Since I got rid of the red paint on the wall that sits in the middle of my open living room/dining room/kitchen downstairs, I’ve been very happy with the airy feel that the very light blue walls give me.
Open, airy (this was after I moved everything to paint)
But a couple of months ago, I started to get “itchy” about the color.
It had been a huge job, so I knew I didn’t want to re-paint the whole room. Plus, I did like that the color made it feel HUGE (though the lack of furniture until recently also helped that 
). But one day, as I was sitting on the couch, I suddenly thought, what if I painted the middle wall a darker shade of blue and made it an accent wall?
I thought about it for a few days, and then saw Sabrina Soto say the exact same thing on HGTV, saying that a darker accent wall can add depth to a space. And that’s just what I needed, a little depth.
I got the paint in January, and used it for the interior of my coat closet (it’s called Evening Eclipse, if you’re interested). But then I dilly-dallied, because I’d forgotten how time consuming and annoying (though also terribly rewarding) painting can be.
Finally, this weekend, I got around to it.
I started with prep – I knew I didn’t want to change any of the positions of the artwork I had hanging up, so there was no need to spackel over nail holes. I just took all the pictures down (leaving their nails up, more on that later), removed all of the electrical covers and vent cover, and moved the furniture out of the way. I put down some floor protection and got on my painting clothes before getting out the paint, the brushes, the roller and pan.
Not terrible, just needed some help!
First I cut in, and this is where some trouble started. I may have mentioned before that I don’t like painters’ tape, with the exception of the time I used it to create a line between the paint in the kitchen and the dining room. But I was having some trouble cutting in on my own – I couldn’t decide if my hand was just unsteady or if the wall/ceiling was crooked. So I decided to put some painters’ tape along the ceiling to help create a straight line.
Of course, the paint bled through (although I’d made sure to rub the tape well to help it stick), so the line isn’t as straight as I’d like, and there’s one spot that’s really bugging me.
But I digress.
I cut in twice, including around the nails – I would remove the nail, paint over the hole and put it right back in (no hammering until I was ready to rehang the pictures). That way, I didn’t create extra holes, but I didn’t forget where they were either! I also rolled two coats of paint – since it’s a darker color, one coat wasn’t enough to cover the walls. I let it dry between coats, which took a little bit longer than usual because it was so warm here yesterday. Once it was dry (and I removed the painters’ tape to my disappointment), I tapped in the nails, re-hung my pictures and fixed up my furniture again. The darker paint does give the open space some depth, and I couldn’t be happier with it!
And after!
The view from the kitchen
