$100 Room Makeover: Painting, Painting

My entry is looking So. Much. Better! This week was all about painting. If you remember Sharon’s advice, she recommended painting my entry the same color as the living room in order to create continuity. This had never crossed my mind, but it was perfect. The difficulty in matching the paint color is that I we aren’t the original owners of this house, so I had to make an educated guess on the paint color. There were literally 7 different cans of beige-ish paint in our basement, so I carried each one upstairs and held it up to the living room wall, hoping to find a match.

I decided Benjamin Moore’s Huntington Beige was the best guess, so I crossed my fingers and bought a gallon (no luck with the recycle center). Luckily, my guess was right on. Phew.

Since the walls were SO dark, I decided to prime them. I have never primed walls before, and I wasn’t sure how many coats to apply, but decided on two. You can see the difference between one and two coats in the image below:

I ran out of painter’s tape, so I’m only part way done with the wall painting… still have the two walls going up the stairs to complete, but it has already made a world of difference in the brightness of our entry.

I also got the entry table painted white. I decided to sand around some of the edging and legs, and I love how it has worked to create a warmer, brighter space.

I added the accessories I mentioned in week one: the antique typewriter and my grandfather’s old reading books. Right now I have a vase of dried lavender, but will probably go with a larger vase and different foliage as it seems a bit small in the space.

My dad texted me yesterday telling me he had found an old box that my grandfather used in World War II. He was going to toss it unless I wanted it. Ummm… yes please. We’ll see if we can fit that in the space as well. If not, I’m sure we can find a good home.

I have been contemplating the mirror color, and decided I really needed to go the the Benjamin Moore site and see which colors they recommend with Huntington Beige. I had gotten a bunch of blue paint samples, but nothing really seemed right. Here’s the options that were recommended online and in the store. Thoughts?

Another thing Sharon recommended for this space was a different color on the door (now that we’ve got beige walls). She is SO right. The white makes everything look blah. Remember my porch from June? I repainted the door outside. Is it okay to paint the inside the same color? I opened up the door so you could see the blue door with the current paint color (kinda grainy… the weather is SO cloudy).

Versus

I also decided to stick with my rug choice (which I think is going to surprise some). I decided on the stripes. Love stripes. This is what the entry currently looks like.

Definitely need that mirror!

The Budget… So Far

Last week I’d spent $20 on a mirror. This week I bought a lot more:

Paint Supplies:

2 Rollers- $6.36 ($3.18 each)
Painter’s Tape- $5.63
1 Gallon White Primer- $15.48
1 Gallon Huntington Beige Paint- $23.48

Rug: $22..77

Total So Far: $93.72… Still have a little left for mirror paint, which I plan to buy in a sample size, so we should be good 🙂

We actually have friends arriving from out of town on Friday night, so I have to get this entry done before then. I’m off to paint some more. Have a wonderful week!