We’re back from our week at the beach and excited to dive back into things! We were so lucky to have great weather and even got to squeeze in some window shopping and a thrift store trip, so that stuff’s in the hopper. Other than that we were beach bums and pool bums just soaking up the sun. Allow me to keep it real and mention that there were three kids under the age of four, so there were also meltdowns and even a cookie-tossing incident, but it was a great trip. We really loved Destin!
Back to the salmon living room walls that are no more.
After rolling back the carpet and covering a few things with dropcloths to protect them from flying paint (doesn’t usually happen, but ya never know…) we ran around spackling all of the wall holes. Turns out there were a bunch. We just used Dap Crackshot and sanded it with a sanding block once it was dry and wiped/vacuumed up the dust before moving on to the priming step.
As is the usual for the painting duo that is John & Sherry, I cut in around all of the crown, trim, windows, and door frames while John rolled. In inside-out painting clothes of course. Here’s the primer coat going on:
Since this is just a colored wall that we’re bringing back to a lighter and more neutral tone, we didn’t need anything heavy duty when it came to the primer (no stain-blocking or oil-based stuff was necessary since it’s not like dealing with potential wood-bleed). So we just used what we had leftover from priming some of the blue and mauve doors and trim upstairs.
In fact this entire project was a $0 update since we decided to go with the same paint color that we used in our foyer (Edgecomb Gray by BM, which is actually more of a creamy greige tone than a gray) since we still had enough leftover to complete the living room – but more on why we chose that in a minute.
Thanks to the primer coat, we only needed one coat of paint. And since it was just the upper portion of the room that we were painting (along with the fact that there are a bunch of doors/windows/built-ins that cut into the “wall area” in here), we thankfully could rely only on our leftover paint.
It’s definitely not a risky choice, but it’s such a breath of fresh air to see something pleasant and neutral after living with salmon walls for the last two months.
The coolest part is how much wider the room feels now that the color sort of recedes instead of saying “hiiiiiiii!” like the pink walls did.
Here’s the other side of the room where we’d love to eventually create a nice wide doorway in the center that leads to the kitchen, with built-in cabinets on each side (sort of like the opening between the office and dining room in our last house). We’ll probably use an accent color on the back of the future built-ins, and since we plan to whitewash the brick on the other side of the room, there will be two nice “focal areas” going on (so we didn’t want the wall color to compete or make things too busy). We have even debated using a soft blue color on the ceiling between the white coffered beams. Should be fun to see where this room takes us!
And since here’s a little sofa shot, I thought I’d toss out another update for you guys since we’re always being asked how we like our Karlstad from Ikea. Still love it! After a few years with a dog and a kid it’s still going strong. We can’t vouch for any other type of cover (ours is the dark sivik gray) but it’s super durable and washable. Check out our poor console table though – we still need to shorten it and make it interlock correctly since we just sort of mashed it together from the extra long version that we had at our previous house (back when our sectional was configured to be a lot larger). Hence that earthquake-lookin’ crack going on behind the sofa.
But back to the living room walls…
… we’re so happy we devoted an afternoon to de-salmoning them right before we hopped in the car for our road trip. It was totally worth the time and leftover paint to come home to such a lighter sight.
Perhaps the most upgraded view in the house is this one…
We still have a lot of wood trim to paint and three different floors going on, but at least there’s one less room full of wallpaper, no more blue trim, and the living room has been de-pinked.
The funniest thing to us is how differently Edgecomb Gray can read when it’s next to wood trim vs. white trim. See how it looks darker in the foyer thanks to the contrast with the white trim? Meanwhile in the living room from this angle it almost looks off-white against the wood – so of course we’re more anxious than ever to keep on painting in there.
We have a devoted post all about this paint color if you want to see more photos of Edgecomb Gray in our house & read why we love it so much. You can also check out our round-up of experts’ favorite white paint colors.
