Family Room Update

My latest project was painting/updating the family room.  I feel like it was the biggest and most time intensive project that I have completed in this house to date.

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I had a friend who told me that it's possible to actually spray-paint the gold trim on fireplaces to give it an updated look.  I used masking paper to tape everything off, and sprayed it with a heat-resistent spray paint.  It was SO easy.  Seriously.  Even with all the taping, it didn't take me more than half an hour to make this transformation.

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I'm not a fan of oak.  And after I finished my living room mantle white, I knew the family room mantle and built-in shelving would soon follow.

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When the previous owner painted, they left the overhang over the mantle white.  It looked really bad.  So when we painted the walls, that overhang got a fresh coat, too.  We actually unintentionally went a shade darker on our wall color, but ultimately I really like the contrast between the wall color and the white trim.

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I'm not trying to be unkind, but whoever painted this house before us did an AWFUL job of it.  They didn't tape anything off, and there were (and still are in the places I haven't got to yet!) paint drips all over the basebards and door and window casings.  So before I could paint the walls, I had to sand and re-paint all the baseboards first.  Maybe it sounds silly, but that's actually my favorite part of the whole finished product--seeing the clean line between baseboard and wall!

It was WAY much work, but I am so glad I did it!