The bright and light mudroom makeover is complete!

As many of you know, it can take me eons to finish up a room makeover. It's usually because of two things -- we pay cash for everything so I only make updates as the budget allows. And since I try to do most of it myself, it just takes longer than it would if I hired out. I don't mind this usually because I think I make better decisions when I take my time. 

I'll take even longer if it's a room we don't use often (like our guest room) or one that we use mostly (and guests don't see) so I'm not as concerned about it getting finished up quickly. I've been working on our mudroom for more than three years now -- well, even longer than that if you consider all of our changes -- but I've been making updates for a few years to get it the way I want it. 

And it's FINALLY DONE. Whoot! You may have seen the most dramatic changes I shared last fall, but I wasn't calling it done till we got the storage shelf built and finished up. Now it's finished and because this room looks so different from where we started, I'm sharing a bunch of before and after pics. (My favorite!)

This is one of the biggest transformations in our house, but probably one of the simplest in terms of what we did to change it up. When we built our house the laundry room and mud room were combined. And I hated it from day one because no matter what we did, it looked like this every day: 

You can't tell from that pic, but I had already made some changes to the room. I painted it yellow with black accents way back in the day, and then installed inexpensive vinyl floor tiles. 

What you CAN tell is that the room was a disaster. ALWAYS. It drove us both crazy. There was no closed storage, there wasn't enough room and washer and dryer became our dumping ground for everything. 

Thankfully, when we finished our basement we added a laundry room. When people ask me if we mind it in the basement I cannot help but express my JOY. ;) We actually quite like it down there (upstairs would be awesome, but we were working with what we had) and I love love LOVE that it's out of this room now. 

Later on I made some additional updates like adding more beadboard around the room where the washer and dryer were, we had some sconces added, and I built the DIY mud room bench:

Oh my, I miss that fluffy cat every single day. :) 

I was trying to do something different than my normal style with that peacock blue trim and walls, but I grew tired of it. Although I still LOVE that color, it just wasn't our style and didn't mesh with the rest of the house. 

Last year I took on the huge job of painting all the trim and the walls. It made a HUGE difference:

There were only two things left that I wanted to tackle -- storage above the bench and crown molding. Last fall we got help with the simple cubby build and then I painted that and the crown molding. 

I looked for weeks to find the right storage baskets for the shelf and ended up with these cubbies from Target instead: 

I ended up staining them and adding metal house numbers I found at Home Depot to the front. NOW the room is done!: 

I wish I would have gone a little lighter with my stain on the cubbies -- it's the same color as the bench but that soft wood soaked it up! I just love them though -- they are easier to access than baskets and I love how they look! We use a small stool to get to them and as I mentioned, they hold items we don't need to access very often. 

I've kept the decor in this room really simple -- and the storage is simple as well. The bench holds our shoes, there's a metal basket on the wall that holds items we need to take out to the car and the cubbies above hold off season items and extras. It's a perfect spot for random stuff in our house! I'll list all the items and the paint colors at the bottom of the post. 

When I started the process of transitioning from the black and yellow to the dark blue and light walls, I added my craftsman/farmhouse trim to the three doorways in the room. I also went light blue with the door, which I didn't love long term:

I switched some lights around in the house and removed the fluorescent light we had in here. This small chandelier used to hang in our closet: 

I kept trying to live with the peacock blue, but it just wasn't meshing. We have black doors throughout our house and once this one went black I knew it was the right move: 

You can see here that I never moved the washer and dryer to paint the room yellow 😬: 

And no one knew till we moved them. ;) This room felt SO MUCH better just with the simple addition of hooks there -- like it was supposed to function this way all along. 

I painted the room white and we added a bench for storage for awhile: 

And now that same angle looks like this: 

Our mud room is actually fairly large -- but half of it is a long hallway by the utility closet. Years ago I changed out the inexpensive metal folding doors that we used to have:

To some nicer wood ones -- I added the handles to them and it was an easy upgrade. You can see how I changed out the door trim here as well:  

When I painted the room last year, I simplified the art wall straight ahead with one pretty piece instead. We have enough going on with the IKEA command center I installed (and still love):

The addition of crown molding made a big difference in here: 

I LOVE that I don't even mind that utility closet anymore -- it used to stand out like a sore thumb. I considered spraying them the dark blue color years ago and I'm so glad I didn't! 

Here are some final looks at this space -- I'm so pleased with it and as always, I did the majority of the projects myself and we only made changes as we could afford them. I'm so glad we waited too -- now it functions perfectly for our needs. We didn't need a TON of storage in here -- hooks for coats, a spot for shoes and storage for odds and ends were all that were needed: 

Changing out the light bulbs to daylight bulbs makes a HUGE difference too. This room doesn't get any natural light so the new bulbs make it feel so much brighter.

