Whole House Interior Update

How did this whole house redecorating thing start?  A few months ago I repainted my studio where I make jewelry, and hung a fabulous wall mural to serve as a background when photographing my finished jewelry.  I continued to add this and that until I had the studio exactly the way I had always envisioned.  It’s such a great place to work now and I absolutely love everything about it—it’s so “me.”  That space is adjacent to the living area, and it just made the other part of the house feel as though it needed some love.  That’s how the entire house spruce-up project commenced.  

I followed with the little half bath that’s right off the studio.  (See story board below.)  I painted it black and wallpapered one wall with this great old-fashioned (in a good way!) bird wallpaper.  I love it so much and I thought hubby would too, because he’s a lover of nature and it has birds, but it also has the black background, and black scares him a little bit, which is actually not unusual. Black is dark—it’s a dramatic color, but if you have plenty of light, it doesn’t feel too dark.  It definitely makes a statement, and that’s the point, right?  I thought this nature-inspired paper added just enough color to the little room and it also helps tell the Pimperl Place story, as we live in the middle of a glorious piece of heaven on earth, filled with all sorts of wildlife.  This new look makes this small jewel box of a room feel right at home next to the new studio.

I still need to order the gold-colored pressed tin metal that’s going on the ceiling and that will also add another texture and lighten up the room a little more, AND THEN I can hang the new light fixture that I already have…just waiting for the ceiling to go up before we change it.  I think hubby will like it more then.  He does always tell me to do whatever I want with the inside of the house, as he usually ends up liking it when it all comes together anyway, but it’s just a little stressful (for both of us!) until it all does actually come together into a cohesive look that makes sense.  The little powder room is now about 85% finished.  I really need to go measure and order the ceiling tiles so we can call that room all wrapped up.

Next up is the remaining part of the living area/kitchen/dining space.  The last time I painted the this area, it took most of a month.  I had scaffolding set up at one of the two-story tall walls and the furniture was all pushed to the other side of the room.  I couldn’t move anything by myself even though the scaffolding was on wheels as it was just too tall and unwieldy, so I would paint while hubby was at work and when he came home, he’d help me move things around so that I could get to the next wall the next day.  Since he’s retired now and home everyday to help, it’s probably safe to assume that it won’t take as much time as it did last time, but whether or not my old body can actually climb up that scaffolding these days remains to be seen, so that part of things could slow me down a bit.  Who knows how long it’s going to take, but I do know that it’s not going to paint itself, and since I just went and bought paint today, it needs to happen sooner rather than later.

As a side note, I ALWAYS use Sherwin-Williams paint…trust me on that.  I’ve tried many different brands, and this is the best there is.  Although I usually use two coats, I sometimes can get away with one coat of paint using this kind, and that never happens with any other paint I’ve ever used.  I use the Duration line in satin finish for my interior walls.  And it’s on sale 40% off for the next couple of days which is why I went today to buy what I needed.  

I have debated calling my painter friend (who is also a tenant in one of our rental houses) to see if he’d do the painting in exchange for a month of free rent, but I keep talking myself out of it.  We did get him to repaint the outside of the house the last time we did that a couple of years ago, and I was so happy that I didn’t have to do it myself.  I painted every single square inch of this house when we built it twenty two years ago, and it was a big job—not one that I care to repeat, and if I’m honest with myself, I also need to admit that I’m not as nimble and quick as I was back then!  I’ve just never been one to pay for something to be done if I can do it myself, and anyway, our painter friend stays really busy and it would probably take him months to even get us on his schedule, and I’m impatient, so there’s that.  

Here’s the story board that I made to get a feel for how the new living room decor will look.

So, how did I arrive at these decisions?  I decided that we needed to “calm things down a bit” in the interior of our house.  The reason being that we’re getting older, and I’m not sure how many more of these whole house paint jobs I have in me.  In the past, I’ve gone with some really bold colors and I’ve hung lots of my own very colorful artwork, which was fun, but at this point in our lives, it needs to feel more pleasing to everyone, and not just us.  I mean, I’m trying to plan for the future and it’s not fun to talk about it, but we’re not going to be around forever.  I don’t want to kick the bucket and leave behind a funky crazy house for our children.  I guess I’m trying to make it easier on them when I actually think about it.  If the colors are more “normal” then if they need to put the house on the market or rent it, it will be more attractive to the masses.  With that in mind, I decided to use the same wallpaper again in the main living area, but just at the top one -third of a twelve foot wall.  The bottom will be painted black as it’s a wall that extends into the living area from the studio.  But, I promise, that’s all the black!  The rest of the tall walls will be that pretty light color called Rice Grain.  The story board shows what I like to call “the givens” too.  Those are the things that will stay.  Our stained concrete floor is one, which will get a new rug in the living area.  What I love about that rug is that it’s an indoor/outdoor rug and that’s the kind I currently have in the living area.  My hubby works outside A LOT and tends to be rough on a good rug with his dirty boots, so this kind works for us.  I can take it outside to the concrete and pressure wash it!  It’s made of some sort of recycled material that’s like plastic, but feels soft.  Anyway, I’ve found one in an all over black and beige smaller scale pattern that will work with the bird wallpaper, so I’m excited to get the new rug.  The other things that will stay are our FlexSteel leather furniture. Those pieces will probably last forever, and that’s the reason we spent big money to get that brand.  It’s good stuff—still comfy and I still like it, so it’ll stay.  The two accent colors that I’ve shown on the story board came from the wallpaper too.  I’ll use them for throw pillows, throw blankets, and other small bits to help pull the complete color story together.  I have a wooden trunk box thing that I’ve used the last few years as a coffee table.  It’s a chunky piece which is a good scale for the room and our leather furniture, so I’m thinking of repainting it that brick red color.  That would tie that piece back into my color story and provide a nice bold pop of color right in the center of the room.  I think it’s going to be great!

The image below shows what our interior currently looks like.  The walls have been green for eight years now.  It’s time for the change.

Of course I’ll document the whole house interior update journey as it progresses.  If you’d like to see quick posts, I’ll probably put them up more frequently on the Instagram account Pimperl Place, so if you’re interested in that, you’ll need to follow over there.  I’ll write more in detail here.

Thanks for following this journey with me!

Judy