As you may know if you read my first blog post of the year, I’ve been hesitant to start lots of big home projects. If you haven’t read that post, the short story is that my wrist has been giving me a fair bit of trouble the last couple of years (lots more explanation here), so I’ve slowed way down on “heavy lifting” types of activities. But then the new year really got rolling, and I decided that I need to try pushing through the pain to get our home to a refreshed state. My need for color finally outweighed my need to rest, and whether it was a good idea or not, I hit the ground running with a handful of painting projects all around the house.

Thankfully, my husband was willing to learn how to paint (for the first time!), so my gimpy wrist and I weren’t entirely on our own. John had never helped me paint before, mainly because I was always too impatient to wait for him to have a day off with free time to kill. I’m a super speedy painter and tend to prefer to do it on my own, but this time I physically couldn’t do it on my own. I needed a helping hand, and John very kindly agreed to learn how to paint so I wouldn’t have to do it by myself. Turns out he’s a natural at the task (much to his chagrin), so we were able to paint nine walls in just over two weeks. I’ll be taking you through all of those updates over the course of the next month or so, starting today.

First up was our dining room. I got it into my head that I wanted to lighten up our mid-century dining room by painting over the dark green feature wall that we have had for almost three years, and I also wanted to add a new pop of color on the back wall. First, we painted the dark wall back to “High Reflective White” from Sherwin-Williams, and then we chose a light aqua color to go on the wall behind the console cabinet at the back of the dining room. I didn’t expect these two repainted walls to have such a big impact on the way the room looked, but it’s so much different. I hate painting, but there’s no denying how effective (and budget-friendly) a tool it is for transforming a space.

The color we picked is called “Mist On The Moors” from HGTV HOME Sherwin-Williams. We bought it at Lowe’s, and couldn’t love the color more. This was my first time purchasing paint that didn’t come directly from Sherwin-Williams. There’s an SW store just a few blocks from our house, but I was anxious to try something else since their paint is super pricey. I didn’t realize that they had a cheaper option available at Lowe’s, and we’ll definitely be reusing it. I usually pay about $60 for a gallon at Sherwin-Williams, but the paint we bought this time was just $35. I won’t be going back to the overpriced stuff anytime soon.

Anyway, we loved the color so much that we decided to paint all of the walls in our bedroom “Mist On The Moors,” too! Well, every wall other than the one wallpapered feature wall I put together last year. As much as I loved the white walls in our room, John really missed the light aqua color that they had been when we first moved in. I wanted to make sure he loved the space as much as I did, so we took an afternoon to repaint the bedroom back to a color that he felt good about. Since we were able to use paint that we already had purchased for the dining room, we managed to save some money, and the repeated color in the house helps make the spaces feel more cohesive and connected, too.

Our primary bedroom redesign isn’t completely finished yet, but I hope you like the sneak peeks I’m sharing in today’s post! I plan on rearranging some more art and other decorative accents, so stay tuned for the “official” reveal in a couple of weeks. At any rate, I know I love the wall color, and am especially excited by how that light blue/green color looks right next to the wallpapered feature wall (pictured below). This room is in the very back of the house and only gets a small amount of natural light at the beginning of the day, so the white walls always felt a little blah anyway. The new aqua walls help make the little bits of natural light we do get look more vibrant and less dull.

It’s always a little scary trying a new paint color in your home, but if you get it right, it can be so uplifting! I was really struggling mentally at the beginning of this new year, and needed to freshen our scenery here at the house to make me feel more motivated. This new paint color has genuinely contributed to my uplifted mood lately. Color is so powerful! What’s your favorite paint color in your home? Have you been anxious to try something new? If our experience is any indication, now’s the perfect time to go for it. Let me know in the comments which color you’d like to try next!

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