A while ago we remodeled our house. It was quite the undertaking and you can read about the chaos by clicking here. When you’re living inside a remodel you’re desperate to get your house back together and so the second they put up walls I was maniacally choosing paint colors and design schematics. What’s that they say about a bad paint choice?? Choose paint color in haste, regret at leisure.
Well, I certainly had regret…
You see, I chose teal.
I have good excuses… I’d seen some stuff on Pinterest. I liked the bright color. I thought I was courageous.
It didn’t matter, in the end, I still had teal walls that I hated more and more with each passing day.
But here’s the thing… it was just paint. Remember how I say that readers, like HERE?? It’s just paint and paint can be easily corrected.
So on a recent Friday night when I couldn’t stand it any longer I ran down and got some new paint and by bedtime I didn’t hate my den anymore. Here’s what I did…
I went with gray… gun metal gray (even though the image looks a bit lighter). I LOVE the deep gray with the dark wood floors and the dark cabinets. The dark gray instantly made the room look classier… what took me so long?
I reorganized the books in my library by color… I know this isn’t anything new but it still looks so much more pulled together than having them thrown in at random.
The “side table” is actually a vintage egg crate I turned upside down. The pillows have one “fancy” pillow from a boutique and the other two are from Target. I’ll leave you to wonder which is which.
I looked forever for an oversized print for this wall. When I couldn’t find one I decided to take one myself! I was trying to imagine an image that said “Hollis Family” in some way when I saw a pile of the boys converse next to Dave’s converse and the idea hit me.
I literally threw all our shoes out on the front porch in a pile and then took the shot. It literally took me about 6 minutes. When I had the picture I liked I sent it over to Kinkos and had it blown up into a poster. Then I framed it and put it on the wall.
Next up was this little side table. Originally I had a little vintage number but one four year old who-shall-remain-nameless broke it to pieces on “accident”. When I saw this table at Target I bought it thinking “great, a new side table”. Only after I got home did I regret the purchase. You see, I LOVE vintage but I HATE fake vintage. It drives me crazy that it’s brand new and only trying to look old and broken in. So rather than look at the error of my ways I topped it with two smoky mirrors and it isn’t quite so noticeable that we’re faking this antique.
I found the H at a flea market and I had to buy it. Dave absolutely loves vintage signs and I knew he’d be all over this one. It weighs about 3,000 pounds and it was really hard to carry to the car by myself but so worth it!
The little table is topped with a tray that’s covered with a few of my collections. I’ve got apothecary vases filled with my vintage lighter and matchbox collections as well as a handful of vintage hymnals that I’ve got. The crate at the bottom is another flea market find… it holds my magazines. For what it’s worth I often buy stuff like this (giant H’s, egg crates, etc) having no idea what I’ll do with them. I only know that I like them and then I figure out their place when I get home.
