You know I have a love affair with yellow. I declared my undying love way back when with an inspiration post called Hello, Yellow!
Even recently I've pinned some photos on my Pinterest account that've got the same sunny, cheery yellow.
Like these:
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| Image: Better Homes and Gardens |
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| Image: Country Living |
But the thing is...... I've had the walls of four rooms on our main floor painted in yellow since we bought the house in March of 2006.
That's five years people.
Here, I'll show you the pictures:
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| Living Room |
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| Dining Room |
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| Sunroom |
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| Front Entry |
Even though I still love yellow, it seems as though I'm in a decorating funk. None of those rooms are finished but they've been the same for so long that I have no motivation to finish decorating them.
I think I'm ready for a change. And I keep gravitating to pictures with these coloured walls:
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| Image: The Handmade Home |
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| Image: Hola Mama |
So, now I need some info and advice from you.
1. How often do you paint the walls of your home? Every year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 5 years?!?!
2. What colour are the walls in your living room and dining room?
3. Should I go for it and try out a new paint colour??? I'm nervous just thinking about it!!!
Help!
:)
{P.S. Only one more day until my giveaway ends so don't forget to leave a comment with your name on the giveaway post. }
I think color can totally change up/liven up any room. I've painted my kitchen 3 (different shades of yellow) in 5 years! My living room walls are a "boring" beige, but I added color with other accessories. I say go for it!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI love those soft colors you are thinking about! My living room started out 5 years ago when we bought the place in Harvest Brown (aka, beige) then I added one feature wall in Pumpkin Chai (burnt orange) and lived like that for about 2 years. Then I decided I wanted the whole thing the darkest Burgundy I could buy, and then a year later switched that out for Behr's "Cloudy Day" which is my favourite pale blue. As my mother says, "there is enough paint on those walls to hold the roof up".
ReplyDeleteThe dining room was Harvest Brown as well for 4 years until last fall when I painted almost eventhing in the house with Behr's "Chocolate Froth", which is a pale beige with just a tiny tone of pink under it in certain lights. It looks a little different in every room. I love it.
If I weren't getting the house ready to sell, I'd be painting the basement in greys - but I'm trying not to personalize it any more than it already is since I hope it won't be mine much longer! Painting is the cheapest, and (now that I've done it a zillion times) the easiest way to wake up a room.
Twice in my life I have had yellow kitchens. They were so cheerful. These days, we are living in a tiny townhouse, and we are painting all the walls white. (We are also replacing all trim and doors and painting them white too.) It looks very clean and cohesive in this small space, and I have always LOVED white! I do like some color too, though, and that will be added with accessories, rugs etc. So once we get it painted, I don't imagine I will be repainting--just the occasional touch-up.
ReplyDeleteI do like the new pics and colour ideas...but...your rooms are truly lovely, lovely, lovely. I could, in theory (given the money, time, etc.) re-do my whole house every year or two to try out different looks. I realize that is not feasible or reasonable, so I have intentionally decided to leave most things "as is" indefinitely to practice contentment and enjoy what I have.
ReplyDeleteWe did re-paint the dining and living rooms a few years back, to move away from the unsatisfactory olive green (wrong shade, dark room) and mustard yellow (too much) toward nice ochre tones. The open loungey part of the kitchen is red. And I have moments of wanting to neutralize it (mostly in spring and summer), but ultimately (especially in fall and winter) enjoy its character, and haven't touched it when tempted. The contrasting neutral sandy colour in the rest of the kitchen, entrance, stairwell, upper hall, etc., has now spread to upstairs bedrooms as well, so I can brighten things up and play more with accessories than when those rooms held us hostage to wall colour. I was tempted to re-paint the caramel-ochre tone in our upper bathroom this year when we did a mini-makeover, but left it and accessorized to complement it. The downstairs grey bathroom has also been on my "maybe" re-paint list, but I love that grey, so will keep working with it.
Anyway, all that to say...there are endless possibilities and I always want to see what "could" be...but ultimately know I will always see an alternative to what I have, even if I just re-did it...so am trying to strike a balance between living with things as they are, changing up subtle accessories here and there to keep it interesting, and making the occasional major change when I can rationalize it. Hope you find a solution you are happy with, that helps you enjoy your home to its fullest!
i paint walls whenever i want to- it' s just paint! i always keep the living and dining rooms light because i want them to feel airy . i am living at my parents at the moment but for the nect house i am leaning towards a soft gray or a soft grayed down aqua. :)
ReplyDeleteand i think you should always try something.... worst thing that can happen is you repaint it, but then you know it's not your color and stick wth what you know.
