So Fresh and So Clean

One day I just couldn't stand my surroundings anymore; I had to paint the house or go crazy. I was sick of the yucky walls and the boring monochromatic look. Knowing my landlord would not go for anything too out there and that almost no color on earth would match the awful carpet in the house, I settled on sort of a stone color for under the chair rail, and white for everything else. Not exciting, I know, but my options were limited.

Until recently I thought our walls were white, but they weren't even close. What I thought was just dinginess from years of little hands was really a color called Swiss Coffee that the landlord used before we moved in. Gross. (That combined with the dinginess from years of little hands).
When we started painting with actual white, the contrast was incredible. I know lots of people hate white walls, but there's something so clean and so nice about bright white paint.

Turns out painting is not fun. I thought it would be, but it's a lot of work. Getting everything cleaned up and taped and ready takes forever, and combine that with the many interruptions of motherhood, and you can see why it's taken a month to get the living room and hall painted.

Many, many thanks to Mel and Matt for all the wonderful assistance. I could never have done it without help.

Here's the before: (Blech!)



Everyone wanted to help!











Look at that contrast.



And the finished product:

The room feels so clean and beautiful now, even though the paint job is far from perfect. I love it. Maybe someday I will get the ambition to do the rest of the house.

1. A helpful sister and brother

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