Monday, September 9, 2013

I painted a wall!

After more than two years of ignoring my blog, I'm back with some new projects! My husband and I recently moved into a new apartment in a new city and I'm working on updating the place with our own personal touch.

Unlike our last apartment, which was a fairly new building that needed little to no cosmetic work, our new place is a much older building that has a lot of character but also needs a bit more attention. One of the worst spots was this blank wall in the dining room.


It's hard to tell in this picture, but at some point in the past, the wall was fake wood paneling. The paint over the wood paneling was peeling and thin in some spots, allowing the darker color underneath to show through. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but you can see some of it here.


The room desperately needed color, even with  the curtains and table runner, so I decided to try my hand at painting an accent wall! After sorting through various colors, I decided on Benjamin Moore Brookline Beige. I had the color matched at Lowes using Valspar no VOC paint. (This saved me a lot of money, especially since I am painting in a rental and will probably have to paint the wall back when we move.)

Here's another shot of the wall right before I painted it. You can see some more of the marks and scratches in the wall.


I was pleasantly surprised at how quick and relatively painless the painting process was. Here's the wall after the first coat.


After the second coat had dried I was really pleased with the wall! This picture is probably the closest to the actual color. I really like how the darker color really makes the baseboard pop and look so much brighter too.


I still plan to put some art up on the wall, but I'm very pleased with the progress. I feel like the room looks much more polished and put together now and no more peeling paint!