Decorating

We have been living in wonderful Eagle Mountain for almost four years now and when we built the house we were extremely excited about picking the carpeting, the counter tops, the cabinets, the tile, and the paint. We decided to go very light and neutral which I loved until I got the decorating bug. After a while, the "Aspen" colored walls started to seem a little too stark to me and I started contemplating what would look just right in our house. I thought about red in the great room, bright colors in the kids room. Then I changed my mind and thought dark blue in the great room and light pink or lavender in Ella's room. Over and over I contemplated what I wanted to do. Finally I found some pictures from magazines that were just right and I convinced Glen to spend his much needed vacation from work, painting. (Isn't he a great husband?)

I also convinced my younger brother Doug to help out since surely he had nothing better to do and wouldn't he like to spend some more time with his completely cute niece and nephew's? Luckily he agreed and was a great help. As with most projects, this is still a work in progress and there is still a lot to be done, (curtains, wall decor, new flooring, etc.). We have finally decided what to do in the two bathrooms and Master bedroom and unfortunately that will have to be done as Glen has a few hours here and there free from work. But for now I am completely excited and pleased with how the paint in the great room and the kids room's turned out.

I'll keep you updated for when it's all done and all those interested will just have to come out for a tour, it's even better in person. But for all of you who are thinking of re-decorating, I realized a few things during this process. Here's my list of tips:

1. Pick a good paint - We went to Jone's Paint and Glass where they were extremely helpful. We went with Devoe Paint that went on smooth and it looks great. Plus, price wise, it was a great deal.

2. Look at the paint color you've chosen before you leave the paint store. Paint swatches can be deceiving. The rest of the great room and the hall is a nice tan, but only because I took it back and had it re-tinted. If I would have been paying attention, I would have realized that the first color I picked had a distinct undertone of lilac and boy did it come out on the wall! The walls looked great for Easter, but it was not the look I was going for. If you can't tell, the rest of the great room (Kitchen and Dining Room) is a luscious chocolate brown. It's a great accent color and I LOVE it! The curtains and other decor will have an aqua blue in it that will really pop out against the brown.

3. Realize you can fix things. I had wanted to do a faux sponge or "towel" effect in Ella's room, but once Glen started it, I realized it was not what I had hoped it would be. So he painted over it and we decided to add the dark pink stripe which worked great.

4. Stripes are not that hard. OK, yes, they are time consuming, but here is a great tip if you want to do stripes and it works really well. Buy clear paintable caulking. Measure carefully and put up your tape. Bead the caulking all along the tape, then with your finger push it into the tape, smoothing it out and taking off the extra as you go. It should leave only a thin film. Paint your stripe and let it dry for about 30 minutes, then while it is still a little tacky, carefully pull the tape off at an angle. You will have a straight line that will knock your socks off, just check out the boys room!

I may be a little crazy, but I am loving this decorating process and I get excited every time I see something else that will work with what we've already started. The house already feels warmer and it makes me smile every time I walk into the house.