Tuesday, August 2, 2011

From Brown to Bright: A Story of Painted Trim

 

My friend Erin and her husband bought their home several years ago, and have been making improvements to it ever since.  The house was built in the 80’s and was full of dark trim throughout.  Their family room has one window, which along with the woodwork, brick and low ceilings, made for a dark space. 

I usually try to stay out of friends’ decorating dilemmas (especially when it involves one wife who wants to paint all of the trim throughout the house and one husband who doesn’t see the point. . . .).  Since I’m friends with both of them, I just quietly cheered her on from the sidelines :)

 

Here’s what their family room looked like at Christmas:

 

109

 

And, here’s what it looks like now (she has a good husband—he came around):

IMG_8761

 

They kept all of the same furniture, just painting the walls and trim, and changing out a few accessories.

 

 

IMG_8763

 

 

Another simple change she made was to her family wall gallery.  She changed out the mismatched frames for all black frames with white mats, which also helped to lighten things up.

 

111

 

 

IMG_8767

(We found the old dresser at a thrift store a while back.  She painted it black, and her husband made places for the media boxes by removing the drawers and adding shelves out of MDF.)

 

IMG_8772

 

She used “Stone Gray” by Olympic Paint on the walls . . .

 

IMG_8776

 

110

 

IMG_8762

 

Hope this post helps any of you who are on the fence about taking the plunge and painting the trim.  Even her husband likes it :)

ec signature

 

PS-  Today is the last day to enter the pillowcase giveaway from Bedside Manor!