Updating My Downstairs

Well once I started on the kitchen, I just HAD to move on to the living and dining room.  There was no stopping me.  I couldn't paint my kitchen light gray and then leave taupe and light beige on my other walls.

One thing I did know though was that I was NOT going to continue with the same light gray as the kitchen.  I'm not in love with that color and it's way too light for my taste.  I mean, there's no way in hell I'm going to repaint it.  But I'm just not going to continue it throughout the entire lower level.

I started with painting the breakfast nook.  I decided to go with a pop of color rather than using the same wall color as the kitchen or the living room.

Breakfast nook before.

There used to be curtains hanging to cover the god-awful screened in porch.  But we took those down when we got Janie as she thought she could swing from them one day.  So the rod has been hanging out up on the wall for almost two years with no curtains.  I didn't want to take it down until I was ready to spackle and repaint the walls.  The deciding factor on the color was the new pillows I got for my living room.  I'll show you those in a few.  But I just happened to have a test pot of this color from a project I did for someone.  So I tried it out, lived with it for a few weeks, and then went to the store to get a gallon.  Some of you may have seen the post to FB a few weeks ago so you already know the color.  But here she is in all her sexy glory.

I love this color.  Green is actually my favorite color and yet I have barely any green in my main rooms.  I lived vicariously through decorating the condo in this color but I really wanted it in my house.  My next house will have far more of what I want in it.  "My next house" hahahah.  I mean, I'm putting small pieces of things in this house to calm the urge for a full redo.  But I know exactly what I'm going to do to my future new house.  You know.... 100 years down the road.  :)

So now that I had the breakfast nook painted, it was time for the living and dining room to get a fresh coat.  I went with my go-to color.  The same color I have in all of the bedrooms upstairs and the same color as the bottom cabinets.  It's a moody dark, charcoal gray.  It's glorious.

I won't bore you with the details of how I painted the walls.  But here are a few before and during the process.

Here is the wall separating the living and dining room that goes to the upstairs.

Dining room before.  Old lights in the one below because apparently I forgot to take a photo before I started painting.

I moved the wood wall hangings from the living room over to the dining.  Bought a new rug for under the dining table.  I also got a little spray paint happy....  The mirror over the bombay dresser was a blue-ish teal...

But I thought the green suited it better.  Don't mind my grandpa slippers.

And finally the living room before photos.

And the after photos.

Janie wanted to say hi to everyone.  She's sitting like a pretty girl .

And a few more shots just because.  My god, I can't wait to get rid of that dining table.  Anyone want a table?

I tied the green pillows into the breakfast nook walls.  Then I purchased hunter green curtains.  I've been trying to look for green decor but guys, it's like non-existent.  I'll find some things eventually.  But for now with all of the fall decor out I don't need to worry too much about it.  Slowly but surely removing the aqua/teals from the downstairs.  But there are is a lot of it!  This is a good start though.

Moving on to repainting the powder room that is currently aqua.  Then repainting the pedestal table in the breakfast nook that is currently aqua.  Then it's on to the upper cabinets.  DREADING that.  But once that is done- the downstairs is fully finished!  I can't freaking wait!