New paint in the living room/dining room

When we first moved in, we knew we had a lot of painting to do. We decided to start in the living room/dining room, since that's where we envision ourselves spending most of our time. While I tackled the huge chimney,  the future husband painted the ceiling, trim and walls (yup, I got off a little easy on this one).

For the trim, we used Sico semi-gloss paint in "cotton rag paper". And continuing the crazy paint name trend, we chose "clouds of volcanic ashes" for the walls (this time, in an eggshell finish). In the store it was a pale gray colour, but in our house it has more of a pale blue hue (which we love).

To add to the light and bright look we're going for, I picked up some sheer curtain panels at still-Zellers-but-soon-to-be-Target over the weekend - for just $8.97 each. I hung them about two inches from the ceiling to maximize the room's height. We're planning to add blinds for privacy (as much as we love our neighbours, they probably don't need to know what we're eating for dinner or watching on TV), but since our old windows are anything but standard, we're still figuring that part out.

Here are a few shots of what we started with (just to refresh your memory) and what it looks like now:

After seeing this picture, I decided to turn the wall behind the couch into a "gallery" wall - like one of these. Which means it's currently covered in paper templates, but more on that later. 

That's our cat, Henro (it's short for Henry Rollins and he lives up to his namesake - I have the scratches to prove it) watching a little Planet Earth. We're in the market for a new living room rug, since it turns out white shag rugs and pets are a horrible combination. Right now I'm picturing an 8' x 10' jute or seagrass rug, but we'll see.

Here's that second-hand table I transformed with a little paint - I love how it works in the new space!

Not bad for the first week, eh? The future husband is away on tour with his band this week, and I've vowed to start work on the kitchen in his absence. Those lime green walls really stand out next to our light and bright living room...