We know color has been a big topic with me. Do I go with the bright fun mid-century colors or the more cool sleek modern colors? As you know, in the end the greens and oranges won out and I am sure glad they did because every time I look down the hallway and see that orange accent around the closet at the end, I smile.
Now that the bathroom and hallway are done, it was time to tackle some of the bigger rooms (which ended up being easier than the bathroom and hallway. Lesson learned.) The problem with the bigger rooms is the wallpaper. And the wallpaper backing. After pulling off all the wallpaper in the dining room and living room, we were faced with the backing and deciding what to do with it, paint over it or remove it.
We took the high road and started on one of the walls in the dining room with DIF and then with a steamer. (I say ‘we’ but I did a tiny section of it while Brett did the rest). The wall wasn’t large and we thought it would be a good experiment. However, six hours later we decided it was a horrible experiment and we would never do it again. In fact, I think Brett’s quote was that he would rather hang drywall over every wall in this house than do that again. Okay, then. The wall did look lovely once it was painted, I will say that.
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We decided to try another experiment, this time painting over the backing. This is a tricky thing (as explained in the wallpaper backing post above) but we figured it was worth it just to see what happened. We removed any loose edges of paper and sanded them down. They we applied Kilz Latex sealer all over the wall. Then we painted. Orange. Easy peasy. Much faster and easier and peasier than that other wall. You cannot see any seams from the wallpaper backing at all. Even if you look super closely. And it makes me happy every time I look at it.
The living room walls got the Air color, as I learned in my Apartment Therapy tutorial that you only want about 20% of strong color to not overwhelm. I think that in the living room I will bring in the orange with my fantasy orange sofa from Perch.
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The kitchen and family room are next and as I type this I realize that in the end, I am going back to the palette of my favorite Orla canisters. Should always remember to trust my gut.
So another room completed. The house if finally getting that Atomic Ranch feel we were dreaming of when we first walked in. I am now totally stoked for the next project. And so is Brett. He just asked me if he could get a jump on it while I am at work today. Score!
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