This is the second episode in our OMG We Bought A House series. We gave you the preliminary tour of our brand new (old) house in OMG We Bought A House! Episode 1 and now it's time to tackle the first task: paint! Before we paint over that outdated yellow, we have to decide what overall vibe/design style we want in the house.
Because there are a lot of walls, the living room has a barrel ceiling and the house is English Storybook, I decided to go fresh, clean and honor the original style of the house with tones of white paint. I want to not have to paint again in a couple years so for me, luxurious white walls are the perfect backdrop for this architecture and will allow us to re-decorate in a couple years without having to re-paint that giant round ceiling! White also reflects all the glorious sunlight streaming in from the windows and creates a nice flow between the living and dining room.
Painting the walls white definitely does not mean boring, that is not the Mr. Kate way! If you can see by my vibe tray in the episode, my plan is to add design interest and whimsy with the decorating. I love the idea of playing with textures and tones in the curtains and bringing in a lot of worn woods, mixed metals and luxe fabrics. We will accent with found objects, DIY projects and funky flea market finds.
Watch the episode above and please comment below and let us know your feedback and what you want to see next!
3 quick tips for planning your home/room design:
- Remember that design is all about a vibe and a feeling so sketch pictures, or if you can't draw, print photos off your computer of some dream spaces that have realistic elements that you could bring in your space. Bring these photos with you when you shop. I love the feeling of open spaces with cozy textures, glamorous finishes and eclectic objects and furniture.
- Create a vibe tray (like I did in the video) to bring a physical voice to the things you like. Make sure to include not only paint colors (get chips from the hardware store) but texture, patterns, shapes and finshes of things that you can imagine being around all the time. For me, I love natural textures like wood and shiny finishes like crystal and metallics.
- Choose paint colors you can re-decorate around in the future. For example, if blue is your favorite color for ever and ever, choose a muted dusty blue for your walls that you can involve in a couple different design schemes so you have the freedom to change your interior decor every couple years without going through the hassle and expense of re-painting the walls. That's why I went with white walls for our living and dining room.
A few vibe elements I threw together along with the wall paint chip. I love the idea of mixing metal tones with the girly element of crystal and the masculine element of wood.
Our two main colors I chose for our walls and trim. Look closely and you'll see the difference. I went with a cool white for the walls (Benjamin Moore Frostine AF-5) and Pure White (BM OC-64) on the trim. The oak hardwood floors are so old they've yellowed a bit so I want to offset that warm tone with the cool white and then make the architectural interest of the windows pop with the pure white color - it's subtle but sophisticated and clean.
Organic textures and patterns meet high polished shine in my inspiration objects.
The girly whites and sparkles.
The manly woods and metals, I even threw a black rubber band in the mix because I like the idea of using black in play with the white.
Stay tuned for the AFTER photos after the paint dries and we move in!
What do you think? We'd love to hear from you and read all the comments!