driving me crazy and I am so over painting in here. 😉 You’re so right about asking for others opinions. It allows you to get out of your own head and see what others see. I guess you need to be careful what you ask though, you don’t always get the responses you wanted. I so appreciate you visiting and I’m glad that my ideas have been helpful. Hearing that makes all this blog stuff worth it. 🙂
      K.

  5. I am going to ditto the other comments and suggest a bold color for the media cabinet, I like the blue idea!

    1. Thanks Kelly. I think that blue seems to be the unanimous choice. Thank you for your input.
      K.

  6. Love your room & the new wall color! I think a bit more balance in color is needed. I would paint the media cabinet something bolder.

    Angela @ Number Fifty-Three

    1. I think you are right Angela. Thanks so much for commenting. 🙂
      K.

  7. I love the paint colour and agree the media centre needs to be changed. With the wall colour and the big couch being light, I would probably go darker – something similar in darkness (although not necessarily the same colour) as the dresser between the living and dining room.

    1. Thanks Al. It seems everyone says the same thing and it seems I will be getting my paint brush out again. 😉 I appreciate your input.
      K.

    1. Hi Shelley. I think blue would be a great choice. I’m not sure if it will be too much color for me or for the room. Thanks so much for visiting and for your input. 🙂
      K.

  8. I re-read your post and it sounds like you get the same feeling I do sometimes…you just can’t put your finger on what you don’t like…am I right? (if not ignore me I’m an idiot) Because I am looking at your LR and when you look at each piece individually they rock. But there doesn’t seem to be any color balance. I mean, please don’t get me wrong…. the couch, the rug, the stool, and the TV cabinet are all gorgeous. But in my opinion there are too many colors. My guess is if it’s in your budget, I’d find a grey rug to help join the wall color. and the TV cabinet could be painted brown. (to match the recliner) So far I’m seeing, cream, grey, brown, blue and green. Maybe try narrowing down the colors and repeating them where you can that way your eye wants to wander around the room and use the same lamps or same color lamp shades. That helps too

    1. You aren’t an idiot Christine…that happens to me all the time! 😉 Your comment got me to look at my room in a different way. I just got my rug and my husband would kill me if I suggested another, so that is something that won’t change. The elephant in the room is my husband’s recliner, which is a burgundy color. Hopefully it won’t be a problem for much longer, but for now, it’s there. Maybe I should have decorated around that? Thanks so much for giving me such specific and honest input and some great tips. I really do appreciate it. 🙂
      K.

  9. The new paint looks good! The media cabinet does look a little dingy next to the new paint though 🙁 just a few shades darker or lighter should fix it.

    1. I changed my living and dining color from latte which is similar to your old color, to a gray. It brighted up the rooms so much. You said your husbands recliner was a problem. Maybe paint the tv stand a color close to the color of the recliner. It won’t stand out so much. It would look like it it’s should be there. If you get a new recliner or chair, you can always re-paint the tv stand. Beautiful room!

      1. I was surprised at how much my room was brightened too. Paint color does so much for a room, doesn’t it? Painting the media cabinet the color of the recliner is something I have considered but I’m secretly pushing to get rid of the chair sooner rather than later. 😉 Thanks Noreen, for your input and for visiting.
        K.

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