Two New Living Room Paint Colors

Two New Living Room Paint Colors

I’ll tell you what…Glancing back and forth between the first and second photos of today’s post gives me so much satisfaction. I will never, ever get over the power of paint! Let me back up a second, though. When we moved into our retro ranch back in November of last year, we were surprised to find that we actually didn’t mind the pistachio green living room paint color that we had inherited from the previous homeowners. It went pretty well with our existing green couch and all of my houseplants, so we decided not to touch it for a bit. You can see the color below before we moved our furniture in (see it with furniture on my Instagram feed here).

Mid-Century Living Room Paint Color Ideas

Mid-Century Living Room Paint Color Ideas

Mid-Century Living Room Paint Color IdeasMid-Century Living Room Paint Color Ideas

I’m sure you can tell from those photos above that the color was a little bit on the oversaturated side (click here for a color match that looks similar to me if you like it). My initial thought was that the green felt very true to the 1960s style of our home, but I ended up finding very old photos of the house from a previous listing online, and realized that the green was anything but original. In fact, the room was first painted a beige cream color to match the trim work. After finding out that the paint wasn’t actually from the 1960s, my opinion started to shift ever so slightly.

The other thing that rocked the boat for me was the fact that John and I had been hard at work painting just about every other room in the house around the living room. We were slowly putting our stamp on the house with the paint colors we actually wanted to use, and our whole home color palette was emerging with each painting project that we completed. The more color we added, the less that green coordinated, so I ultimately decided it was time to change it.

Mid-Century Living Room Paint Color IdeasMid-Century Living Room Paint Color Ideas

John pushed back pretty hard at first when I brought up the idea of painting over the green, but the more I explained to him that the green just wasn’t a good fit with our big picture plans, the more willing he was to give repainting a go. Happily, now that the project is finished he loves the new paint colors I chose and doesn’t miss the old green color one bit. I couldn’t agree more!

Mid-Century Living Room Paint Color Ideas

Mid-Century Living Room Paint Color Ideas

After looking through multiple paint swatches picked up at Sherwin-Williams, I decided on a light neutral tone called “Origami White” for the majority of the room. I had initially planned on painting the entire room that color, but I just recently completed a wallpapering project in the entry, and I felt like we needed a contrasting color on the fireplace wall to balance things out (I’m hiding most of the wallpaper for now until the official reveal, but you can see a big sneak peek of it below).

I happened to get a promotional email from Sherwin-Williams about their color of the month, “Homburg Gray,” and I loved the look of it so much that I decided to grab it for our feature wall without even testing it. Now that it’s finished, the rich, dark painted fireplace wall is actually my favorite part of the space, so I’m really glad I decided to spontaneously go bold. Let me know what you think of our new paint colors in the comments! Would you have left the green, or are you as excited about our new paint as we are?

Mid-Century Living Room Paint Color Ideas

Mid-Century Living Room Paint Color Ideas

Your DIY Guide To Home Decorating eBook

Show Hide 6 comments
Add a comment...

Your email is never<\/em> published or shared. Required fields are marked *

Valentine’s Day Gifts That Aren’t Cheesy

Valentine's Day Gifts That Aren't Cheesy

If you’ve been following along for any length of time, then you know I don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day. In my opinion, the holiday feels a tiny bit contrived and obligatory. I much prefer showing John how much I love him by cooking him his favorite meal on a random Tuesday or with a special store-bought gift that shows that I was thinking of him.

That said, since I’m at the risk of coming off as cynical, I did decide to pick up a surprise Valentine’s Day card and treat for John this holiday. As I was hunting down practical Valentine’s Day gifts to get for him, I kept a running list of the non-cheesy items I found so that I could share them with you. Keep scrolling for the linked list, plus my thought behind each gift idea.

Valentine’s Day Gifts That Aren’t Cheesy:

1. Matching Hoodies: I love the idea of getting each other matching hoodies for the V-Day holiday—bonus points if you get pink ones! John would look great in this color.

2. Portable Tabletop Fireplace: Sitting around a campfire is one of my favorite couple-y things to do. I love that this one can safely be used indoors. Roasted marshmallows for Valentine’s Day? I’m in.

3. Takeout Food Dice: Give your date night dinner out a boost of spontaneity with this pair of customizable dice.

4. Minute Mimosa Sugar Cube Trio: If champagne is a Valentine’s Day tradition for you, try these flavor-infused cubes. They turn plain bubbly into flavored mimosas or bellinis.

5. Grill Top Pizza Oven Kit: Another one of my personal favorite things to do as a couple is homemade pizza night. I might just have to get this for John so that we can up our game this holiday.

6. Conversation-Starter Cards: I usually think these types of question cards are super cheesy, but I read through the sample prompts for this particular set, and they look decent! A very genuine way of striking up fun conversation with your significant other—just make sure you skip the cards that might bring up negative reactions.

7. Valentine’s Day DIY Cupcake Kit: Need I say more? Didn’t think so. Yummm…

8. Furry Blanket For Two: I love that this blanket works well for snuggly Valentine’s Day movie night, but also looks good year-round draped over the back of a sofa.

9. Mini Portable Movie Projector: Speaking of movie night, try this mini portable projector in a totally random spot in your house to mix things up.

10. Urban Map Glass: I actually do love sentimental gifts, but anything too overt isn’t my taste. For example, I would personally never hang up a giant map of the city where we first met, but I absolutely would keep a pair of subtle etched map drink glasses on our bar cart to commemorate where we fell in love (awwww…).

Anyway, I hope that list helps spark your Valentine’s Day gift-getting this holiday. Tell me: do you usually go all out for this holiday? I remember my sister used to adore this holiday back when she was single. I loved that about her! Even if you don’t happen to have a significant other in your life, consider treating yourself to a little lovin’ this holiday. Buy yourself that dress that you know will make you feel good, or splurge on nice take-out for dinner. You deserve it.

Valentine's Day Gifts That Aren't Cheesy

Your DIY Guide To Home Decorating eBook

*I earn a small percentage from purchases made using the affiliate links above. Affiliate links are not sponsored. Rest assured that I never recommend products we wouldn’t use or don’t already love ourselves.

Show Hide 0 comments
Add a comment...

Your email is never<\/em> published or shared. Required fields are marked *

Instagram
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
YouTube
getsocial

get the newsletter
have yousubscribed?
Everybody's doin' it.
get the newsletter