What Ana Does

 Like a fresh spring green, like the chairs at the Jardin Tuileries in Paris. Like the leaves of my Monstera plant. I'm deeply in love with Matcha Latte from Clare paint. I get a hit of oxytocin every time I walk through here.  Some early morning Sunday photos. This top one is filtered for max green impact! WOWZA! Just a few things about the color to review. I wanted to follow the same bright blue I have in the front room and in the cabinets. The old green wasn't the same temperature and felt dull in comparison. This green feels the same youthful, modern color. And with the new chairs, white wainscoting, black and beige accents in the rug and curtain. It all mixes for just the happy vibe I was aiming for.  I hope people come to my house for a dinner party, and never want to leave the dining room. 

I've always thought this house deserves a lot of green. And dark blue. It's that center hall colonial vibe I love so much. So when it came time to paint the guest room, I wanted to use one of those colors. And after painting the back hallway blue, green just seemed to be the right direction.  The guest room gets a ton of light, since it faces east. So it can handle a moody color. I picked Peale Green from Benjamin Moore and got it from the TrueValue near the house -- it's the closest hardware store. The walls were painted in a blue/grey flat paint with lots of nicks and a few spots where the old paint was showing -- not in great shape. I knew an eggshell finish would pick up some sunlight and give the room a little shine. (I will never understand using flat on these walls. SO weird.)  Here's one of the walls before:   And after the coat of Peale Green later ...  Of all the lovely colors in this house, this might be a favorite! It's a great true-green with a lit...

You know when there's a color you just want to TRY is some room? A hue seen on Pinterest so many times it just looks too good not to do. Well, I've always wanted a dark, energized green room. And I found the perfect place to try it. Yup, the laundry room. Another house, another laundry room. This one is just as good as the last, and just as abused -- I've been jamming random stuff in all those cabinets for the last seven months with no rhyme or reason.  Just as many good features as bad, too. I appreciate the white cabinets (that's a lot of storage) and sink for projects. We lock the dogs in here when we're out. But, I'm not a fan of the tight space, "vintage" washer/dryer and beige color. And the terracotta-ish tile floor was definetly slapped in here with missing grout.   What's on tap for this room? Well, there's a HUGE organization project needed. And I already updated all the pulls from white plastic JUNK pulls to this fun, modern black pu...

I'm not saying the willow color on the walls of my master bedroom was a mistake, it just didn't go the way I thought I would. So this week, I'm fixing it. Let's rewind. In 2015, we had professional painters come and paint the two-story walls from awful beige to "polar bear" (by Behr) white ( see that post )! While here, I got a quote for the master bedroom and a year later they came back to change the original dirty, mint green to blue. Here's the post and a very dark picture of the walls . Yup, I love painting walls but I was working a lot and the room is huge, so I didn't think I could get it done in a weekend. I hired it out. Go me! The walls in the master have an angled part , so I used this dark beige-y brown color called "curly willow" to match with the duvet cover and wheat-color headboard. But when I saw it, I knew I went the wrong direction. So, for the past three years, I've been looking at it and kinda liking it. But ...

We have three sets of shutters on our house that probably haven't been touched since they were installed 20ish years ago. This weekend we finally got around to painting them -- a project that's been on our TO DO list for, oh, five years. We picked the shade "inked" by Behr because I love navy and wanted it to be dark and moody. But I'm not sure that's what I got ... Here's the Shutter on the Ground Floor BEFORE AFTER: "Inked" Shutter  The color went on super bright blue, but it seemed to darken as it dried. So I went from feeling so-so, to thumbs-up. Then, Dave crawled out of a bedroom to paint the shutters on the upper level. You can see the "before" on the windows to the left, and the "after" on the right. I am not completely sold on them and I think it's because either a) I'm not used to seeing a pop of color on my house or b) I simply don't like the color. I'm giving it a week to deci...

I might be more sensitive to color than other people. I can look at a stack of white paint chips and see differences, while David just sees WHITE. Because of this, I'm pretty good when it comes to choosing wall colors. Plus, I've got a lot of experience painting rooms. (As you know.) When it comes to my master bathroom walls, I've got an idea of what I want. With grey vanities, blueish grey floor tile and lots of white subway tile, I want the walls to be white with just a bit of blue/grey, too. I picked up a hundred chips at the Home Depot and I'm starting to dig into the possibilities ... (Your computer screen might show the colors a little differently than I see them in real life.) I've got the floor and wall tile behind all the colors, and the black light fixture, too. I started by laying out each chip to see how they "read." The too beige-y or too purples were dismissed. As well as anything too dark. Which left me with what you see in the phot...

