Loving This Blue Living Room

It's the "front room" or the "living room" or the "morning room" or my "office" -- whatever we end up calling it, it's the room just opposite the dining room and nearest to the front door. It's the room I take my coffee to in the morning and stare out the window while I sip (it faces east). And where I sit all day while I'm working. It's an important, multifunctional room. 

So, it was the obvious choice for the next makeover.

Here's what it looked like when we bought the house. Clearly, it was used as a "formal" space. The room only guests got to enter -- which let's all agree is an outdated construct, ok?

Then we moved in and it looked like this ..

 

Curtains came down and our well-used sofas came in. Quickly turned into a multi-use room.

But that red accent wall and tan had to be updated. I put up many paint chips on the wall with the guidelines that: it had to coordinate with the dining room and foyer, it had to go with my modern Colonial theme, and match with our existing furniture. 

Dave was pushing for gray ... and while our old living/dining room was gray (see here) I never liked how it looked with the beige-tone sofas. It was discoordinate and, had we stayed in the house, one of those elements needed to change. So, sorry, no gray. 

The winning color, which at first I dismissed as too dark but it was the one my eye kept finding every time I was in the room, was English Channel from Behr. I love a blue. It's classic. Looks great with the wood tones, white wainscoting and sofas. And totally modern. From the first swipe of paint, I was swooning. 

But first, priming that red wall. Though, the blue it was probably dark enough to have skipped this step. And painting after dinner to just get it done and beautiful. 

With Pepper patiently waiting to go to bed. See how great it matches the pillows and throw-blanket?!

And here's the "After" with the paint! It's amazing and I love it ...  

And that view of the back wall, which I'll cover later, with the white/blue combo. It's so charming and fresh!

No surprise, there's still much to be done in this room. We're in the process of ordering new carpet -- this one is stained and bubbling-up in a few areas. I have to hang art. And I'm trying to find the perfect coffee table for puzzles, games, books and to hold my coffee. This one is too dark and ready for retirement. 

SO, a proper "AFTER" photo is still coming. But, let's just celebrate this sweet color for awhile and, once again, acknowledge the power of a $36 can of paint and a few hours of my time. YES!

All hail blue!