Karen says
Wonderful! I can’t wait to see the whitewashed brick. My daughter and I “dry-brushed” the dark brown brick of our family room chimney, (visible from all four sides) and it completely altered the brightness of the room. To be sure we didn’t accidentally create a pattern on the brick work, we dry-brush the “almost black” brick a cream color, the ashy brick a light clay color, etc. No one can tell we “painted” the brick, it looks so natural and much fresher. Good luck!
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds really smart!
xo
s
Ryan says
It’s amazing how a fresh coat of paint transforms an entire space. Plus, the lighter wall colors brighten up the room and contrast perfectly with that darker sectional. Good call!
Amy E says
Hey, I was wondering when you guys spackle holes in your walls before you paint, do you guys always prime over it and then paint? Or do you just sparkle, sand, then paint? I feel like whenever I touch up my walls with paint, you can see exactly where I touched up. Any help would be great! Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Primer helps it not “flash” through, so it’s a great extra step if you have it in you!
xo
s
Amanda says
Weird question: but how do you manage both the highs and lows of having feedback from your readers? I feel like I would have a hard time maintaining impartiality and doing things exactly how I want them to be done when people are high five-ing you frantically or bashing certain moves. Do you ever think of bloggers comments when you look at a wall or an update and let that affect you either positively or negatively? I know I have a hard time not thinking about people’s comments about things in my house, so how do you manage that?
YoungHouseLove says
That’s a great question! I think when we started blogging we used to be more swayed both by positive and negative feedback (ex: if people loved things we’d keep them longer than we probably should have even when it wasn’t functional or our tastes evolved – and if people hated something we wondered if we were crazy for loving it). But over the years we’ve learned, especially as our readership has grown, that there’s not a single thing that we could do in our house that everyone would universally love or universally hate. It’s just such a personal thing that everyone falls somewhere differently on the scale. Generally I think we’re still extremely excited to hear from everyone, but we’ve learned since we live here that we really have to do things for ourselves at the end of the day (and not for approval or praise). In fact I think the more “you” a person makes their house, the less it might appeal to everyone, but the more personally satisfied they might feel since it’s so tailored to them.
xo
s
Robyn says
Hi there! Where did you get your console table that is directly behind couch?
YoungHouseLove says
We built it for our last house. You can see posts about the process here: https://www.younghouselove.com/2011/04/at-long-last-a-completed-console/
-John
Amy E says
To follow up my last question, if you do prime, do you just prime around the spot that you want to spackle/touch up or do you prime the whole wall?
Also, I read some negative feedback further back in this posts comments, and I just wanted to let you guys know that I think you do an amazing job with your posts. Even if the post is about more every-day kind of stuff, you do an awesome job of making it witty, interesting and fun. Just thought I’d let you know my thoughts :)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Amy! As for priming spackled spots, we just spot prime (meaning we feather it out about 6″ beyond the spackled areas on all sides with a brush). Hope it helps!
xo
s
Katchen says
Congrats on the house btw. We just bought our first house and i have 2 full walls of brick ( 2 rooms with fireplaces) anyway i am super excited to see yours. I loved the one in your first house. Im anxious about whitewashing my bricks. Seeing yours might give me courage. Every time i look at mine i want to cover the in drywall! I love brick but there is such thing a too much. I find it is also restricting my color imagination for the walls. Anyway the room looks great!
Carmelita says
It’s driving me crazy, what are those white sperm looking things on the mantel??
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! They’re ceramic antlers from Pottery Barn a while back. John calls them the mustache.
xo
s
Monique says
Those wood beams are beautiful! I envy them. I inherited some wood coffers in our dining room, but they are not of the same quality. Look at the details in the grain. Delicious.
Lauren says
I love your living room rug! Where is it from???
Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks! It’s from a local store here in Richmond called The Decorating Outlet, but I’ve also seen it on overstock and joss & main.
xo
s
Cari says
This is my first comment ever! I really enjoy your blog. It has given me so many ideas and laughs! I wanted to ask you, what color you would go with on the walls of your living room if you were planning to leave all of the wood trim as is? Im moving into a house where we are leaving the wood trim, and I’m unsure as to what color to paint the walls. They are currently a pastel salmon color. Yuck!