Extra! Extra! The green wall is gone! And The Wall of Restraint will need a new name, as it's now getting all decked out. And I'm OK with it. To summarize, this wall is near the garage entrance to the house. And it's a very visible wall, as you can see it from several parts of the house. I've been congratulating myself for not stuffing it with art/pictures, etc. since we moved in. It was the wall I was not going to install hooks on and keep it as a calm focal point. Thus, the Wall of Restraint. But, after four years, I got pretty tried of the moss green color and not having anything to rest my eye on when I gaze in this direction. So, I've been slowing changing it. First came the board to divide up the wall (which is 12 feet high) and then paint color -- white to match the neighboring walls. Ta da! BEFORE! Green Monster! AFTER! White and Bright! I've been home since October, so it's a bit surprising how long its taken me to paint a wall. I l...

So I guess I'm pretty persuasive because I talked her into painting the walls lavender. I even got her to agree to take down the shelves! Score for Mom! Before: The Yellow and Pink Walls Alice Said Looked Like the Sunset This was Saturday. By Sunday morning, the room looked like this:  After: The Soothing Lavender  Here's the long story about the color lavender: I'd been doing research on lavenders for months, picking up chips and looking through Pinterest. I was pretty sure I knew I wanted a very soft color that wasn't too purple or too pink. All the while, I didn't have her approval to paint anything. Little did she know I was planting the seeds of lavender in her little head (eg. "oh, Alice, look at this lavender bedroom in this catalog picture.") Last week she finally said, "hey, I think I want to paint my room." Green light GO!  On Saturday we picked up the fabric for the bed canopy (details coming soon) and walked into H...

Here's the After picture of our master bedroom now that the walls are a dark and moody blue. Maybe the best part is I was at work while the painters were here, so I walked in and found -- as if by magic -- the room no longer minty green but a bold blue. That's pretty awesome. They also painted the trim an eye-popping white, which I just love against this blue. And the angle is a dark beige-y, tan color that I hope goes with the headboard. I spent the evening cleaning and re-hanging the drapes, and moving the furniture back into position. It will be a while before I dare hang anything in here. I'm too in love with the walls to put too many holes in them right now. So, just in case I'm looking for this information later: The walls are "Everard Blue" by Benjamin Moore . And the tray is "Curly Willow" by Behr . Now, does that furniture look too dark against the walls or is it just me? And wouldn't a lighter wood or white look fabulous agains...

... and I'm not doing it. I really really really was going to paint my master bedroom. I picked out the colors and started moving things out of the room. But, ugh, it's a BIG room and that tray part of the ceiling is high. So the question became, how much do I have to pay to NOT paint this room? What's my time and muscle aches really worth? So the answer was a lot more then I expected but they could come this week, so I took the bid. It's the same team that painted our family room and foyer and they were awesome. No worries about mistakes or blots on the ceiling that were a certainty if I painted. The team usually painted houses in the summer, so they saved my room for a rainy day. Master Bedroom - Shady, BEFORE Picture After picture coming soon! Related links: More Master Bedroom posts 

My sisters are coming for Christmas, so I've been spending a lot of time getting the house ready for the onslaught of family -- adult and toddler. One of my tasks is to freshen up the paint color in the guest room. It's the LAST room in the house that is the horrible beige color. I struggled with the paint color for weeks! There's hand-me-down furniture in here. And red curtains I bought quickly when a baby needed to use this room for day-time naps a few years ago. I just wasn't ready to commit to any color scheme or design plan. With my timeline counting down, I had to make my decision and paint this weekend. I pulled color samples, including putting up color swatches on the wall. Blue? Coral? Teal? Peacock blue? Green? Then, on Saturday morning, I had a revelation! My living room in the New Jersey house was a Benjamin Moore color called " shenandoah taupe ," and it was my favorite color in all the house. And guests would compliment the shade, too. It h...

