The Green Is KILLING Me!!!

When we bought this house four years ago, we did very little to the upstairs before we rented it out. The front room and office were painted a dark, chalkboard green - all four walls AND the ceiling. It was much too dark - even during the middle of the day. I always felt like it was the middle of the night when I sat in those rooms. I told Chris we needed to paint before winter or I would get depressed in the darkness! Our problem was that painting with 2 little kids by ourselves is nearly impossible. Enter Grandma and Grandpa into the equation and painting is more doable. I told Barbara my plan to do a "little project" while they were here. My plan was to let them play with the kids while Chris and I painted. It didn't quite turn out that way, but our task of painting both rooms was accomplished.

Pictures of the office before paint

The first task was to pack up the two rooms (that we moved into 3 months ago) and move everything into the dining room. I can't believe we fit it all. (My advice is to paint before you move into a house!!!) We took down the oh-so-lovely drapes, pictures and wall ornaments. After which, we taped around all the wood trim on the windows, doors and baseboards. Then it was time for painting!!!

The living room before paint. It looks dark so dark in these pictures even though it is the middle of the day and the lights are on!!!

Barbara and Melvin ended up doing most of the painting while one of us watched the kids (taking care of their needs) or running errands for our project. Lucky for us, Cadence would get bored with painting after about 2 or 3 minutes!

The paint was so dark, two coats of primer was necessary. We painted the ceiling "mayonnaise." The office was painted first with the color we thought we wanted in both rooms, but when we put it on the wall, it looked too yellow. So Chris and I ran to the store and got what we thought was a light brown for the front room. When put on the wall, it is really light and almost looks like an off-white. Oh well! It looks better than the dark green. The colors aren't exactly what I was going for, but I think it looks so much better. I think I will survive the winter now!!!

The almost finished product. Barbara painting the living room (left) and the office is completed (right)!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for spending your vacation painting!!! It looks MUCH BETTER!

I left one wall green for an accent and to go with the fireplace. Someday I will paint it lighter!