I say go for it only I'd paint the entryway first just to see if you like the paint color on your walls. Mine have been painted for 3 years now and I'm so ready for a change!
ReplyDeleteeegads, I paint and repaint rooms almost every year. I *think* I've found the right combo now. It took a few years living here to see how the light changes rooms, how we use rooms, etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm all over blue, like you are with yellow, so I've got to have some kind of blue in almost every room...but not all the walls are blue. My rule of thumb: have 2 colors that play nicely together and your white trim. I have 2 shades of blue/grey, and two shades of tan (light and dark). My beloved blue and brown accessories can then go in any of the main rooms.
I do break out a bit when it comes to bedrooms, but main rooms and hallways are always either white like my trim, a shade of blue or a shade of brown. Keeps the flow without compromising a bit of variety and pop :)
We've lived her 11 years and have painted several times. We've had several different colors. Last year we went back to Antique White! It's in all the rooms and I love it! It makes decorating so easy, I can have any color drapes, accessories, furniture and more that I want. I would suggest that, especially if you like to change colors frequently like we do! Looking forward to seeing what you do:)
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this post because my living area/kitchen was painted yellow and I loved it. When we did the extension I decided I wanted a more neutral colour so hubby and I painted the whole house antique white. I love it also, you can put any colours with it and it goes. In saying that when I look back at my house pics I still miss the yellow. It's such a bright and happy colour. Actually the exterior of my house is yellow too. I think if you feel like a change go for it. It's only paint after all. We all like a bit of a change now and then. I don't paint the house that often, probably because I would have to do it myself. So in the last ten years we have painted the house twice. Once when we first bought it and once when we did our extension a year ago. So it was about 9 yrs before I repainted! Looking at your home I think it's looks so beautiful the way it is. The combination of yellow, white and timber is always a winner with me! have fun, Maryann
ReplyDeleteIf my husband wouldn't give me a hard time, I would probably paint more than I do. Right now for our downstairs - our Kitchen/Family Room/Hallway is Ben Moore Monroe Bisque, our dining room is a red -(forgot name), laundry room & conservatory - Providence Olive, Foyer & Living Room - Bone White & downstairs bathroom is Saybrook Sage. Some days I just want to start all over and change everything. I have been attacted to lighter colors lately but I don't know where to begin. Whoever says painting is an easy fix is crazy in my opinion because picking colors is so hard!
ReplyDelete-Shelley
When we bought our home 2 years ago this November, we painted everything the same color. Boring yes, but we wanted a clean neutral to freshen up the place and once we had done all we wanted...we would start changing things up. Well, its been almost 2 years and everything is still the same. BUT! I am going to paint the main bath soon and I am thinking of a blue or grey! Cant wait! Time for the color to party a bit on my walls! I say, try a new hue in a couple rooms! You always make the most beautiful things in and around your home! That is why you are one of my top 5 blogs! I LOVE IT! xo
ReplyDeleteHey you! Well, the color of my walls is yellow and just when I was up for a change I saw the marvel you can do with yellow walls in Martha Stewart. trust me, while on one hand you can go white with light yellow on bg and make it look relaxed, for a warm feel, just change the tone to neutral wood and you have a home that is o so scandinavian. I have infact made a post too about yellow walls that you might check out. Good part is, you like yellow. i never really liked them. But when i saw i could do with them, I was convinced that I just dont want to change the color. furniture and upholstery is a better option. You can play more. okay, that's what i feel. The link to the post is here :)
ReplyDeletehttp://trumatter.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/what-im-dying-for-color-coordinating-the-room/
I hope this helps. Good luck.
To give you some indication of my love of paint my hubby says that our rooms are a good inch or so smaller now due to the coats of paint! I just love colour and being paint is the easiest decorating change to make. I have predominately white walls with feature walls of, let me see - orange, yellow, turquoise and lime green (at the moment ;) Be brave and if you love yellow paint it bright yellow although I could see a beautiful shade of apple green on those walls too. Good luck with whatever you choose......B:)
ReplyDeleteHey Sarah! Just painted my house this past weekend and I just loved the colours I chose. They were from Para Paints and the colours were Embrace and Hold My Hand. They were grey tones with a slight bit of purple in them - so warm and welcoming - even my boyfriend liked them!
