This is the room to blame. Everything was going fine in my life until I saw this room. Once I saw it? My life pretty much fell apart and I started to develop extreme bouts of throwing up, my living room filled with flies and my toilet started belching black, oozing goo. Seriously. EVERYTHING went wrong. I even had to call in a priest.
Oh wait, no, that's the plot to The Amityville Horror.
What happened to me was, I just ended up obsessing about how much I loved this room.
I suddenly felt compelled to redo the lower floor of my house. I've been through this once before. That time I literally got rid of almost everything I owned and started completely from scratch. Every year that goes by in my life I get a better and better sense of what I like. And I also get a better sense of how to achieve the look I want.
THROUGH PINTEREST.
Just kidding. Kind of. I don't use Pinterest the way most people do. I don't use it to endlessly scroll through pages of random stuff. I use it more like a really ramped up version of Google images. I head to Pinterest with a mission, I get what I need, then I leave. So if I want to see examples of a Empire Chandeliers or Library/Dining Room combinations, Pinterest is my go-to.
My first thought after seeing the beautiful picture above by decorator The Makerista was I wanted to add a library ladder to the bookcases in my front hall and switch out my Draper light fixture for an Empire Chandelier.
That's it. That's all I needed to do.
That was doomed for failure Plan #1.
Because my house is almost 180 years old the ceilings in the front (original) part of the house are only 7'3" high. So, inaccessible to many professional basketball players much to my chagrin.
After a week or so of mulling around the idea of Plan #1, I realized it didn't make sense to have a ladder in a room where you could reach up and touch the ceiling while wearing a pair of flats.
Plan #1 was also a fail because what I *really* wanted was the feel of an actual library. My front hall only has one wall for bookcases so that feeling of a whole room of books was never going to happen.
Unless ... Plan #2.
If I were to remove my bookcases from the front hall and put them in my dining room I could add a whole BUNCH of bookcases and make it feel like a library/games room. Slash dining room.
So I dragged my bookcases into my dining room to see if I would like a dining room filled with bookcases.
Yup. I think I'd like it. Plus since I already had so many bookcases I wouldn't have to spend that much money to finish off the rest of the room. The big painting of Margaret would have to be relocated somewhere else but that was doable. I could put it in the front hall where I removed the bookcases from. PERFECT plan!
So I immediately bought a library ladder. Which is 2 feet too high for my 8' high dining room ceilings. Oops.
There were 2 problems with Plan #2.
The biggest being the Christmas Tree.
My most favourite thing in my entire house at Christmas is my white Christmas tree in the corner of the dining room. In fact it's probably my most favourite thing in my house all season long and if I thought I could get away with leaving it up year round I would. But it's hard to pull off being an authority on anything design related when you have a Christmas tree up all year long.
If I lined the entire back wall of the dining room with bookcases there would be nowhere for my beautiful white tree. That's an issue. I love that tree.
The second problem with Plan #2 was my white buffet.
photo by Donna Griffith
This huge white buffet in my dining room holds a LOT of stuff which is important in a house with basically no closets. If I added bookcases there wouldn't be room for the buffet in the dining room. Although I coulddddd move this buffet into the front hall. PERFECT plan! Oh wait. That's where Margaret was going to go. Crap.
Also did I mention that Ikea decided to change the look of their iconic Billy bookcases so they won't perfectly match the older ones I have?
Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap.
And that is how redecorating goes. For everyone. I don't think everyone knows that. It doesn't go smoothly or swiftly for ANYONE. Not regular homeowners, not designers, not decorators. When you see the finished product on blogs or in magazines, it looks like it all came together so easily but I can guarantee it did not.
In fact I have a photo on my iPhone of my friend with her face all swollen up, nose red, tears streaming down her face. Why did she look like this? She was trying to rearrange her home accessories.
So you're not alone if bringing a single new Kleenex box into your house throws you, your house, your family and your sanity into a tailspin. Totally natural.
Back to my inspiration. That room. What started out as omg I'm going to copy that EXACT room has evolved into something entirely different. (which is a good thing because copying a room piece by piece really isn't the way to gaining a room you love) Using a room or photo as inspiration for creating something unique and perfect for YOU is the way to go.
I'm still not entirely sure how I'm going to achieve it but I'm doing a library/dining room combination with bookcases that wrap around one end of the room. And I'm going to update my foyer because I have no choice, since I moved my focal point, the bookcases, out of the room.
I have a general idea of the look that I want and a few specific pieces I'll need to make that come together like an Empire chandelier, some wall sconces for the bookcase and a new table for in the front hall. Hopefully something round, wood and rustic to offset the white lacquer buffet that'll be in the room next to it. As many of you know I've always wanted a white tulip table, but there wouldn't be enough contrast between that and the white buffet in the room so yet again, I can't get a white tulip table. I'd also like to finally get some rugs in this house to cozy it up a bit. It's all still a bit of a mish mash in my head but once I get going it'll all come together.