Here are the paint choices: I dug around my house and found nearly-full cans of these colors. There's a sea-foam blue, gray (there are so many cans of gray paint in my house thanks to the dining room) and yellow. I'm trying to match the shower curtain.  Which one? Related posts: Other Home Improvement adventures

Because I'm me, I painted another wall in my house. This one is in the front hall. I painted it green not long ago, but decided this winter that I'd rather have it navy blue to continue the color throughout the main level of the house. This wall you'll see as your enter the house, so it will have big impact. BEFORE: The Green Wall AFTER: IT'S BLUE! I really need to figure out what furniture will sit in this spot. But, until I do, this little white bench will have to do. Related posts: Other Home Improvement adventures

As part of the painter's project this week, they're painting out the two-story entryway from the awful beige (I think that was the actual color name: awful) to our Polar Bear White. They even cleaned up my board and batten! (See the start of that project here. ) Before - White Below, Beige All the Way Up After - All White and Looking GOOD I mean ... worth. every. penny. Looks so much better! Related posts: The entryway board and batten project start Getting the boards up The board and batten is done! All the Entryway posts

In the three year's we've lived in this house, we have not once been able to open the shades on the five windows that are around the second-story of our family room. The previous owners installed blinds run by batteries. But those batteries ran out long ago. So, they stayed closed. The painters are here painting the family room a bright white and the room looks like a greenhouse with all the morning sunlight pouring in. It may be 12 degrees outside, but its sunny and warm in my family room. Look at Those Windows!

BEFORE: Two Colors Another weekend another paint project. This time, in my powder room. If you remember, I painted the little powder room on the main floor of my house in two colors with a piece of white trim planned in between. The trim never got done and I started to regret the blue color on the bottom. It was coming off a little too country-ish. And dark. It's a little space. So, I went through a few chips of color and decided to stay in the blue/green family -- but find something brighter. (Not red, though, it was a fun idea for a few days.) I don't like painting bathrooms, so it took some time to psych myself up for this one. You have to be a bit of a contortionist to reach under the toilet and sink. Ugh. And originally, I was going to leave the top color, but decided against it once I got this fantastic, dynamite color on the wall. I just love it. The color is called Hotel Du La Plage by Ralph Lauren. Leah helped paint around the toilet and a little around...

I've been spending too much time thinking about my guest bathroom on the main floor. You remember it .... I painted it the first year we lived in this house ... Spare Bathroom It's a blue/green combo. ( Take a trip down memory lane. ) Um ... I'm starting to think about refreshing the colors. It's a little drab in there. The green/avocado color isn't really brightening things up, as I'd hoped. And I never put in the trim to separate the colors, as I'd always planned. And that beige trim is undermining the wall color. Am I crazy or do you love the teal/red combo? I haven't done any red anywhere in this house. And it's certainly bright!! Ideas, ideas.

The other BIG painting project was the transition wall in the kitchen and family. Originally, I thought I'd go white with all the rest of the walls in the kitchen (someday), but all winter I had imagined painting it the bold navy I have on the TV wall. And what am I if not BOLD! ;) BEFORE: Beige. Yuck.  So, we opened that navy can of paint and added two coats of navy to this wall. It wasn't a huge time commitment and with the temps around 70, we could open the doors and let the breeze in to speed the drying time. AFTER: WOW! Bold and Beautiful When we were done, we couldn't stop staring at it from the sofa. Wow! The crisp freshly-painted white doors and trim pop on the pretty navy walls. It's just gorgeous! As we were putting supplies away, Dave says: "Done. Will you leave me alone now?!" Not likely, my friend. The beige siege continues!

The trim is biege. I dislike biege. Especially in trim. Plus, they needed a new coat of paint after 15 years and two owners. Hence, the Trim Project of 2014! I declared open season on painting last weekend, so the work begins!  There is miles and miles of baseboards and doors to do in this house, so I'm expecting this to go well into the summer months.  Little by little -- we'll just chip away at it.  P.S. Benny says Hi. 

When we first looked at this house I remember standing at the kitchen sink, imagining myself doing dishes and watching the girls play in the backyard. Then, I noticed the windowsill over the sink, at the cracked beige paint that was peeling away, oh no! "The first thing I'll do in this house is fix up that window sill!" I thought. And it went on a list. Two and a half years later ... I finally fixed it! Last weekend, I scrapped the paint off, used some nontoxic stripper and scrapped again. Then I sanded down what remained. Most of this done at night, while watching "Catching Fire." (Which was an awesome movie!) During: The Window Will  The next day I painted it BRIGHT WHITE ... the first white windowsill in the house! That's one down, 16 to go! And it looks fantastic and clean.  After: A Cleaned-up Window Sill Now, I just need to push the girls out to play in the snow.