ReplyDeleteI had to giggle when I saw the title to your post! I paint my walls like every 6 months it seems!! :) My hubby tells me that we are losing square footage because the walls are so thick with paint. :)
ReplyDeleteI say go for it, try a smaller room first and see how you like it. All my walls are white now and I love adding color and textures to the rooms.
Good luck!!
xo
Hey girl, we must be drinking the same water or something! I've repainted our kitchen walls twice in a year. And our living dining room was a nasty yellow (think neon) when we moved in. I painted it two shades of taupe when we moved in. Than we had water damage and had to redo the whole room. I painted the walls a green and a blue. Now I want to go back to more neutral so I can better change out the accents seasonally (okay, not just seasonally!). Colour SO changes the feel of a room. That's the fun thing about paint...if you're willing to done work, you can always change the paint colour!!
ReplyDeleteI would probably paint more often...but hate the work of it, I have yellow in most of the house, but did change things up when we remodeled the kitchen and I am loving the change....your house is so cute though,,,anything you choose will look amazing!
ReplyDeleteWell, I've been in this house a year and am already considering painting the bedroom a different colour... does that answer your question? ;)
ReplyDeleteI painted my place when I moved in last year (it is all Morning Sky Blue from Benjamin Moore) and I am already thinking about changing it although it is my plan to wait at least 4 years. I love blue walls, but find them a bit hard to decorate around.
ReplyDeleteI love your yellow walls, but I do think that changing paint colours is a nice non-permanent way to experiment!
Oh my goodness, don't even talk to me about how often (cough, cough) we paint around here! I'm laughing at your 5 years because I just WISH ours was that short! Let's put it this way...we've lived in this house for 21 years and we've only painted every room except the boy's bedrooms, once. Even worse - our master bedroom is still plain white! Can you tell we don't like to paint?!
ReplyDeleteCurrently, my kitchen is a robin egg's blue, but next year when the contractor does some work in there, I'm going to have him re-paint it light yellow. Sorry, I know that color doesn't help you. ;-)
I'm one of those who like to keep my wall colors rather neutral, so that I can punch things up with decor (rugs, pillows, pictures, accessories) instead.
I say paint away! I painted my downstairs bath yellow, not as pretty as yours. This fall the room will see a new color...not sure what yet though!
ReplyDeleteI love freshly painted walls. It looks so clean and neat. My new favorite color is turquoise. I'm considering changing the wall colors in my house too. Just can't decide which way to go...I might even just go all white :) Let us know what you choose.
ReplyDeleteWe moved into our house 2 years ago and I'm slowly tackling the rooms. Fortunately I didn't feel the whole house had to be repainted so I have that luxury of just waiting till I get sick of the colors.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: There's a picture of a set of stairs with yellow patterns on the risers. How'd they do that!?!? If you have the original link I'd love to follow up on it! I tried following yours but it never came up with anything but reposts. Just curious, I love it :)
If you like that soft blue/grey color, try Behr's Pensive Sky. I have it in my kitchen and den, and its a great foil against my really bright avocado green in my living room and dining room!
ReplyDeleteWell we've been your neighbour for 5 years. I painted the entire house when we moved in but re-painted after the reno's this winter... :( to old electricity (knob and tube you suck LOL). So as you know I'm big on decorator's white. White white white all over and then I like to add my colour with curtains and pillows and everything else. Hope this helps :)
ReplyDeleteI had several yellow rooms in my last house for about 4 or 5 years until we moved and I swore it off in the new house because I was ready for a change and just yesterday I was playing around with the idea of painting the mudroom yellow! Our main color is a really pale grey and we have it all over including the family room and kitchen and so I guess when I get sick of it I will have a lot of work ahead of me! I like to think that because it is such a pale neutral that I can just change what is in the room and have a whole new feel. Because I am seriously tired of painting.
ReplyDeleteYou have to live there...do what makes you happy.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I love all the shades of yellow. I have a yellow bedroom, my side entry is yellow, and my kitchen is yellow. AND, I'm thinking I will paint my stairway and upstairs hall yellow. My home is large so I still have plenty of other rooms that are not yellow. :)
I do not paint my walls very often, but that is because I am a terrible painter. Because of this, I think long and hard so when I do paint I know I will be happy with it for a loooong time.