Living A Little Lighter

As I mentioned in this post, our living room recently got a little makeover. I had not been happy with the wall color since we painted it three years ago when we moved into this house. We had decided to live with it and see if it grew on us. The color was a nice color, but was just a little too dark for the room. We ended up living with it for three years (because a living room gets a lot of living and it's hard to pull apart a much used room). Finally, after a year at home, I was ready to see the light. I decided one week while Mike was traveling to get this project done. It took five days of nap times to get it done, but it is done. I ended up using the same color we already had in our dining room and hallway. The living room has two large openings into each of these areas, so I was hoping to tie it all together for a larger look. I think it worked somewhat. The room is definitely brighter. It's a long, narrow room. It still has old, ugly carpet. I'm not done, but it's a start. I just can't seem to get a pulled together finished look in there, but trying is part of the fun I guess. I'm definitely open to suggestions!

Before:

AND So far:

View from middle of the room. The doorway to the dining room is on the left.

This is probably the closest to the actual paint color also.

The other end of the room from the middle, and the doorway to the foyer. The dining room is on the right.

I did restyle the bookcases a little bit, changed out a couple of tables, moved the chaise downstairs, gave the train table a different spot, and rearranged the gallery wall. We've realized the train table really works best in the living room for now, even though there is a nice playroom downstairs. B plays with it the most of all his toys, and he can't go downstairs alone yet, so it provides a nice little play area. I'm much happier with it now that it isn't the center of the room also. Like I said, there is plenty of tweaking to still be done. In our long range plans, this room becomes a dining room and the family room moves downstairs. That's part of why we haven't put a lot of money into it yet, but I'm not sure how long the range may be.

Feel free to start following this blog and give me your suggestions in the comments! I would love to hear from you!

New Paint: Glidden Historic Tan