Bright and Sunny to Warm and Peaceful...

This summer, it finally came to that point when all the high need remodeling had taken place in our house and the "I can live with it" colour in my living room was going bye-bye.  When we had moved in 6 years ago, the living and dining room was a warm yellow.  While the colour had great life to it, the walls were now tired and there were holes every where from art work that had been there from the previous owners.  Freshening up was a must.

The first part of the makeover started with getting some new cabinetry to house all the games, craft supplies, TV components, and dishware.  We knew we were going to eventually add a doorway on the fireplace wall, to go to a soon to be sunroom, so the cabinetry layout was placed with that in mind.  Off we went to my favourite store for storage solutions:  Ikea.  We installed three pieces from the Hemnes series: a glass door cabinet for dishware, a TV stand and a book shelf.

Sunshine yellow walls, a peek of the dining room and an unorganized space

Living room

Window coverings consisted of pleated blinds on the living room window.  We had installed those when we had the windows replaced in the first year.  The dining room window had already been replaced by the previous owner, so we had the classic mini blinds on that side, with a ill-fitting box pleated valence that they had put up.

The moment came, the kids were sent to summer camp and I got to work!  I already had a grey-blue sofa and some creamy beige chairs.  I found this beautiful fabric at C&M Textiles to use for some valences.  I only realized after ordering it that I'd seen it before for a charity makeover that I had helped a team of Ottawa decorators complete at the Good Companion's Centre.  I guess I really like this fabric.

From this, I chose to paint the walls in Benjamin Moore's Delaware Putty and put Behr's Pensive Sky on the ceiling.  The colours carry through to the hallway (thus the BIG paint job).  I have wainscotting there that was painted Behr's Popped Corn (as was all the trimwork), while the top was painted in Delaware Putty.

And here's the finished product:

Dining Room, Solace Interiors

To create symmetry with the windows, the same pleated window blinds that were on the living room windows were put on the dining room bay window.  As well, the mock relaxed roman blinds were put on both windows.  The curve of the relaxed roman blinds helps to soften the hard edges of the wood furniture pieces and the lines of the pleated blinds.

Dining Room, Solace Interiors

Living Room, Solace Interiors

This picture best shows the blue ceiling, which has made the space especially serene.

That's it for this space for the moment.  We'll eventually be adding a doorway to a sunroom that is still designing itself in our minds.  The fireplace shown above will likely be replaced with a two-sided gas insert to be enjoyed in the sunroom and in the living/dining room.  For now, it's a bit of 50s charm in a newly updated space.

Happily organized in my serene space.  THAT is what it's all about!