What a difference paint makes!

Our house was pretty much move-in ready when we bought it.  Thankfully, there was nothing major that had to be done.  But there were some cosmetic things we wanted to change in order to make it our own.  Mainly paint.  Our list of things to do (like upgrading some fixtures and appliances, adding a screened in porch, and redoing our closets) is still growing, but those are the big things that might take a few years!  It's taken us a little over a month to move in, paint, and get things basically where we wanted them.  I feel like we've reached the fun part where I get to start decorating and adding pieces specifically for our new home.  Here are a couple of the rooms we've worked on.

The girls' playroom was painted this yellow gold color with a mural of the galaxy (to-scale according to the previous owner) on the wall.  Not exactly what I envisioned for  my sweet little girls.

The paint we chose was called sea salt and it is my favorite!  Choosing paint color is so intimidating to me, but I have to say, I love how this turned out.  The hardwood floors are great for all of Elizabeth's rolling/riding toys and it's easy clean up for me.  Plus, the bead boarding protects the walls from her running those toys into them.

I love this little closet too.  I started putting all the girls' "good" books on the shelves that I don't want them to tear up since they can't reach them.  It's also a good place for games.  Eventually it will serve as their dress-up area too.  I have a feeling it won't take long for these shelves to fill up!

This is a picture of the breakfast area when we moved in.  Red is my favorite color, but I wanted to lighten it up and use red as an accent instead.

So we painted it Svelte Sage which is the exact shade of green I was going for.  Sometimes it even has a blueish tint.  We also added the crown molding which I think makes any paint look better.

Now I don't have to worry about decorating above the counters because the molding really completes it.

On this wall we just added molding, but I'm considering continuing my accent color (Svelte Sage) throughout the entire downstairs.  I love it that much!

Somehow my "before" picture of the fireplace wall deleted from my photos.  This wall was that burgundy red color too.  Now it's my favorite green color!

We still need a decorative screen for the fireplace and I haven't quite figured out what I want to do with my mantle, but like I said before, that's the fun part!  And I seriously think I'm going to use this green color throughout instead of just an accent wall color.  Plus, I think the fireplace and coffered ceilings are accent enough.

And finally, Bert's haven... the basement.  We did not paint this particular room, but we had built-in bookshelves added on either side of the TV.  The insets on this wall just screamed for built-in bookshelves!

I haven't spent any time yet decorating my shelves.  They mainly just serve their purpose, to hold books. But the oversized cabinets on the bottom are a life-saver.  All of my extra serving dishes are on the right side and games are on the left.  And there's still room to spare!

They have spotlights on the shelves which really makes them pop.  But when I turned them on to take a picture, I realized that the left side was burnt out.  You can't really tell with the flash, but it makes a huge difference.  Even though it's the basement, I eventually want to add crown molding to this room (and a few other rooms).

We also had Elizabeth's room and the guest room painted.  But that's for another post!