YoungHouseLove says
A soft sage green looks so pretty with wood trim! And a medium mocha on the walls could also be really nice (not as dark as the trim, but not too light either so it’s less high contrast and more enveloping). Hope it helps!
xo
s
Clair Ashburn says
Hi! Love how things are progressing! Our house is new & is painted “builder’s beige”. I love the way Edgecomb Gray looks but do you think it would be that different than the beige we have going on now?
Thanks & love your posts!
Clair
YoungHouseLove says
I think it really depends on your lighting situation. I’d bring home a swatch of it and hold it up to see how different it looks.
xo
s
Trudy says
Hi folks. Love your home/style/humor! Can you tell us your trim paint color in the hall? It’s perfect with that Edgecomb Gray!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Trudy! It’s Simply White by Ben Moore (in semi-gloss).
xo,
s
Elisabeth says
I love, love, love your area rug in this room. Do you remember where it is from? Great blog!!!
YoungHouseLove says
It’s from a local outlet called the Decorating Outlet, but the tag says Rizzy Rugs if that helps.
xo
s
Brittney Saffell says
Looks so much brighter and bigger!! Such a nice change :)
We painted the bead board ceilings in our living room and dining room a soft blue color. We have added “faux” exposed beams using old 2×4 lumber from the house and it turned out awesome. I totally support your idea of a blue ceiling!!
You can see our ceiling here – http://younganddomestic.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/the-cover-up-diy-exposed-beams/
YoungHouseLove says
That looks awesome!
xo
s
Alicia says
Where are the curtains from? Been looking for some just like that – love them. Thanks.
YoungHouseLove says
They’re from Ikea a while back.
xo
s
sarah @makingitmyhome.blogspot.com says
looks so great. love the color
Darcy says
Sherry/John,
I have been meaning to come back to this post for days & finally had the chance to do so today. I tried out that DAP Crackshot you recommended on some deep holes and some smaller ones in my office that I’m making over. Holy cow! That stuff rocks! I’ve got a 60+ year old home with lovely plaster walls. Most of the time it’s charming – but filling in big stuff and working with wet plaster = no bueno (no good. It’s a total pain.) Enter the Crackshot and I’m in love! So easy & it looks awesome one it’s sanded down & primed. Yay. Thanks you guys. Sometimes it really is the little things. :) Cheers!
YoungHouseLove says
So glad!
xo
s
Mandy says
Do you remember where you purchased the polka dot curtains? We are moving into a new house and have to find window coverings for every room…..
YoungHouseLove says
They’re from Ikea a while back but they no longer sell them. Maybe try ebay?
xo
s
Aimee says
I think it would be a nice surprise to have an unexpected room tucked away in the back of the house. White woodwork and pale walls=so coookie-cutter if it’s in every *public* room.
I can see painting the BR, bathroom, and foyer doors white to match since they’re hollow core (hate those, sometimes you can’t even hang a simple hook without having it pull out and making a mess if they’re not beefed up with additional molding) and the woodwork was previously painted in those areas. If the LR had already been vandalized by that awful blue paint, or was cheap paneling or MDF faux board and batten, I’d paint over it in a flash and have done so.
But not real, solid, chunky wood. You simply don’t see that in your average new builds anymore. It’s all faked with veneers, paneling, MDF, plywood, or cheap, soft pine *if* they bother to add details like that at all. I’d want to preserve that last holdout of unpainted wood, restore it and make it glow with welcoming warmth. White may be crisp, but it’s also cold.
I’m surprised you’d even considering covering up real wood in the one room that is always the heart of the home. You *pass through* other rooms to perform specific functions, but you really live in a LR.
Melissa says
Hi! I’ve been scrolling through the comments, but maybe I missed it…Where did you get your curtains? Or did you make them? I love them! Thank you!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Melissa! They’re from Ikea a while back. Don’t think they still sell them, but maybe try ebay?
xo
s