Paint. Everyone seems to be painting lately. Walls, furniture, barns, etc. I am feeling a bit left out. I live on a perpetual work-in-progress homestead here. Barn repairs always on the list of needs, the house itself in various stages of changing and modifying. There are several things I like about this place, but the constant upheaval of projects in the works gets a bit tiring.
My kitchen is plywood. The floor is laminate needing to be pulled up, and most likely replaced with plywood like the rest of the rooms already have. We have pulled out the cabinets, leaving just one small island counter area where the dehydrator sits. We mounted one section of my new countertop....I have 2 other sections yet, then original plan was for an L-shaped island, but we moved the cookstove into the space the island was to hold so honestly, I have no room for the other counter sections now. It's just one long counter, with the sink in place. No cabinets below, just open leaving space for my 5 gallon buckets of grains.
Immediately off the open kitchen is the Great Room. This a doublewide mobile home, so the main area is totally open. We pulled out the front wall a couple years back and enclosed the porch area, so the living room area is about 32x16 pr so. In this space we have the cookstove on the back/kitchen end, and my sewing area, our living room space with 2 couches and a chair, our dining area with my 9ft table, and our school area with 3 tall book shelves, 2 smaller shelves, and the turtle home. There isn't really much for wall space, just 1 wall about 8 1/2 ft. The other open wall space holds our school boards, a 4x8 white board and the same sized bulletin board. The other wall areas are broken up by windows, leaving only bookshelf room between them.
There is a small room space we haven't totally opened up to the Great Room yet, but I'm hoping Dewey can do it this year. This space is technically the dining room in the mobile home design, but my table simply wouldn't fit in there. It has been my sewing room and now houses the wood stove. Ideally it needs to be opened more to the Great Room. The wall with doorway to the kitchen needs to be reworked and sealed. Right now, that is the wall where the 2 refrigerators stand in the kitchen, and on the 'wood room' side is my brass and pewter baker's rack.
Aside from this open floor plan space, we have a small hallway to the children's bedrooms and main bath, and thru the 'wood room' is the master bed and bath area. We are pulling out walls and rebuilding them, replacing the cheap balsa wood style wallboard with heavy-duty industrial drywall and replacing the 1x2 so-called studs with actual 2x4 studs. Honestly, I can't believe then pictures even stay on the walls around they are so flimsy. It's a mobile home, though, so I know it's just how it's done. I miss a 'real' home.
I want to paint, but where to begin? What colors do I really want? A part of me really likes The fresh country farmhouse look....a light, minty green table and trims, crisp white walls and cabinets. But....we heat and cook with wood half the year. Wood smoke does not mingle well with white paint, especially not in a kitchen. I do have a life here, and scrubbing walls daily doesn't exactly fit in.
My other color ideas move toward my favorites....earthy, woodsy tones. I like spring and summer's bright colors, sure, but I am very much a fall and winter color way type. I'm just not sure how I want to work them in yet. I love the rich, deep browns and greens, the rich autumn yellows bordering on deep pumpkin tones, burgundy, etc. I would love maybe the right color of deep wine on the upper walls, with a chair rail and bead board on the lower walls in maybe a rich green...? I don't know. I can picture it, just don't know that I really want it in the entire area. The kitchen is very much open to the Great Room, so I need to blend somehow. I like the split wall look, and love beaded boards. Then again, barn boards would be great too.
The darker colors will make us look like we're living in a cave I'm sure, but the daily cleaning will be easier. We'll see. Lots of ideas rolling around. I suppose it is just paint...if I don't like it when I'm finished, I can always paint again :-)
-blessings from Hands and Hearts Homestead!
6 comments:
I like the darker earthy tones too. I think we all live in a perpetual "change mode" to the home we live in, even me, with a rental. I am constantly trying new arrangements of furniture (since I can't change the walls), to see what feels right or looks good.
Whatever you choose, I am sure it would look wonderful!
Good luck with all of your painting. Whatever you decide I'm sure it will turn out nice. Have a wonderful evening.
Here is a thought for you on colors. We did all our walls off white - show less dirt than stark white. And then we did some accent walls (like both sides of the 1/2 wall between our dining room/living room in another darker color. We chose a golden yellow which we liked. This way you can have the best of both worlds.
Sandra
What color is smoke when it hits white walls? Thats the color for the room! I am all for more Natural. Putting the grain buckets under the counter top keeps them handy...if you don't like the look ~ add a curtain to hid them, then it will really look country. I would love one big open room, kinda like The Waltons' living/dining/kitchen. Our house has too many walls and doors on the bottom floor, its too chopped up! Have fun with your renovating!
I love the "tour" of your home, thank you! I also enjoy deep fall colors, in fact that is what our main rooms are painted. My kitchen is open to our living room; the kitchen walls are a deep olive green while the wall that extends from kitchen to living room is a deep purple/brown. The living room walls are a deep tan. I love the colors, we have enough windows that we have plenty of light and the colors are very warm and cozy.
Blessings,
Rashel
You will have to share pictures when you are done. We live in a state of projects too. We are working on adding stairs to our deck and my kitchen dining area still needs work ;o)
On your paint ideas.... Try not to choose colors too dark or it will show dust almost as bad as white does dirt!! But fall colors are my favorite too!
Blessings,
Lisa
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