Room Makeover, And How a Simple Paint Color Can Change Your Mood.

   Your home is always going to be a reflection of your personality. Choosing a paint color also reflects on how you like to set the mood of a particular room.  In this blog, I will be talking about how we transformed a dull & boring looking room and gave it some character starting with paint.  I will also be sharing the process of completing this room along with links to some sources for you.

 
    I'm also excited to be the guest blogger for Inspire me Home Decor, thanks for having me Farah! I couldn't wait to finally share this new room that I have never featured before! This is a spare bedroom we have downstairs that we have converted it to another TV/family room.  Originally, this space was very plain to begin with; all we had was a simple couch, mirror and a TV against the wall.  Over time, I knew this room had to have a makeover.  More than anything, the first thing it needed to have was a new paint color.

   When choosing colors for your walls, think about how certain colors make you feel. What are you looking to achieve? If you're not sure, it always helps to look through magazines, blogs or decor websites for inspiration.  In our case, we chose to paint our walls the color gray because we've been contemplating on this color for a very long time. Gray is known to be a color that's very calming and soothing. It also represents peace and balance ~ which was the approach we were going for.

   Whether you have existing furniture or looking to buy new ones, I find it important to know how your furniture will correlate with the paint color of your choice from the start. When we were furniture shopping for this room, we knew we wanted to go with a blue sapphire, velvet sofa. The blue against the gray adds a touch of elegance and simplicity. The idea is to mix and match colors you like and blend it into a beautiful, harmonious combination.

   Here's a before pic that was taken the same night we painted the walls.  I know this doesn't look all that pretty at the moment... but looking at the wall color, how does this color make you feel? 

   Tan walls are very common in most homes because it gives it an earthy feel. In my opinion, its a "safe color."  At the same time, if you don't add texture and depth into your room when decorating; this color will make your space look very dull and boring... Almost like how we had this room before, very bland.  

   Nevertheless, this was a last minute project my husband and I did. Sometimes planning something out never works and starting something sporadically is more exciting! We cleared everything in this room, taped the edges and headed out to grab paint. 

So, we take a trip to my husband's favorite spot Home Depot.

These were our color choices. To the left is the color 'Anonymous' and to the right is the color 'Sparrow' both by Behr Paint. Can you guess which color we went for?

As soon as we got home the ladder went up. We then put our gloves on, picked up a paint brush and went to work at 10 pm.  It was a long night but I enjoyed it. I find painting very therapeutic and quite relaxing. 

We finished by 12:30 am. We figured if we started tonight, the paint can dry by morning and it will all be ready to go before our new sofa gets delivered. 

New wall color.

   Voila! I was so excited to see how the new color looked the next day. It went from blah to wow... We were very happy! It immediately changed our mood and uplifted us from what was the color before. I had a big smile on my face! We also decided to go with the color Sparrow instead of Anonymous {by Behr}.  We figured the color Anonymous might have been a little too dark for our room. We have one window in this room & we don't get too much natural lighting so going lighter was a better choice. {Paint colors may also vary due to lighting. From this angle, the color looks a little darker than usual}.



Here's another image of the wall colors side by side:

                          BEFORE                                                      AFTER

          {Photo taken at night}                           {Photo taken at day}

Our Blue Sofa Arrived

   We were all pretty excited when our new sofa arrived!  This gorgeous piece is from ZGallerie called the Ventura Sofa. We absolutely love it because it's a pretty good size when you have a big family. It is long and pretty deep where you can almost stretch your legs out like a bed. My family and I spend a lot of time in this room, we love having family movie nights here together. At Zgallerie, you have the option to choose a custom fabric of your choice...of coarse we had to go with the color BLUE! ;)

   The painting you see above is a an original oil painting by a very talented Russian artist, Alexi Butirsky.  Butirsky's paintings are known for the power and intensity relationship between light and dark colors. His paintings create inner peace and a sense of calmness. He quoted, "The source of my inspiration is life itself. I find peace and harmony all around me. I observe the beauty of my surroundings and love to share my appreciation of the world through my eyes and transfer it to my viewers by way of my canvas."
  My husband fell in love with this piece at an art gallery. Once the walls were painted, I knew this beautiful painting would compliment our gray walls very well. This beautiful painting is called the "Canal at Dusk.' If you like to inquire about it, you can find additional info that I've linked here.

   On another note; the leopard pillow you see here is one of my all time favorite prints!  I think I have at least one leopard pillow in every room...it doesn't help that I'm also pillows obsessed! I love how it just gives a POP of color against the sapphire blue.  Pillow from Etsy by Little Design Co..

Next, I added two gold, Greek style mirrors that I found from HomeGoods. Since this room has a large wall, I wanted to fill the walls with something very simple but chic...having the painting as a central focal point. Ive linked similar mirrors where you can find here.

 My husband goes to Home Depot again for a few things and comes home surprising me with this gorgeous chandelier he picked out.  I was proud of him for knowing what I might like lol 

 Lighting, mirrors, wall art are all accessories that gives a room character.  

Additional source: Greek Vase {pictured in the first photo} is from my shop Laila's Boutique. 

These beautiful pillows and curtains is also from HomeGoods.

  I also added a nice bench under this window that I got from Safavieh.

As you can see, the wall color here has a tint of blue in it. Again, it depends on how the light hits it whereas other areas of the wall look more gray.

   Overall, we are really happy with the transformation of our new room! The color combination of this space creates a relaxing, sophisticated & soothing atmosphere for us. Remember, color choice should reflect your style and personality. Find a color that suits you and your lifestyle. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and as always, thank you for visiting!

xo 

Laila