Family Room Makeover, Part 1, Painting

Several months ago, I decided that I wanted something more interesting in our family room than the safe, khaki color wall color that I had chosen several years ago.  I have never been happy with it, so I never finished decorating the room.  I am going to document the process step-by-step (painting, window treatments, bookcase, accessories) on this blog.  My goal is to keep the total cost under $500.  Let's see if I can do it.  Fingers crossed...

As I began to think of possible paint colors, I realized that parting with the ottoman that I had slipcovered earlier this year was not an option.  I love the ottoman, and there is no way I'm going to cover a new one when I have a perfectly good one already!  It was necessary, therefore, to find a paint color that would work with my ottoman!

Our family room has lots of white:  white wainscoting, white trim, a white built-in bookcase, a white media shelf, a white mantle  and white slipcovered furniture.  The carpet is a neutral dark brown, and there are touches of natural fibers like burlap in the room, and of course, the graphic white and brown ottoman.  So....

I decided on NAVY after being inspired by photos like these:

 

Many people think that painting a room a dark color makes it look smaller, but I have always heard the opposite.  Also, I hope to avoid an overtly nautical look in this room, which can be tricky as many navy and white combinations can easily take that route.

Here are some pictures of the room before (yawn):

We usually purchase Benjamin Moore paint because of its high quality, but this one time decided to use Valspar paint from Lowe's in "Royal Navy". 

I am very pleased with the end result.  Here are some pictures of the painting process.  (The paint, of course, takes on different hues during different times of the day and is also dependent upon the lighting:

Cutting in around all that white trim was not fun, but I love the crisp look achieved by contrasting the white and navy.  Though the paint has primer and supposedly only required one coat, I end up painting two coats.

Money spent thus far:  Approximately $35 (on paint).

The next installment will be the window treatments.

Thanks for reading!
Carson