Sayonara swirls!

Well, it was time for them to go. I put the wainscoting on our family room walls a few years ago. Three years exactly really – the Bub was asleep in his bouncy seat while I installed all of them.  :) After being on bed rest for so long I was itchin’ for a project! I think he was less than two months old when I decided to attack this one.

I love stencils, I’m not gonna lie. You can see how I’ve used them on these posts. I think many times they can be the perfect finishing touch to a room or project. When I did these squares, I felt like they still need something. So for the past three years that something has been the swirl stencil I painted inside. (It is a large Stencil Ease stencil from Hob Lob.)

I only used my loverly iridescent glaze that I love love love LOVE. Love. This American Tradition stuff has lasted me years and I’m not even half way through it:

I thought the swirls would be a little more subtle because the glaze was all I used. I was surprised they actually showed up so well.

With the mini family room redo came a desire for simplifying the space, and that meant it was time to say goodbye to the swirls. I loved you swirls…I did. But last weekend I had to banish you. I am loving the simplicity of just the molding:

This little update cost zippo cause I used the paint from the basement staircase. It was the same Sisal color from Ralph Lauren, just darkened about 20 percent. Now the insides are just a teeny bit darker, which I love:

Remember if you find a color you love, but it’s too light or dark, you can have it adjusted by percentages to get the tone you want. I love this – it’s an easy way to change up a color.

While I was at it, I added another wainscoting box to the space under the window, which I’ve been meaning to do foreva. Seriously, since the day I did these three years ago, foreva:

I’m not sure why I didn’t do it then. I think I ran out of molding? But this project was also fareeee because I took this molding off of our bay windows in the kitchen. I’m using a different type of molding to finish off the casing around all our windows in the house, so I popped those right off.

I was on a roll peeps! Remember when I complained about our bright white surround sound speakers back on this post? Well, one of you commented that you simply used a foam roller with just a scosh of paint (yes, I just said “scosh”) on them, and it worked like a charm:

Whoohoo! I didn’t even take them off the wall. Double whoo! I can’t tell you how much I LOVE not having these glaring at me every day. It’s the little things for me, really.

Finally, the hall table in this room was a purchase at a furniture outlet years ago and it was a steal! It was a steal because it swayed and wobbled like the dickens. (Yes, I just said “dickens.”)

I figured there had to be a way to tighten it up, so I took everything off, turned the whole thing over and adjusted all the screws. Voila! It’s perfect now. It only took me six years to fix.  ;)

Simple changes and they didn’t cost me a cent! The room is really coming together! One more project to complete and I’ll be finished. I think. I hope to show you the new Goodwill coffee table tomorrow –- it’s pretty much done. I think. Gah.

So what do you think -- do you miss the swirls? Or do you like the simple look? That’s the beauty of paint – it’s so easy to change up!!

Oh yeah – the carpet is almost all off the stairs!! The landing is still covered with nasty carpet but that will be the last part I attempt. I hope to start painting the risers tomorrow and then I will decide if I want to sand the heck out of the treads so I can stain them. Right now painting is looking real good, but I need a night off and then I’ll decide. :)

I sincerely, desperately hope that I will never see another staple for as long as I live. Ever.