We’re back from our week at the beach and excited to jump back into projects. The weather was great, we squeezed in some window shopping and a thrift-store stop, and otherwise we were total beach and pool bums soaking up the sun. To be honest, with three little kids under four there were meltdowns and even a cookie-tossing incident, but it was still a wonderful trip — we really loved Destin!
Back at home, we focused on the salmon-colored living room walls that we decided to change back to a more neutral tone.
We rolled back the carpet and covered furniture with drop cloths to protect it from paint. Then we went through and filled a surprising number of nail holes and imperfections with Dap Crackshot, sanded them smooth once dry, and cleaned up the dust before priming.
As usual, I cut in around crown molding, trim, windows, and door frames while John rolled. We kept things simple: after priming the walls, one coat of our leftover paint covered everything nicely.
Because the task was to take a colored wall back to a lighter, more neutral shade, we didn’t need stain-blocking or oil-based primer. We used leftover primer from earlier projects upstairs and it did the job.
This update cost us nothing since we reused leftover paint from the foyer. The color we chose is Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray — a creamy greige rather than a stark gray — the same shade we used in the foyer, so we already had enough to finish the living room.
Thanks to priming first, one coat of paint gave excellent coverage. Since we only painted the upper portions of the walls and the room has many doors, windows, and built-ins that break up the wall surface, our leftover paint was more than sufficient.
It’s not an adventurous choice, but coming back from the beach to a pleasant, neutral room instead of bright salmon felt like a breath of fresh air after two months.
The new color makes the room feel wider because it recedes instead of shouting for attention like the pink walls did.
On the opposite wall we’re dreaming of eventually creating a wide central doorway into the kitchen with built-in cabinets flanking it, similar to a previous opening we had between an office and dining room. We’ll likely use an accent color on the backs of those built-ins and whitewash the brick on the other side, so we didn’t want a wall color that competes with those future focal points. We’ve even discussed painting the ceiling between the white coffered beams a soft blue — plenty of possibilities to explore.
Here’s a quick sofa update since we get asked about our Ikea Karlstad often. We still love it — after several years with a dog and a child the dark sivik gray cover remains durable and washable. The console table behind it still needs trimming and reconfiguration; we cobbled it together from a longer version we had in our previous house, which is why you can see that imperfect crack behind the sofa.
We’re glad we spent an afternoon de-salmoning the living room right before our trip. It was a small effort and used leftover paint, but coming home to a lighter, calmer space was worth it.
One of the most improved views in the house is this angle of the living room. We still have wood trim to paint and three different floor finishes to address, but we’ve removed wallpaper from a room, eliminated blue trim, and taken the living room out of the pink zone.
It’s interesting how Edgecomb Gray reads differently next to wood trim versus white trim. In the foyer it looks darker against white trim, while in the living room it reads almost off-white next to the wood — which makes us eager to keep painting and see how the finishes interact as we move forward.