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New Home Paint Makeover

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Okay-if you read yesterday’s post then I know you’re wanting to see how we changed the paint colors in our new house. To catch you up, here are some pictures of what we were working with, starting with the dining room painted in a deep burgundy just off the front entryway:

An empty room painted dark brown with white molding trim

The dining room from the other angle:

A large empty dining room with maroon paint

The kitchen was a similar dark color, this time red:

A red kitchen with off white cabinets and dark appliances

A view of the kitchen with the eat in kitchen taken from the living room which is painted in a light green color:

A kitchen with wooden cabinets, red walls and green walls in foreground

The living room taken from the kitchen, the entry is just to the left.

A large empty room with a wood floor and dated green and maroon walls

This TV alcove was probably a great upgrade when the house was built 16 years ago but wouldn’t work at all with today’s TV dimensions:

A close up of a TV nook with green walls

The other side of the living room with the stairs to the second level. The kitchen is just to the left and the entry just to right.

A before picture of a staircase and light green wall paint

The master bedroom was a rusty orange color. I love the big windows and molding.

A bedroom with brown walls

The master bath is huge (especially considering the entire family shared one tub/shower for the last year in England!) It was also the orange color:

A bathroom with two sinks, a large mirror and brown wall color

Seriously loving that shower, and loving not sharing my bathroom with three little boys anymore!!

A walk in shower and adjacent jetted tub with brown walls

Lastly, the upstairs bonus room which was a huge selling point for me with the house. I picture this area as a place where my three boys can grow and hang out with friends as they get into their teenage years. Also a great place to watch family movies, etc.

A bonus room with carpet and dark brown walls

All of the paint colors were the very “on trend” colors by Sherwin Williams 16 years ago when the house was built, but I felt it was time for an update and wanted to give the house a more modern, neutral color scheme. I decided on the following colors from Sherwin Williams:

collage of grey paint colors with names

I had originally thought everything in the main living areas would be Agreeable Gray with the exception of the dining room and master bath which would be Dorian Gray and then paint the master Chelsea Gray. Our painter who has a huge amount of experience kindly suggested we do the kitchen the deeper Dorian Gray as well to give the room transition more of a subtle contrast rather than it being the same color as the living room next to it. We happily agreed and the house looks markedly different now!

Before I show you all the after pictures let’s address this little eyesore:

A close up of a TV nook with green walls

This TV alcove was such an akward shaped for modern TVs…I turned to some of my favorite blogging friends for suggestions and as usual they did not disappoint, offering everything from making it hidden secret storage to shiplapping the entire mantel! In the end our painter offered to disconnect the electrical and drywall over it for a very reasonable price and we opted for that-best to get it done and taken care of all in one swoop with the painting!

An in-process picture of closing in the TV nook before painting

(For anyone in the Savannah area we used TM Specialty Painting & Remodeling Services recommended by our realtor Carol Anne Hazelman and the level of quality was beyond expectation. Highly recommend both the painters and our realtor!)

So the afters-these are all iPhone photos, no staging, you may see boxes because we just received the items we stored while we were in England for a year, but hey-this is real life folks!! First our new improved mantel with no gaping TV alcove!

A living room after repainting the walls with a sofa and leather chair in it.

Then on to the kitchen, it’s amazing to me how different the finishes look just with the change of paint! You can see it is a slightly deeper gray than the living room in front of it.

A picture of a eat-in kitchen from a living room showing new gray paint

The stairs too look very different with the different paint, we also opted to paint the recesses on the wall (that will later hold art?) the same color as the walls to reduce the appearance of dust at the suggestion of our painter.

A living room with gray sofa with new gray paint on the walls

The dining room…I love how the moldings pop against the gray. We may end up using this as an office for my husband as we don’t really use a formal dining room much in normal life.

A close up of a dinning room chandelier and window treatments

The master bedroom (yes, that is an air mattress and yes, we will be sleeping on that for about two months while we wait for our things to arrive from England. Military life is very glamorous I assure you!) We asked for the tray to be painted in the ceiling and it turned out beautifully. We did this in our house in North Carolina too and loved the dimension and height it gave the room!

In-progress picture of painting the bedroom walls gray

The master bathroom was an even more drastic change. The finishes in here definitely looked much better with the cooler colors!

After picture with the bathroom being painted gray After picture showing the bathroom painted gray

Upstairs the bonus room also had a huge makeover and overall looked much lighter and brighter after the updated paint.

