I moved into a beige cave. The walls were beige. The ceiling was beige. The carpet was beige…EVERYTHING WA S beige. It was a blank slate, I’ll give it that, but few hours after move in and I had had enough of builder’s beige.
Needless to say we started making changes to our home immediately after move in. After all, the first year of home ownership was like releasing a tiger from behind bars. I was rip-roaring and ready to PAINT!
Our living room was one of the first projects we worked on. It looked like this when we moved in, but that didn’t last long…
We started with making our own stencil, and even turned a hutch into a TV cabinet to jazz up the space. Orange was the new red back then. I loved it until I got the itch to change it again! {Which might I add has nothing to do with having a blog. I have been like this since before All Things Thrifty began}. Ask my husband…he LOVES this about me {sense the sarcasm}.
So, to appease my hubby, after I got sick of the room, I just rearranged the furniture for a few months. We moved the TV above the fireplace and added white molding to the space. I was perfectly content for five minutes. HA! Then, the itch for change was just too much. So we started tearing off the tile around the fireplace. I hated that darn tile! So, we did what any normal person would do….we ripped it out.
Then, the space sat like this {with a torn apart fireplace} for ahem six+ months. Oh. My. Gosh. How embarrassing. But that is besides the point. The good news is that we are finally put back together again!
I am soooo excited to finally show you what we’ve been working on! When I say WE, I mean DAN because I didn’t do much painting this time. He deserves a medal. He painted the ENTIRE house by himself while I was gone for the weekend. What a stud, right!?!?
It is now a medium-toned grey color {Valspar Hazy Stratus} and it is soooo much calmer than our other colors were. I’m ecstatic with the new kitchen color {Sherwin Williams Raindrop}, and the grey fits perfectly with our farmhouse-fresh feel. We also continued the chair rail across the living room, and it looks great. Now we just need to finish the molding boxes like in the rest of the living room, but I’m LOVING it!
The new barn wood mantel was constructed from legit barn wood from my sister’s barn in Central Utah. In fact, it’s the same barn wood that we made Jill’s barn door for her cottage style living room. 
I absolutely love how bright, cheery, and calm our home feels now.
love it brookie so beautiful
I love it all! We are about to close on our first home,and I need some ideas! I really want to copy your kitchen!
Very pretty!
Holy heck, seriously. This is so pretty. I love that it’s so calm and comfy looking but super pretty and cool too. I try so hard for a rustic fun kinda modern comfy space and can’t seem to jump over the awkward mess I’m stuck at.
Good for you lady!
oh man, i like this soo much better. it is calmer, that’s for sure, and i love the wall molding. great touch!
Ooo, I love the new look! Like you said, so very calming! And ps, love those (faux? fabric covered? painted?) books!
oh my! It’s so much calmer now..looks amazing! I painted myself into my own beige cave..now need to paint myself out! My husband will think I’m crazy since my dining room hasn’t been repainted all that long! Yowza! Loving the gray walls now!
Love the look, and I think the fireplace transformation really is awesome. You really have done a wonderful job on it….Looks great!!! 🙂
Ooh I love this! I do miss that stenciled wall…the red would look so good with the gray and black.
I rearrange and paint a lot too. Never satisfied. Good job on our room!
Definitely much calmer. I know what you mean, I like to have changes all the time too.
*your room*. Hahaha. I don’t live there. ;)-
GORGEOUS coloring and style. I dig it.
I LOVE the drapes! Did you make them? If so, where did you get the fabric?
The fabric for the drapes is called Kalah Blue, i discussed them here: https://allthingsthrifty.com/2012/07/my-curtain-fabric-choice-i-smell-change.html
I love the latest version of your living room except for the brick surround. At first I thought that was something you just didn’t change…yet, till I scrolled up and few the pics from the beginning. I can’t place my finger on what I don’t like about it other then that’s were my eye is drawn to and it looks out of place.
In the words of Brooke herself, “Hot Damn!” I LOVE it!!
I absolutely love it!! My house was also ALL beige when we moved in. And I just painted my living room and all open spaces Revere Pewter by BM. I could not love it more!! I was so thankful to get rid of the beige.
Love it!!
It looks great! Looks much lighter and brighter.
LOVE IT! Very calming and clutter free!! Even the bricks around the fireplace look great w/ the barn wood surround.
