Paint colors for the Living Room, Dining and Foyer

Have I ever mentioned I used to sell lipstick for a living?

Well, lipstick and a few other cosmetics items.

Fresh out of college, I became an Elizabeth Arden Cosmetic counter girl.

You know…”Well, paint my door red and call me Elizabeth Arden.”  That was me!  (can you name that movie???)

I absolutely loved it.

It was the early 90’s.  Big shoulder pads and of course big hair were all still in style in the South (we like to hold onto fashion as long as we can.)

Everything was black & gold.

Even the packaging of Elizabeth Arden’s products were black & gold with a little bit of white thrown in for good measure.

Of course my uniform was black, as it still is today.  Black will always be my signature color.

I did however accessorize with pops of color.  I remember to this day, I wore Tropicoral lipstick and Flawless Finish Foundation Makeup while working for Elizabeth Arden.  Using color up against black or even just using white, made everything looks so crisp and clean.

It was while working at Elizabeth Arden that I started learning about classic styles that would never go out of fashion.  Whether it was in colors, clothes or accessories.

I’m saying all of this to share that for my color inspiration for the main rooms of our new home, I’m going all classic.  Black, white, gray with touches of gold and yes, even some stripes.  Benjamin Moore graciously supplied the paint for these rooms, and even though the house is still a very rough project in the works, you can definitely see signs of major improvement.  And seeing signs of improvement is a big deal in my book.  Here are the following colors we have used throughout these rooms, all with exterior paint in the finishes noted below:

Benjamin Moore’s Super White PM – 1 – egg shell

Benjamin Moore’s Black Satin (2131-10) – semi gloss

Benjamin Moore’s Moonshine (2140-60) – egg shell

 

Now if you’ve been a reader of this blog for a while, you’ll know I love me some color.  Truly, I do.  But as with everything in life – you have to have a good foundation to pull out color and accessories.  Below is a “BEFORE” shot of the living room *how it looked when we bought the house* looking into the dining room. The (before) walls…looked so dirty in photos.

And just to remind you all…in case you forgot…I’m a blogger.  😉
Who happens to take lots of pictures for a hobby and for my job.
Lighting is everything.  Even when you don’t take lots of pictures.  You still want a fresh and crisp looking room.
I have this yellowish gold color in our current house now, I am more than ready for white walls.

 Here’s a pic of our foyer – BEFORE.

We took out the tile floor (it was cracked and damaged in many places) trust me when I say that “something” was needing to be done in every room of this foreclosed home.

Here’s the “during” look below:

Oh the power of white is simply amazing to me!!!  So much cleaner and neater.

We also bought a new front door.  I wanted a 6 panel classic door with sidelights.  Our old door and sidelights had rotten wood all around the exterior.  So we had to replace it.  As I told my husband, it was a good thing I happened to like the cheapest door they had!  We will be painting the inside and outside of the door in black once we’re done.  This is also where the stripe wall will be (on the right hand side) so you’ll see it right when you walk into the house.  Bold & Beautiful.

As I shared on instagram a couple of weeks ago, the only paint I made a mistake on was picking the darker gray that had lavender hues.
It wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for.  But that’s the beauty of painting.  You can get a “do-over” at any point during a project.

The one on the right – is Moonshine in an eggshell finish, btw!  Now that is exactly what I was looking for = a light & airy gray.
This bathroom doesn’t have any natural light coming in.  So it was a VERY hard room to pick paint for.  I could not be happier with the Moonshine color.
+  One of my good friends has used this throughout her house, and thankfully I just followed in her footsteps.
+  Also, another dear friend of mine had a great idea to bring natural light into this bathroom!  He suggested putting a long mirror up on the wall in the back so it can reflect a window in the master bedroom!  GREAT IDEA, huh???

Hopefully our painting journey will end really soon.

We have been in a complete holding pattern while we wait for the sloooooooooowest A/C guy to finish a new unit install.

Here’s what it looks like in our living room —> currently!

We’re soooooo close to being able to actually finish some projects we’ve been working on, but it all has to wait for now while the slooooowest A/C guy in the world finishes up.  My patience level has gone out the window!  Prayers, please.  😉

It’s all starting to come together, slowly but surely.  Hopefully, I’ll have more fun things to share soon!

 

*Paint for these rooms were supplied by Benjamin Moore.*