Home: new paint job

We have lived in this house for a little over a year now and since moving in we've remodeled a bathroom, repainted just about every room in the house and rebuilt the deck.  A lot of work.  However, the part that leaves me feeling not so great are the main kitchen, family, and general living areas.

This is a split level with a sunken family room, an open kitchen with view to the family room and a really high ceiling in the upstairs hallway/landing.  The walls seem to go from room to room to hallway with little to no distinct division.  When I started painting I figured I could just take the color from one wall and felt like I had to keep going to the next.  I did that and soon after realized that wasn't going to work for me. Visually it was not comforting to have everything in the same shade of green.

I love the green in the dining room but not the hallway and certainly not into the family room and all other walls ...UGH!!!  So I decided to invest a little money had a consultant come tell me what I already knew.  He said to neutralize as many of the walls as possible, build my own division of walls, and most important, paint your ceilings a bright white. Low ceilings make rooms feel smaller than they are.  White flat paint will make the colors richer and the room will feel less small... hmmmm good idea.

I took his advice and decided to start with the ceilings. Oh My Goodness!! this is harder than painting walls. Yikes.  But I do see the difference.  Anyway... here's what I'm working on.  I hope to keep posting as I paint and hope to get any tips you all may have.

This is the right side of the family room view from the kitchen. That wall will be neutral as well.

wall from the kitchen flowing into family room, color: butter yellow/keeping that color

upstairs and downstairs hallway, three of the family room walls and adjacent green wall will all be a neutral color, something called oyster shell from Behr, I think.

downstairs wall with fireplace and windows will be my accent wall, can't figure out what one color I will have in that room... love green but the room lacks natural light so have to be careful what I do there.

a brighter white on the ceiling... I know it almost looks the same as the old, trust me, it's not.

By the way, did I mention I don't like painting ceilings.

OK Off to finish that kitchen ceiling already. Wish me luck and feel free to throw in your two cents on one accent color for the family room.

Terie

Still unpacking and organizing---help!

We moved from GTMO Cuba, took three months to get a home and finally received our household goods. That alone was enough to cause me some serious stress. We have been moving for the last 22 years, yes military moves us, but military doesn't unpack us, organize us, paint for us, etc... not that I expect that to be the case.  My point is, there's a lot to do once the "stuff arrives" and that's where I am now.

We went from a military home, all white paint and not much we can do about what we were given except get comfortable with our furniture and goods in the space we were given. That's probably the best part of living on base. You know what you're going to get and you learn to live with it.

This time around we did not have the option of military housing so we decided to buy a house.  Good thing is this are has a high rate of transition and renting or reselling if needed wont be an issue but I'm not focusing on that now since I just moved in.  OK so now we're in a house we can do whatever we want...paint, curtains, carpeting, etc... That's the fun part.  But sometimes it feels like there's so much to do that I truly feel like I'll never get done.  I feel I need to start hiding boxes in storage just so I don't feel overwhelmed.

We are all moved in and life goes on as usual for everyone. For me life goes on as usual plus I continue to attempt to get organized and figure out what I want where and how to set up rooms so they are livable and kid-friendly.

Meanwhile, the kids get comfortable in what used to be a "formal dining room" and is now the "Play Room" or better yet "the Fun Zone." I believe children need to have a special place in their home where they can go play and just have fun, a place not their bedroom which I like to reserve to sleep and read before bed.  This room is a bonus and the kids love it.  Check out the box tunnel they made with some of our moving boxes.

OK so I'm letting myself get overwhelmed. I know, I just need to take breaks long enough to regroup.  I still hiding some of the boxes until I'm ready for them is a good idea ;-)

So back to the play room.  Think of a very square room, windows only on one wall, well lit area, wood floor with a kid-friendly area rug. Piano on one wall.  I have a changing table in there thinking about using it to organize baskets with toys, at least until I find a place for it... any idea about the changing table? I've seen people convert them to liquor bars or to display nice pottery or dishes in the dining room.  The idea in the play room right now is to get a few long but not tall book shelves or shelve units and clear plastic bins so they can see the toys in the bins. I'm having trouble figuring out the best tools to use in there and the most cost effective. I'm not trying to spend a lot but need to have some organization system that works.

Share your ideas to help me get organized.  I'll post pictures of the rooms. I welcome all ideas!!

Thank You!