These are the rooms and looks that are inspiring me.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
Nicole's (from Making it Lovely) bedroom also threw me for a loop. I thought I didn't like high contrast but then I saw her white walls with black door and I realized maybe I didn't hate high contrast as much as I thought I did. Because THIS I love. I decided what makes this beautiful to me is the big hunk of natural wood with it.
I'm so sick of my wood trim (hold onto your swear words men) that I'm going to paint it all. Yes. All the 100% original wood trim in my house is going to be painted. What inspired me about Nicole's room is the fact that the trim is all painted but her doors are done in black. With the addition of the wood chest the room feels warm and cozy as opposed to stark and formal, which is normally how I feel about white and black together.
Nicole changed my mind though. So I've bought my paint.
I'll be painting the whole house white again, but with a different white this time. Last time I painted I went with Benjamin Moore's Cloud White. This time I'm going with their Colour of the Year for 2016 ... Simply White. Which is whiter than the creamier Cloud White, but not as blue/white as Benjamin Moore's Decorator White. Which I've also painted my whole house with.
Picking a black was a little harder but I finally committed to Benjamin Moore's Black Satin. A warm black. Meaning it isn't jet, JET black. There's a softness to it.
Did I mention that part of my ever evolving plan involves painting either my entire living room or entire front hall black? I might have forgotten to mention that.
Here's my living room as it looks when it's all white.
Photo by Donna Griffith
And here's what it looks like when it's been subjected to a really bad Photoshop job of making it look like it's been painted black.
If you ever want to talk yourself out of doing something just bad Photoshop it. It'll convince you it's a really, fantastically poor idea.
unable to find original source.
source
From ElleDecor
I'm also thinking of painting my fireplace, mantel and wall in the living room black as opposed to the whole room. But that's just a smidge of an idea that's wiggling around my head.
My original plan was to do this all in the spring and summer but then I got smart and realized IT WAS SPRING AND SUMMER! The time I should be romping in the grass and building outdoor furniture and scratching mosquito bites and calling the West Nile hotline.
So fall it is. It is September 12th. In 28 days I will have a house full of people here for Thanksgiving dinner. (I'm in Canada) Can it be done? Can I get the entire lower floor of my house rearranged, painted, a bit of electrical work done and bookcases built in, in the next 28 days? Even though I'll be in Vancouver on vacation for a week during that time?
p.s. I also have to paint the exterior of my house.
p.s. I have a sore shoulder.
p.s. I have to get my gardens closed up for the winter.
p.s. I have to continue to work my real job to make money.
p.s. I have 15 different types of soups I want to experiment with making before Thanksgiving as well.
Well? Can I? Or would attempting to do this just be another type of horror?
I think I can do it. BAM!
Yup. The Bammityville Horror! My house for the next 28 days. Wish me luck. If you don't hear from me for a few weeks, send in the priest.
Valerie
Your 'new' white is gorgeous.
A black fireplace rather than white makes so much sense as invariably soot will mar the white after a few times no matter how clean a firebox burns. Black doors are also a fine idea.
A piece of history from my brother; he painted a room black once and after a few years changed his mind. It took four coats of paint to cover the black walls. Great if you don't imagine yourself changing your mind in a few years or if you do, then look forward to many painting days to cover the black.
Barbie
YES! You can do it! You WILL feel like kicking yourself or someone! LOL But in the end when all is said and done and you have your new look.....it will ALL be worth it and you will have a new dining room for our Thanksgiving guests to admire and you will feel GREAT! I can't wait to see the results.
Cheryl
I love the painting with the bookcaeses as in that one pic. Of course, I also love the black walls/white mantle/tan stone together.
And you will be taking care to prep your trim properly, right? I'm currently living in a nightmare of 90 year old trim that the previous owners painted - right over the shellac. The first hit of summer humidity caused it to peel and now I have to scrape it all up.
Mary W
I've always wanted a fireplace at the foot of high 4 poster bed with two deep cushioned chairs facing each other and a small table between the end of the bed and the fireplace and the entire wall covered in books. To me this was the perfect way to go to obtain a totally restful, happy sleep. Personally, I would put the library in your bedroom with that WONDERFUL black door! I will be amazed if you pull it all off but not surprised! You are Wonder-woman. I did notice pieces of your dream throughout all of last years posts: library ladder, similar chandelier, black/white, etc. The thing I notice most about your inspiration photos is the abundance of old, worn, gloriously aged brown. It seems to be in all the pictures with another color prominent. My favorite was the gorgeous browns in the green library/dining room (not that I loved the green dining room but OH, those browns!) and my least liked was the black fireplace picture but I love the black color you chose. Just in case you had always wondered what I liked/disliked the most.