Love your new color! It looks fabulous! I too live in a beige cave! I’ve wanted to update to gray for a while but painting the ceiling has been holding me back (so hard and intimidating!). Did you leave your ceiling beige? I couldn’t tell for sure in the picture – just wondering how that would look with the beige and gray together – would love to see a pic of that!
Beautiful updates Brooke! I am painting our giant family room (also a builder special 🙂 grey tomorrow. I love your mantel too!!
xo, Tanya
twelveOeight
It’s beautiful!!! I love the fireplace!! Love all the dresser too!!
Love the room! I’m wondering what you did with the ceiling as well. Like many people, I have a beige cave and want out!
Laura,
We haven’t painted the ceilings yet, but we are painting them white. 🙂 Thanks for your cute comment!
i like the new digs…the stencil seemed like it would get old after a while even though it was pretty…I think the mantel needs a round orb type thing that looks like a globe but thin and keeps wrapping around itself…sorry , no picture to explain.
Love, love, love your new livingroom! And the fireplace looks great!
This is the best version yet of your living room! LOVE the wall color–I might steal it! Fab mantel, too.
I love it…and the navy, turquoise, and green combo is divine! I just painted my dining room a blue/gray with white chair rail and it looks similar, we’re in the process of turning it into a library/man cave of sorts!
I absolutely LOVE all your stuff! Did you paint the books/boxes on your dresser or buy them? I have a few and am debating on painting them! Way to go, it all looks amaxing! O
I bought them at HomeGoods. But, you could definitely paint your own to look similar. Good luck, and than you for your comment!
We are planning on painting our living room soon, but I can’t decide between white and gray. I love what you’ve done with yours! Does your gray feel dark in the evening?
It does look darker int the evening, but since our lighting is more than sufficient, it does not seem too dark. Good luck with your decision!
Looks great!!
I absolutely love the way your room has turned out. You are so talented!
I LOVE your fireplace! I think it looks fabulous! I am way too chicken (& lazy) to rip out my ugly tiles. The brick is way cute! Great job!
I can’t wait to brighten up my house. You know we are drowning in brown since my hubby told me to hire a painter and hubs is cheaper than me! 😉
I LOVE IT TOO!! And I could sit and stare at these pictures all day too. Makes me want to change up my builder beige too, it’s starting to annoy me. Maybe one day!
I love this evolution! The grey looks fantastic. It has the beauty of Brad Pitt’s face and Ryan Gosling’s abs.
First, I hope your little doggie is doing better. I just love that sweet little face!
Second…I should warn you, even though it could never happen; If I was ever left unattended in your home, I would probably try to swipe that barnwood from your fireplace. Coolest fireplace EVER..my Mom’s runs a close second, the mantle is an old railroad rail..the huge wooden block thingy, not the metal. (My description obviously doesn’t do it justice).
Love Love Love!
WOW, I LOVE it!!! I am in the process of trying to turn my main living spaces from builder beige to a gray, so I’m happy to see your color!! I know I want to do it, I just need to extra UMPH to make it happen! P.S. Your new pic looks fab-u-lous all cheery at the top of the page;)
Love this.
I love it!! I keep debating about adding a chair rail. At what height did you install it? Your hubby better get extra dessert for all that amazing work! 🙂
Our chair rail is installed at 39 inches (the top on the chair rail is at 39″). I don’t even remember how we decided that height!
I don’t know if someone already asked, but what is the gray that you used? I went shopping for a plain grey once and too many of them were blue-ish. thanks
The grey is called Hazy Stratus from Valspar! 🙂
Hi Brooke! LOVE LOVE LOVE your new living room! The fireplace is my FAVORITE!! Did you happen to do a tutorial? I would love to create something similar.
Thanks for all the GREAT inspirations!!
stephanie
Ever since I saw you turn the hutch into a tv cabinet I’ve been keeping my eye out for the perfect hutch 🙂
I love the real barn wood! You are so lucky to have gotten your hands on some!
I love the transformation. I love the spring lamps would you mind telling me where you got them? Thanks.
what finish did you use for the paint? Satin, gloss, eggshell?
I just wanted to let you know that I linked to your blog today as I blogged about the fact that I, too, want to go from beige to gray. I love your before (beige) and after (gray) pics. Love the gray!
http://armchairdecoratorblog.com/2015/03/23/dreams-of-white-and-gray/
Thanks for the inspiration!