Thursday, January 31, 2013

Mom-cave reveal!


Almost five years ago, we moved into our present home. It was a rather horrid mixture of busted walls, dog-pee carpets, and other peoples' smells. So, painting the entire thing was in order. But I have to admit, after five years, I just never fell in love with the color I chose for the 3rd and smallest bedroom - the room I commandeered as my dressing and craft room, a.k.a. the "Mom Cave." It was kind of a peachy color... not as orange as "tangerine" but not pink. 

I tried for a long time to force it into becoming my little cottagey retreat room, but this year I finally gave up. It just wasn't working. 

These two "before" pictures are a few years old but they are pretty accurate as far as showing the wall color. It's pretty, but I didn't love it:  




So I decided recently to do a make-over in the Mom-cave - mostly just changing the paint color, but also a few small projects that would help achieve the garden style I wanted for the room.  The challenge was, I had built a large glass-top desk in the room and there is really no way remove it completely - it's just too big. Plus, I didn't want to have to empty the barrister bookcase of all its contents. So, over the course of a week, I spent my evenings shoving the furniture around into various corners of the room (like a heavy game of Tetris!) while I taped then painted the walls one at a time. Here's a glimpse of what the mess of that method looked like: 


And here, just for fun, are shots of my original gallery walls. You can see they're kind of a hodge-podge: 




My new color is a soft botanical green. You can see the difference here: 


For each wall, I of course started by removing all the picture-hanging hardware and patching the holes. I taped off any wood trim, did the cutting in with a brush, then "filled in" with the roller. It took two coats. Here's a good representation of the new color: 



And here is my helper: 


My secondary goal in the room, next to painting, was to simplify just a bit. To cull a few of my collected items, and make room for items that I really liked but had in storage. That meant the gallery walls were ultimately going to look a little different. They are still a work in progress, but here are some after shots of the finished space. (You might see my other helper lurking on chairs or other flat surfaces.) 









I am truly in love with this color. It's my intention to use an off-white/ivory as the accent color, although a few items in the room are already bright white so they'll probably stay that way. 

I'll share the before-and-afters of a couple additional small project here in future posts, but here's a hint: there were two objects in the room that really needed a little "shabbifying." Here they are: 



You'll see more of those soon! This re-paint was a pretty big project for me and I really love the way it turned out! How about you - have you done any painting lately? Did your color choices turn out the way you wanted? 

I'm linking my re-painted Mom Cave to Jill's A Round Tuit party! Be sure to click through for SO much beautiful inspiration! 
 
More soon,
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6 comments:

  1. I love it Janet! It is beautiful...:) The green is gorgeous...of course green is my favorite color! You have so many beautiful things...I love the cute little chair. I am looking for a small, comfy chair for my room. Haven't found it yet, but I know I will. I also can't wait to get my desk skirt on....yours looks great! The boxes your kitty is sitting on are very pretty...as is your kitty. She looked like she was posing...:) Anyway...I love it!

    Vicky
    Life On Willie Mae Lane

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  2. Hi Vicky - thanks for visiting! Yes, Miss Poser Kitty is Lily... she follows me EVERYWHERE! LOL She is the only cat I've ever met who actually replies (mrrr-owwwr!) and comes to you when you call her by name. LOL The other cat, the one in the blue tub, his name is Tiger. He only seeks attention in the morning, but he loves to jump into any box or container. I finally found one he is not too fat to fit into - but, don't tell him I said that! Anyhoo, glad you like the room... I'm still working on getting it all put back together, but the green paint is just what it needed.

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  3. looks like a fun place to hang out. Thanks for stopping by my blog, My Old Historic House. Richard

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  4. Richard! Welcome, thank you for stopping by! I really enjoy this room... hoping to do a little more "vintage" in the rest of the house, too, but it's not necessarily my husband's style so I'm looking for ways to compromise. :) I sure enjoyed your post about having friends over for dinner!

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  5. How fun to have your own Mom Cave! I am a huge fan of the color! Now you get to enjoy.

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  6. Hi Jordan - yes, the new color really makes me smile every time I step into the room. Thanks for visiting!

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