How to Lighten Up Your Living Room -A Before & After

I love our living room. Everything in it has been chosen carefully (albeit on a Craigslist budget). However, because we were so careful in our selections, most of the room is very neutral. Lots of wood and earth tones that can seem heavy in the afternoon's sun and dark and stiff in the evening.

The fireplace is also off-center and in a corner. Which makes it a very awkward focal point. So our media cabinet, or armoire, is unfortunately our focal point. And until recently, was also unfortunately knotty pine. I've shown pictures before, but here it is again, in all it's naked piney glory:



Years ago, I decided to paint it. First I thought black--another nice neutral color, but I already painted our kitchen table black and didn't want our house to look like it was designed by Mrs. Havasham. Then I thought about staining it darker-maybe a walnut or mahogany. But the room already struggled with too many dark tones.

The room needed some POP! Some whimsey. I chose Olive #5 from Ralph Lauren.

And the result, in my opinion is amazing.



The color really Made the armoire the focal point of the room. It is as if all the other pieces in the room are now pointing to this one lead piece. I could get really dramatic and describe how my lamps are standing on the the couches saluting my armoire chanting, "Oh, Captain, My Captain. " But then you'll think I'm exaggerating. Trust me. I am not. The room is chanting and it is inspiring.

And most surprising, adding color to our focal point actually lightened the whole space.

In lieu of blogging, I've been painting all over the house this summer. Hopefully, I will put the brush down soon and take a few more pictures to share again.

Before I get back to my projects, I'll leave you some painted amoire link love:

::Kim did her's in distressed black-so sophisticated! She's got more photos of it in her home on Scrap to My Lu, if you keep your eye out for it.

::Becoming Home paints an armoire a crisp white to house her linens.

::Edie from Life in Grace gives a French Painting technique tutorial she used on her armoire.

::And of course, Nester shared her tips for painting knotty pine last week, which I re-read and re-read before starting my project and am really glad I did-(the roller saved hours-and a primer was totally necessary to keep the knots from bleeding!)

::Lucas Rise dares you to paint creatively before dismissing an armoire! Do you dare?

This post is linked to Kimba's DIY Day.