Picking out a paint color for the living room flip project was the hardest choice thus far in this tiny Pittsburgh rental flip. I wanted a neutral gray and that was all I knew. The paint color and the flooring was all we had budgeted to change in the living room, so the color was a big decision. I started with about 50 paint swatches and narrowed these down to 8 paint colors, all on the cooler gray side. I then took advantage of a 99 cent paint sample jar sale at Lowe’s Home Improvement (this sale happens about once a quarter) and got a sample for each of the 8 colors. I really recommend testing your color on the wall with a sample size before you buy it. Seeing the color in your space makes a huge difference. Take the time to paint a sample of the colors you think you like, and check the test area throughout the day, as the lighting shifts.
Even if you have 8 colors you’re stuck on like I did, the picking a paint color process is so much easier when the paint is actually on the wall. Once I had the grays on the wall I could really see the undertones. I didn’t want something purple or brown, so those undertones were immediately eliminated. My BF wanted something darker, and I wanted a gray-blue, so we went with the darkest bluish gray paint color.
It turned out that we picked a paint color from a brand that we didn’t intend on buying product from. I don’t know what happened, but once we got our gallons tinted at Lowe’s into Olympic ONE, and painted the full wall space, the paint color appeared a lot more blue than gray. A bit of an upset to the BF, but I may or may not have intended it to be more blue than he was expecting 😉 We still only have one overhead light fixture in the space, so I apologize for the quality of the following photos, but below is our humble space post paint job. Plus, check out the post sharing on our flooring project.
Our living room space is actually the only common area in our tiny Pittsburgh rental unit. We use the space as a living room and office, as this is the only place we had floor room for a desk and chair. Our furniture is mismatched, with pieces coming from both my own & my BF’s collection. Being 25 we’ve inherited most of our furniture, still working with what was scrounged up from our college apartment days. My bedroom set, the Derbyshire from Value City Furniture is the only furniture I’ve bought myself as an adult (I cried when I saw how cheap it is now versus when I bought it 2 years ago). The dresser is actually our TV stand now because this large furniture piece did not fit in the bedroom. I just couldn’t sacrifice the storage space, thus my clothes are in the living room. I’ll keep holding onto dreams of a walk in closet (or a closet at all) in the bedroom and separate living rooms & office spaces. Sigh. For now, home is where the wine is ?
Compared to the before the simple update of new flooring, trim and paint color is a huge improvement. The before was terrible. Gross carpet, wood paneling AND lace curtains!?
3 Comments
Great re-do! Love the paint color and how it turned out – even if it wasn’t the exact one!
Wow that made such a huge difference! I like your tip about trying the paint color out on the wall so you can see it at different times of the day as well. Too many times I’ve been so excited to get started that I bought a color that looked totally different, and I regretted later.