Sandra Lea
I am currently struggling with redoing my bedroom. I thought I wanted the walls a calming blue/grey but can't seem to find a comforter/duvet that I like that will go with that color scheme. So I tried it the other way around, found a comforter I liked and tried to find a wall color, it just didn't work, I was stuck on wanting those blue/grey walls. I've been doing this for about a year now. Sometimes there are just too many choices in life and I get overwhelmed.
Kari in Dallas
Karen, Karen, Karen....once again I feel like a complete slug compared to your absolutely unbridled energy for doing stuff. Crap. Now I feel the need to rearrange my library.
Michelle H
I actually like the dining room With BOTH the bookcases and large painting together in your photo.
Lynne from Design The Life You Want to Live
Simply white allllllll the way baby! Great choice! I literally painted my entire house interior in simply white and the exterior trim too. I'm outta control... but it looks fab!!! You go girl!
Rosie Walsh
Agree that this is the best post ever, and I've loved many of them.
jainegayer
LOVE the black door with the white trim. 28 days huh. Hmmmmm, I wish you lots of luck.
Sherry (BTLover2)
If you could send just a smidge of your energy my way, I'd send you some bacon (or some chips). Man, I dig your style and your vision. As always, looking forward to seeing you do your magic!
TexasMom
Good God woman! And I thought I was crazy. Thanks for sharing!
Danni
Girl, you are crazy! But I will wait and hope you don't end up in a straightjacket.
When I get too many things pressing, I finally learned to sit back and say nope, I can't do ALL that stuff before the clambake/cookout/wedding/party. I TRY, but at a certain point I know I'll ruin the project if I try to cram it in a too restrictive timeframe, so I put the tools away, sweep up the sawdust/flour/sand/potting soil and tell everyone wait till NEXT year's clambake/cookout/wedding/party! You'll see I wasn't having a manic episode!!
(This year for the clambake the new deck floor will not be sealed, but the stenciled rug on it is done. Full 3 day labor day weekend for that, always takes so much longer than you think. EVERYTHING does!!)
whitequeen96
NOOOOOOO! NOT A BLACK WALL!
Black trim is OK, but a black wall will eventually send you into a suicidal depression . . . or become a portal to HELL!
Lois Baron
I made lists and lists and lists yesterday about all my projects and action items. Now that I've read your post, I feel much better. Misery loves company? And the fact that I don't have people descending on me cheers me up too. Maybe you can get Donna Horne (who posted at 7:39) to help you :-)
Beckie
About 10 years ago (or more, I sort of blocked out when this happened) I renovated my kitchen. (it still gives me the shakes) I chose to paint the cabinet frames black, much to the consternation of---anyone I told this to. I have never been sorry. You'll love the black once you get past the "omg what did I do???" feeling.
ps: At first I thought the first photo *was* your house!
Karen
I know, lol. I think that's why I like it so much. It feels very me. ~ karen!
Leisa
I use to do all my own painting because it saves money, but I hired a guy to do our main floor (I had sore shoulder too) and it was the best decision ever. In terms of bang for your buck painting is the least expensive thing to contract out and professional painters do a much better job and are MUCH faster....especially all that trim!!
Shelley
That first room is fantastic..loved this post 'cause I have some similar home issues (but I'm not redecorating..too lazy by far). Paint the trim..it'll look fantastic!
Donna Horne
Best post ever, I love decorating, moving, decluttering and painting.
Thera
Oh me too!
I think the doors and fireplace place black would be gorgeous.
(back to styling my mother's old bookcase I just put in the kitchen to house household equipment. You know that stuff that never has a home like candles, incense, night light bulbs etc)
Linda J Howes
I've always loved black, especially accented with wood. I always wanted a black kitchen because black enhances every other colour. When my ex left I went through what I call my "Black Period". I could finally paint stuff black with no one to tell me otherwise . I painted the doors to the house black, all the stiles to my oak kitchen cupboards black. I would love to have done vertical board and batten on the house painted with barn red boards and black battens, the battens have to be in behind the boards though, not on top of them. I know, it seems a bit daunting but I think it could really work. Unfortunately, had to sell so never got that far. Everything else looked great though.
Now that you've mentioned the outdoor furniture, were you going to show us the finished product and how you did it? Just work that in with all the rest of the stuff you're doing.
Karen
Yes! The Restoration Hardware hack is ... complete. A full reveal coming up in a week or two. :) ~ karen!