Here's a list of the items from this room -- some were purchased years ago but I'll add them anyway:

Utility doors: Lowe's
Wood cubbies: Target (Pillowfort line)
Metal numbers: Home Depot
Magnetic bird key holders: Container store (this option (affiliate) is cute too!)
"Exit" sign on door: HomeGoods
Sconces on wall: Lowe's (see more and a link here)
Pillow on bench: HomeGoods
Metal basket on wall: HomeGoods
Hooks on wall: Home Depot
Command center: IKEA
Art: Target

Paint colors: White, Pure White by Sherwin Williams
Walls: Krypton by SW
Door: Graphite by Benjamin Moore, mixed in SW

Let me know if I've forgotten anything!

Our mudroom makeover -- from dark to bright and light!

Hey there! So you know how I recently finished up a huge renovation in the loft upstairs? Yeah, well I added another room redo in the midst of finishing that up. 

Let me back up and mention right here that I am a little crazy. When the folks at HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams™ asked me if I'd like to paint a room and share their new INFINITY paint line (now available exclusively at Lowe's, yay!), I was super excited to share it with you, so of course I said yes! 

It started out that I was just going to paint some walls, and then it snowballed from there. BIG time. I ended up painting all of the trim and beadboard in our mud room and then the walls as well. I am so excited to show you this transformation! The difference is SO big. 

When we moved our laundry to the basement years ago to free up this room I was so excited to work on it. I had already started the beadboard so that was finished off throughout the space. I went a different direction than usual with a flip flopped look -- dark on bottom and light on top: 

I quite liked it for some time. It was different for me and I loved the peacock blue. (It's called Reflecting Pool.) It's a beautiful color! 

But I am a classic lover at heart and I was craving a more traditional look in here. Soooo. I decided to paint the entire room, nearly top to bottom. Good idea at the time! :) I'm so thrilled with the result that all the work was worth it. 

I started on the trim. So. much. trim. Goodness people. Purdy provided me with some supplies and I was thrilled because these are some of my favorites: 

The Purdy XL Elite Glide was so helpful as I worked on the room. An angled brush is a must when painting trim and cutting in at ceilings. It makes the job so much easier!

I have always loved how much paint these brushes hold and how nicely the paint goes on: 

Then it was time to start the beadboard. I was dreading this part -- in the past I've used a roller and then had to use my brush to get in between the "beads" in the board. 

The Purdy Ultra Finish Roller I used was super thick and lush (it was a 3/8 inch nap) and I literally uttered a "hallelujah" out loud when I first rolled it on. It holds so much paint, I was able to fill in about 90 percent of the gaps with just the roller. This saved me SO much time -- I was thrilled. I only had to go back over a few spots with the brush to fill in spots that the roller didn't get. 

The white color is called Pure White (the code for this color is HGSW4006) and I use it all over our house. I use the semi-gloss sheen for our trim and wall treatments. It was coming along nicely: 

Do you see my vision coming to life? I love when it starts to come together! :) 

Next up was the wall paint -- I chose Krypton from HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams (the code for this color is HGSW3366 and it's the Perfectly Polished Color Collection) in satin. I chose their INFINITY one-coat paint and primer because it's so durable and easy to clean, perfect for a mudroom: 

 Krypton is a pretty blue color that leans a little bit gray. I used the angled brush again to cut in: 

It takes some practice to get the hang of cutting in but it's worth learning! It will save you a ton of time taping off trim and ceilings. An angled brush like this one is the best for cutting in because it allows you to push the brush right up against the trim -- the angle gives you nice control. 

I love the Purdy brushes and rollers but my favorite item is their brush comb -- I love it!:

I've used one for years and it saves me hundreds of dollars in new brushes. You use it to clean out the brush and it really does a great job of getting the gunk out. They will stay nicer for much longer with this tool. I clean it with the comb, squeeze out the excess water and then comb through it a few more times. The shape stays looking like new when I take this extra step. 

This room is SO pretty now and so much more "our house":

I liked trying something different and didn't mind it for years. But the classic bright white trim won out. I am a white trim kind of girl, even when I try to fight it. :) 

What I love most about both colors is that they go so well with everything. I'm finding blue really is great neutral, believe it or not. It goes with just about any accent color: 

I simplified the pillows in here -- we had a couple off to the side and we never used that side. :) This lumbar pillow offers some color and comfort but doesn't get in the way: 

Do you see the hint of fall on the wall? I shared Rachel's beautiful fall printable last year and thought it would look so lovely in here. :) When I finish the shelving above the bench I'll be adding more art in here as well. 

I shared our command station (from IKEA) last year and it's been awesome in here: 

It's a great spot for school papers or reminders. I didn't take it down to paint by the way -- I just taped off and painted around it. :) 

So I've always hated those utility doors and now I've figured out why. The dark paint made them stand out even more. Now? I don't mind them at all because they blend in: 

I'd never thought I'd say it but I kind of like them now. Who knew? 

