I learned how to do a very speedy room decorate this week. It was fun, fast, furious and the effect is fantastic 🙂 Being our living room it couldn’t be allowed to drag on, plus I had just a day and a half with daylight hours where Bene could be absent (paint and toddlers mix in all the wrong ways!) and we were going to have various combinations of guests too. It needed precision planning.
First the girls and I went paint picking; I had a rough plan and we brought home several tester pots and got samples up on the wall, finding different places to catch different lights where we could. I picked the greenish one (Crown Carnaby) and then saw their Period Classic Duck Egg when I went back to buy it, so got a tester of that too. Eventually I settled on the duck egg and biscotti, but I was REALLY not sure about with of them. It was scary!
I really only got more confident when I hung a red sheet up to simulate the curtains I want; it seemed to work.
Next up we emptied the room of everything possible. We cleared the room opposite to receive boxes and made sure the living room was already decluttered. With big boxes on standby, we loaded stuff up fast and shipped it out. Curtain pled cane form and at my dad’s insistence, we made sure everything we needed, brushes, pots and rulers for the edges, was all on hand.
Next morning, willing troops got started in the walls. The apparent yellow of the biscotti got much less scary as the ivory was covered up. I relaxed.
I’d taken all the sofa covers off to avoid dramas and also brought huge plastic bags home from work for the floor. We managed to avoid disasters. I took the opportunity to wash the grime out of the covers. As they are supposed to be dry clean only, this then involved painful amounts of ironing.
Having started at 11am, the room was back to a temporary living room with 3 walls painted by 4pm. Not bad!
We did 2 coats for luck but one was nearly enough. I was even more nervous about this colour (now renamed Ventolin Blue 😉 ) but I already feel like it’s been there forever 🙂
After that, a mad rush to put sofa covers back on, refill cupboards, dress it up a bit and apply some zen and it was ready to receive my brother and brand new sister in law!
I need to sort curtains and I have grand plans for a couple of the walls but I just love it. Big thanks to my dad, again, my mum for funding the curtain poles that will arrive soon and the girls for willing painting arms 🙂
Hannah says
I love it, and I’m impressed you did it so quickly – great teamwork 🙂
TimeWaitsForNoMum says
This looks great, a really restful family room 🙂 I think I need to take a leaf out of your book and get decorating!
Sarah says
Impressed – it took us 2 days just to get the ceiling coats done and you washed the furniture covers too!!
Looks lovely.
merry says
I cannot tell a lie; ceilings and woodwork didn’t need doing this time. That’s the only thing that saved us I think! Walls are at least a fairly easy hit in a new house.
Jen Walshaw (@Mum_TheMadHouse) says
I love the colours, We are working our way around the house again. It seems a never ending job. But first I am decluttering
Eline @ Pasta & Patchwork says
That. Is. Impressive. I really love the colours you chose, they’re exactly what I’d go for too. Looking forward to seeing what you tackle next.
Caroline Brown says
Wowzers that’s impressive, both for planning and execution. Looks fabulous – I love having one wall in a different colour like that.
Cara says
Looks great! Love the new name for the blue colour, I can picture the real life colour exactly. (Although I am surprised that the drug companies use the same blue inhalers there that they do here. )