After picture showing bonus room painted gray

So please let me know what you think of the paint if you’ve made it this far through the blog post!! Too much gray? I wondered if it would be but I think once we have all of our belongings here and pictures on the wall I think it will look a lot different. (We’ll see in September lol!)

And in case things haven’t been hectic enough, last week I also bought a new minivan:

A woman in a dress standing in front of a new minivan with a yellow bow on the minivan

And next week we will add a new little member to our family! (If you follow me on Facebook you know our previous cat went missing in April over in England and despite our best efforts we never found him-we were heartbroken, especially after losing our dog last year as well. We’ve had no pets since then and we’re all looking forward to having a furry friend in the house again as soon as she’s spayed and ready to come home with us!)

A cat that is standing in a room

(Any name ideas? It’s a girl!)

Thanks for reading, let me know what you think of the paint!

 

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28 Comments

  1. I love your new home and all of your paint colors. I have a kitty that looks similar to yours and I named her Sadie.

  2. The grays are beautiful. It’s amazing how much calmer the rooms look now! Soft, neutral walls are always a great backdrop for trendy or colorful décor. And congratulations on your new pet, she looks sweet!

  3. Think you did a great job picking paint colors all in one palette. We are getting ready to change from dark colors to white in hallway, dining and living room. We have dark grey sofas and wooden floors with poor lighting. Hope we are as happy with paint color as you are.Kitty looks like a Moxie to me!

  4. I really like the colors that you have chosen for your new home. Can’t wait to see more of your decorating ideas as you journey on. Welcome back to the USA.
    As for your new member to be: how about Sophie OR Tawney?

  5. The colors really go nicely together as you transition from one room to the next. As for Miss Kitty, I would name her Toity as in Tortoise shell and hoity-toity!

  6. I think that grey is the new “white” and a wonderful backdrop for pops of colorful accessories. It will be so easy to dress the rooms up for the changing seasons or different holidays by adding colorful throw pillows, flowers and other decorator items. In honor of your color choice, I think you should name the kitten Dorian or perhaps just Dory. Enjoy your new home!!

  7. I too really like the colors you’ve put in the house. I think a good name for your cat would be Pele because of the Hawaiian goddess and because of her calico coloration.

  8. Love the house and the new colors you chose. I would name that sweet little girl, Callie. Since she’s a Calico. lol

  9. You have a very lovely home. Looks so much better with the grey.

    How about Savannah for a name for your kitty.

  10. Hi Melissa! What a transformation…good job on the colors. Very calming and serene. I think you should name your new kitty after a British character in a movie or book. Seems appropriate. Cora…Elinor…Violet??? Welcome back the US!

  11. I absolutely love the colors you chose! Your house looks beautiful! Congratulations on all that you have accomplished so far, in such a short period of time and still have time to blog and kept your sanity!! 🙂 Enjoy Savannah, there is so much history to explore and learn, It is one of my favorite cities. I went to college at Ga Southern, just west of Savannah and any time that I could get away, I would go to Savannah and Tybee Island to the beach, since I missed the water so much being from Miami. All the best ~ Jena

  12. Your house looks stunning Melissa, congratulations! Loving all the greys, they really make the white architrave pop. Congrats too on your new furry friend, she’s gorgeous. I think she looks like she should be called ‘Marble’ because of her lovely colourings xx

  13. Your house looks fantastic! My husband was standing behind me as I was looking at the pictures and he really likes your house too. Awesome job filling in the tv hole. And, I am already in love with your new family member. She is gorgeous. I am so sorry your other cat never came back home. My heart breaks for you and your family. I always like the name Cali for a calico cat. I was going to adopt one once from a rescue that I volunteered for but she didn’t survive. I changed the spelling to Kali to make it a little more unique.

  14. Beautiful home and the gray looks great. My Daughter has a new Lake house that she did in the gray and it looks so amazing Looking forward to seeing more pics of your new home….Kitty girl is what I would name her

  15. You did a grey(t) job! It’s so much lighter & flows better. The rooms are so big.
    Sorry to hear you lost your cat whilst here in England. Your new kitty looks so cute& mischievous…. I am going to a newly opened cat cafe tomorrow- can’t wait!

  16. Love the greys. The interior looks much calmer. Will make a good backdrop for your belongings.
    As for the kitten… she looks like a Tricia.
    Welcome home.

  17. Absolutely beautiful!! The colors look great. You are very talented. Congratulations on your new pet.

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