I have a couple more updates to make to this room -- shelving above the bench will go up to the ceiling and then crown molding will go around the whole room. THEN this room will be done and I will be so very happy. Well, I'm already happy. But extra. 

I've experimented with storage over the years and have actually removed more and more over time. I only have this wire basket still hanging: 

I use it for stuff that needs to go out to the car (I emptied it out for pics). I found when I had baskets on the bench they just filled up with stuff and it annoyed me. :) The shelving above will hold baskets and those will store random items that need a spot around the house. They will be higher and won't be something we'll access every day. 

I have to mention that we were both shocked at how much brighter the room got when the beadboard went white. I know, it's not surprising that would happen, but the difference was so noticeable. I mean, the walls were white before -- it was that dark blue that was sucking all the light from the room. We love the change. 

I also changed out all of the bulbs to daylight LEDs. I told you about those in this post and I've changed out the bulbs in all rooms without natural light. They make a BIG difference in how a room feels (no yellow tint): 

I still like a warmer tone for most rooms in our house, but darker rooms look like new spaces with just the bulbs. 

Here are some of the before and after pics which really show the difference some paint makes. First up, the bench: 

You know I love contrast! I was going for that with the dark trim, but I much prefer the white trim and dark floors instead:

Our mud room is actually quite large, but most of it is this long area by the closet:

See how the old bulbs made the white walls look yellow? With no natural light that's what happens with incandescents. That blue really was lovely -- it's a beautiful color! I just didn't mesh with the rest of our house and I was ready for a change. 

The after is so much brighter and welcoming!: 

Full disclosure -- I opened the door to our garage and climbed on to the hood of my car to take this photo. Ha! 

Let's go way back to the yellow and black laundry room. This is a real life look back:

This is how it looked most days. It drove crazy to have the laundry right by the door. 

The new colors are like taking a deep breath. They feel so right in our house: 

Big change right? Have you tried dark trim in your home? I've seen it done beautifully but all one color was too much for me after time. This still gives me a bit of contrast but with lighter colors. 

Have you used the new HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams paint from Lowe's? I think it's awesome that Sherwin-Williams paints are available there. This is the first time in 40 years they've sold outside of their paint stores! If you've tried it out for yourself you can add your own review here. 

This post was sponsored by Purdy and HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams but all thoughts and experiences are my own. I only work with brands I use and love!

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Simplifying the Art on the Walls

Hello all! Hope you've had a great week and have a wonderful weekend planned! I'm back with a quick post about some changes I made to a couple walls in the house. I LOVE the new art so wanted to share it with you. :)

I've been busy purging the house (see my latest progress here) and along the way I can't help but see butterflies and switch gears to smaller projects around the house. It slows me down but I can't resist the pull of getting these easy projects done. 

A couple of them involve hanging some art I've purchased over the past few weeks. When we took a wall down in our family room a couple years ago there was one wall I wasn't sure what to do with by the end of the renovation. I ended up hanging some of our son's art to fill it:

I knew they wouldn't stay forever but I wanted to wait till I found exactly what felt right. 

It took a couple years but I found it while walking through Hobby Lobby a couple weeks ago: 

Watercolors really speak to me lately -- I just love them. This one made me smile as I walked by and I kept going back to it over and over.

But it had PINK. Could I add pink in our family room? Was it too girly? I don't have pink anywhere else in the room. Is that even allowed??

I couldn't resist it. I think it's so pretty and it makes me happy when I look at:

So far the husband hasn't said anything so I'm allowing a little pink into our lives. ;) 

I'll find a new spot for the Bub's artwork because I love it too -- but lately I prefer something simpler like this art to a gallery wall. I used to love a wall of scattered frames but now I'm more drawn to symmetrical displays like in our living room: 

The other piece I found recently was at Target and I LOVE it. We have a small wall in our mud room where I hung a small gallery wall. I've known for some time now that I wanted to replace that with something simpler: 

When I saw this Target watercolor art weeks ago I knew it would be perfect: 

The colors are so beautiful and the simple design is just what I wanted. 

It goes perfectly with the blue green trim in the room: 

I knew that gallery wall was too much, especially after I hung the command center on the wall to the right. (It is working so well by the way!) That has enough going on and I needed to simplify things in here. 

The Target art isn't a canvas -- it's printed on a hard background. The floral print from HL is a canvas and was something like 75 percent off! I'm so glad I didn't pass it up. I found both within the past few weeks so I'm betting you could find them as well. I usually make most of the art on our walls but both of these spoke to me, love them. :) 

Are you a gallery wall fan or do you prefer something simpler like one piece of art? I think gallery walls are easier because you can find frames at Goodwill and transform them so inexpensively -- finding the right size and look for art is much more difficult. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! See you back here next week!