Paint, Accessory Shopping and a Whitewashed Fireplace

July 12, 2019

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Room Makeover ( Photo: Reinventing Space)

Change is good - especially when it comes to your home. I recently met with a new client who was thinking of putting her house on the market. The kids have flown the coop, and she is ready for a new life chapter, which includes, perhaps, a smaller home. All her home decorating had been done when the home was built, years ago. Her spaces needed a new color palette and major accessory rejuvenation. My goal was to give her place a fresh new look whether she sells or not.

My design motto at Reinventing Space is- let's use as much of what you own first by assessing your furniture, accessories, art and then come up with a plan. A goal is to compliment what we keep, shop for new pieces and accessories to redesign, and pull it all together. And if needed, I'll suggest updates such as paint projects, light fixture replacement, floor re-staining/replacement and more.

For this client, her furniture was great, but in dire need of a new paint palette. Change your paint, and your old stuff looks like new stuff. Home decorating colors change over time, so what was stylish then, may not be stylish now. We focused in her living room as a template for the rest of the home. The room had been painted a Merlot red - including her built-in cabinets. My goal was a room that was bright and airy with a casual comfort style. I picked a pale gray (greige) for the walls, along with an off-white for her built-ins, fireplace and trim. While she had her painter busy, I was enlisted to shop.

Keep the bones, up-style with new accessories. My shopping plan was to pull in a new accent color for her - Blue. Trending, but classic; if she decides to move, she can bring these accessories with her, and was we style her other spaces, we have a color to sprinkle about. The blue shows up in new pillows, a throw, art and rug. To raise the style level of her existing taupe furniture, I included rattan lantern candle holders tucked into her bookcases, and the candle sticks on the mantle are oak with a whitewash, so will pull that color over to the bookcases and mantle. The new abstract art over the fireplace adds that POP of color, as well as brings down the formality of the living room.

With the living room styled, we moved onto the family room. That too was painted, but we also whitewashed the fireplace. The same off-white trim paint color was used to give the fireplace a fresh new, updated look. While shopping for the living room, I found family room mantle accessories as well. With the room's focal wall complete, we could move on to the rest of the space.