There’s a project I’ve been wanting to tackle for the three years that we’ve lived here, and it’s finally done.
Well, almost.
Two weeks ago we dove into the project and didn’t look back. We primed all of the trim in the living room, dining room, and hallway (here’s a house tour with the rooms). It took a whole week. This past weekend we gave the trim the first coat of paint (Valspar Bistro White), the second, painted the living room walls (Valspar Stillness), and took off all of the tape. If you want real time updates or more before and afters and sneak peaks, I’ve been have posting on my Instagram and Facebook. Those are like my other blogs, haha.
This is not the after. This just the during. :)
Before anyone yells at me or gets secretly angry or sad (I know there are many wood trim lovers out there!), the trim was in bad shape. Beat up after 76 years of living, paint splatters, huge gouges, and a filth that washing couldn’t take away.
Tonight and tomorrow, we are going to re-tape the trim and paint the hallway and dining room walls two different shades of greige (gray beige, or warm gray). We are almost done. The end is in sight.
I am exhausted. My hand is swollen from painting so much. I don’t want to paint ever ever ever again. I have a lot of work ahead putting this room together and you’ll soon see why. (I can’t tell you just yet).
But holy cow.
I am so blown away with the results and am so happy we dove in head first. Stay tuned…
Kick up your feet and pour yourself a glass of wine – you deserve it! Love the look of clean white trim!
Kelly
thank you, Kelly! It makes me feel like I have a whole new house. :)
Two more days and I will. Two more days… Can I start counting down the hours? I don’t wanna paaaaaaaaint!!! ;)
WOW! This looks great girl! Nice work…love the new bright open space!
-Jen
It looks so bright and clean and NEW! Fantastic Job and great color choices!
Wow the difference is stunning! I love it to the moon and back :)
There is pretty much nothing I love more than white trim! We’re planning on dry-walling over the paneling in our living/dining room and painting it almost this exact color. Fingers crossed it looks half as good as this :D
It’s amazing the difference painting the trim can make. It looks like a completely different room.
Great job! It looks really nice.
I love the white trim and it will be so much easier to keep clean and in great shape compared to wood. I’ve lived with both and will take white any day! What a beautiful change!
Looks great! So bright and clean! Can’t wait to see the final after shots!
Bigger and brighter! Your hard work paid off :). Cannot wait to see it all come together.
It looks gorgeous!!! SO light and bright and happy! You made a great choice to paint the trim…it was worth te effort!
It looks awesome! I SOOOOO love white trim!
Wow! What a difference the paint made! Love the white trim; we did the same thing in our house when we moved in last summer. The room looks so bright and airy now. Great job!!
WOW! I would have hated to paint the trim (but after what you said I can understand why you did). But your room looks amazing!!! Jaw dropping amazing. And gorgeous. The paint color is so pretty. Great job. What paint did you use and the name of the color-if you don’t mind sharing?
It looks awesome! Honestly, I had never seen dark trim until I started reading blogs. Maybe it’s because none of the homes in my area are truly older? (We refer to anything prior to 2000 “old”, only because a hurricane usually comes along and wipes everything out every 30 years or so.) But I love the white and blue – it looks so fresh and clean!
The second picture just INSPIRES calm.
The room looks so much brighter, I love it.
Looks fabulous!!!
Beautiful!
I love this room, the white trim is such a nice contrast!
We are thinking of doing the same thing to out wood trim.
What was your prep process and what primer did you use?
Hi, this is gorgeous! I found you after googling light robin’s egg rooms to find the right paint color, and this was EXACTLY what I was picturing in my head! We, too, live in an old house, and this color adds the perfect amount of charm! I went and bought a sample of the paint, but it’s looking very white on the walls. Did yours look more white than blue before the whole room was painted? I’m just worried mine was mixed wrong or something. I’ll anxiously be waiting to hear from you! Thanks!
thank you, Whitney!
It did look more white than blue. Also, next to the old beige it looked like a dirty electric neon mint color. I was so scared, haha! We almost stopped painting a few times because it looked so bad. Although I would hate to tell you to keep working even if it looks bad, I’m going to do just that. :) The room looked like a completely different color when the whole thing was painted. I was still a bit nervous at night and when it was wet, but in the morning it was perfect.
The color really changes with the light and looking into it now, it’s more minty. When the sun is coming in really bright, it looks more baby blue like in this post: http://www.whitehouseblackshutters.com/mom-cave-makeover-reveal/
Let me know if you have any questions and if you need to email me any questions or pictures, feel free to! amheasley (at) gmail (dot) com. I would love to see what the room looks like (and I’m not just saying that)! :)
Ok, wonderful! I am so glad to hear that because I really have had my heart set on this color since seeing your room! The room is burgundy now, so that’s probably really confusing my eye. I will definitely email you some pics once we get all painted and set up! Thanks for responding so quickly…I’m even more excited about my “new” room now!
keep me posted, and don’t forget to take before pictures!!! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done that. I’m excited to see how it comes together!
I’ve been hunting wall colors for a while and love your wall color in the dining room. What color is that?
I have been trying to do that with out wood. Repaint instead of replace. It isn’t going well. Can you tell me how you did your? Primer type, paint etc. I would love to keep the wood of the old house but it is in BAD shape painting it I think will save it.
It should be illegal to paint. wood trim in old houses. You deny the grain, warmth, and character for sterile uniformity that might as well be MDF underneath. What a shame.
While I respect your opinion, I feel differently if it’s in bad shape and making the house look junky. Not everyone can invest in refinishing old trim, nor handle the fumes involved. It’s not always a new look, I’ve seen old homes with old painted trim. I love the look of wood trim in the right space, but for us we chose to go white and maintain it as need be.