My newly painted living room – part 2

Posted on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 by KiM

So here is part 2 of my living room paint makeover. I think I should begin with a before photo. 🙂

And by the miracle of paint, Farrow and Ball‘s downpipe and plummett in this case, VOILA!

And here is the rest of my living room. It is truly amazing how cozy dark walls like this can be.

Rugs: Ottawa Antique Market and Third World Bazaar Leather chair: Green Light Shop Sofa: Phillip Van Leeuwen Coffee table: Normann Copenhagen Tablo table via Greyhorne

A side note: there are 9 light sources in this room. And it is still fairly dark at night when they are all on. I LOVE IT!

Black lamp: Homesense TV stand: Ottawa Antique Show Air plant holder: na coille Studio Vase: The White Monkey

Here is a mid-paint shot of what was happening on either side of the window. If you look closely in the first photo you’ll see there were mirrors inset into these nooks, with little curved glass shelves. GROSS. My husband took out the mirrors and patched the crap out of the remaining gap, and built floating shelves across. I used to hate these columns but now I think they look pretty sweet.

I bought a bunch of plants to fill the shelves in the hopes they would distract from the columns when they grow big and beautiful. Now I don’t really care if they distract or not.

Love this cross light I bought from Scott of Gaslight Electric at the Etsy: Made in Canada show.

Pillows: Ikea and Homesense Staghorn fern: Sparrow Floral Design

Blanket under Lucky: an antique shop in Prince Edward Island

Flos Aim light, and Oaxacan pottery I picked up on a few trips to Puerto Vallarta, on top of an old marble tulip table I think an Italian relative made back in the day.

Vintage West German vases filled with dried flowers from around the house (and the coolest Tillandsia from blumenstudio), furry stool I picked up at Homesense Saturday, J104 chair By Hay Denmark via The Modern Shop, rug from Third World Bazaar, goose decoy was a wedding gift from my inlaws, antlers from the wilds of Alberta.

And yaaasssssss, my Jieldé wall sconces on either side of the fireplace. The only gift I have ever received (from hubby) where I was so shocked and delighted that I burst into tears. And now I finally get to put them to use.

When the painting was done I thought the ceiling looked a little too plain so I picked up a ceiling medallion from Rona for $50

The point of this photo was an attempt to get a decent photo of all of the paint colours/finishes in one shot. Success. 🙂

Karro says:

Love this! As Swedish, it's nice to see that there are those who dare to paint other than white. Super cozy! Also…fabulous rugs:)

Shahla Khan Salter says:

Firstly I love your blog. It is amazing. I check it out all the time. I also love the dark walls. I have done the same thing in my home. The only thing that doesn't show well I feel in the photo is the drapes. Though perhaps in real life they look good. I would do heavy fabric white drapes that puddle. Your couch is gorgeous. xoxoxo

KiM says:

Thanks Karro!
Thank you SKS! But white drapes?! I think they would stand out like a sore thumb. And as much as I love a decent puddle, the less fabric I have dragging on the floor in a house with 5 cats the better.

ODYSSEY says:

I'm finally getting around to seeing this… LOVE. Love it all. What a massive difference dark walls make! Did you paint the whole house in these two F&B colors? (Apologies if you stated that somewhere here or IG, and I simply missed it.)

KiM says:

Thanks Stephanie! This is the only room I have tackled so far – I haven't figured out what to do with the rest, and this was all I had time to do (but it took FOREVER!) I have a dark blue in mind for the kitchen, and maybe a dark green for the dining room but last night a couple of family members told me to not do any more dark rooms….although this is coming from someone with a taupe house and someone whose walls are all white. HA

Kate says:

I love, love, love the mix of matte and glossy paint! It's amazing how just changing the wall color makes all the stuff inside the room look so different, I think it looks more sophisticated and oddly enough, warmer/more inviting. The shelves are also much nicer now and I love the idea of a plant wall. I agree with you- the curtains are lovely in that dark color but the room could use a pop of color somewhere, maybe in the lamp shade or in some sort of artwork over the couch?
Kate

Anna Picket says:

That's interesting how the room changed when you painted it a dark color. A lot of people try to lighten a room with brighter walls, but you went the other way. The room does look cozy. It's still fresh with all the plants and lamps, though. The wall colors should go with the decorating scheme like that.

I should have seen this a long time ago, but here I am! And it looks amazing! Dark is cosy and magical 😉

laura says:

Look how much more amazing the pics look when you can't see the ceiling and the windows. Paint them all! Go on dare you!

KiM says:

@laura – Windows will get painted this summer – the white irritates me too much. The ceiling though needs to stay the lighter grey because it will be WAY too dark in this room otherwise.

@Maren if you see this – Hiiiiii!!!!!

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