04 | February | 2014 | Single Mom Thriving

Stepping back to last year, I shared my motivation for a new beginning and the bare bones of the house that I just purchased for me and the kids.

Talk about vanilla. The walls were an off-white, with matching off-white doors, and matching off-white ceilings and lest we forget, the off-white molding and carpet. (Except the kitchen which is this gold tone paint, which I do not like at all.) On one hand, it was a clean palate to work with and no serious decorating issues to overcome…… yet, I felt like I was apartment living again.

Vanilla with Vanilla Frosting

The previous owner left me some brown sheers in the living room/dining room windows and they matched well with my dining and office furniture, so I kept those and decided that espresso was going to be a key accent color in those rooms, but that is the only decision I made for months.

Living Room/Dining Room with Sheer Expresso Window Treatment

Living Room/Dining Room with Sheer Espresso Window Treatment

I guess you can say I was looking for inspiration. My previous home was entirely painted with Sienna Sand from Monarch Paint, which I had the builder do before we moved in. It gave the house an immediate warm feeling and helped the high ceilings not look so cavernous.

My old house with Sienna Sand paint

I did not want to replicate that look again. Especially since this house is much smaller and the ceilings are fairly normal in height. Maybe a cooler look on the walls was in order, warmed up with wood floors and darker accents, like this……

Consideration – A cool wall color with warm wood floors and dark accents from my Pinterest board “Favorite Places & Spaces”

After many months of watching dirty handprints accumulate on the chalky off-white walls, I found this picture on Pinterest and was immediately in love with this look.

it was love at first site….

Owner of this internet picture was kind enough to post the color of the wall paint (Martha Stewart’s Coir) and so it began. (I’ll share the paint color details and the adventures in getting this paint in my next blog.)

Important details

I loved the wall color, the black doors, and the bright white molding. It was classic and low key at the same time. I thought it would be a good fit for my new smaller home.

Here is another pic I found with similar features…

Coffee colored walls with black doors

I picked a wall in my home that had a door and some molding and I decided it would be my ‘test’ wall.

Test Wall

First, I painted the door with Black Semi Gloss. I started with sanding the door to etch the existing paint and wiped it down with a damp cloth. The first coat was not pretty.

I sanded between coats, wiped it down with a wet cloth and let dry after sanding. I completed 3 coats and let each side dry for 24 hrs before handling.

Since I was also changing out the hinges, I removed the door from the frame and just painted them in the living room on top of saw horse and plastic sheeting underneath.

Door painted and ready…

The original hinges where painted off-white and were a brass color underneath (there was no saving them for this project). The door knobs are brushed nickel, which I love love love, so I bought matching hinges.