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Allison Larkin

Internationally Best-Selling Author

You are here: Home / housework / Fresh Paint

Fresh Paint

September 20, 2010 Filed Under: housework

Before:

After:

Well, I had good reason for my blog silence. I’ve been hard at work redoing my office.

I’ve had paint swatches taped to my walls for over a year now. I couldn’t make a decision. And I couldn’t make myself important enough of a priority to justify the time and effort and expense of repainting. I worried that I couldn’t ever cover up the glossy dark orange-red paint on the walls. I worried I’d pick the wrong color. I didn’t know where to start.
Two weekends ago, I just started. I went into my office to file a few bills. Everything felt so dark and jumbled. I needed to reorganize and rearrange some furniture, but it was something I kept putting off, because I knew I needed to repaint. What would be the point of getting organized just to tear it all down and cover it with old bed sheets when I did finally paint? So, instead of filing, I moved all the furniture to the middle of the room and started priming the walls with a can of primer we had in the basement. I didn’t worry about picking a color. I just did it. And I’m so glad I did. I have space now. My office feels light and airy. It feels good to be in here.
And I totally picked the wrong color. The color on the swatch I chose looked like a greenish grey, and still did when they swabbed some paint from the can on the lid, but on the walls, it’s blue (the swatch in the room doesn’t look blue, btw, it’s not just the light in here). It’s not what I wanted, but it’s nice. It’s better than it was, and sometimes it’s okay to just get things almost right. Almost right is way better than feeling stalled and cramped in a dark, dreary room.
I still have to hang pictures, but I want to make sure I like the layout of everything before I do.
Here are a few of my favorite touches:
Wall decal by Shanna Murray.
I can’t get over how much it looks like it’s been hand painted! I ordered it for our living room, but never quite got around to putting it up, so I commandeered it for my office.
Before & After:
I keep my office/shipping/art supplies in an old dresser. It was scratched and dark, so I painted it with leftover wall paint. Because it blends in, I feel like I have a little more open space than I actually do.
I didn’t like the original knobs, so I refitted it with mismatched knobs I’d salvaged from our bathroom remodel and some cabinets in the basement.
The hanging lamp over the dresser came with the house and used to be in our bathroom. It looked absurd in there – a big gold and white hanging lamp right over the toilet. I rewired it, and cleaned it up a little.
I love the details of it. It’s very thick frosted glass and heavy cast metal, and it has to be older than me. It’s kitschy, but I think it’s the good kind of kitsch. I’m glad we didn’t get rid of it when we redid the bathroom.
I also saved the switch plate from our old bathroom. It has dogwood flowers on it, and it’s so much prettier than the plain white plastic ones we have in the rest of the house.
I like to outline story ideas I’m brainstorming on big sheets of paper I tape to the walls, but since I just painted and don’t want to put tape on the walls anymore, I painted the door and the closet doors with chalkboard paint. I have to wait three more days before I can write on them (according to the directions on the paint can), and I’m having such a hard time being patient!
It did take me the better part of a week to do everything. But I feel like I have a brand new room, and the only thing I bought was paint.
And this:
It’s a vintage paint-by-number painting I found at Trendy Bindi on Etsy. I think it’s probably about the same age as our house and the lamp, and of course, I love the subject.

10 Comments

Comments

  1. WendyCinNYC says

    September 20, 2010 at 9:22 pm

    Looks great, Allie!

    Reply
  2. Shari says

    September 20, 2010 at 10:00 pm

    It looks wonderful! Isn’t it amazing how an open, inspiring workspace can make such a big difference?

    Reply
  3. courtney says

    September 21, 2010 at 1:36 am

    It looks great! Using chalkboard paint on the doors is an awesome idea.

    Reply
  4. Sara says

    September 21, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    I love how you’re so blase about it all: I paint, I rewire fixtures, I write amazing books, meh, no biggie. ;)

    Love the new space! You’ve got me itching to revamp my (half of the) office now!

    Reply
  5. Amy says

    September 21, 2010 at 11:17 pm

    Love the room makeover! Very inspiring. I’ll be keeping the wall decals in mind when I move into a home and no longer rent!

    Reply
  6. Allie says

    September 22, 2010 at 12:09 am

    Thanks, Wendy!

    Shari – it is amazing! I don’t have to fight with myself to go in my office anymore. I want to be in here. All the difference in the world!

    Courtney – Thank you! I can’t wait to be able to actually use chalk on them!

    Sara – Turns out rewiring a lamp is crazy easy! This is the first one I’ve done, but it’s really simple. I just got a kit from Home Depot. I am really interested in all the things I can turn into lamps now. :)

    Amy – Thanks! I think the wall decals remove w/o any problem – they aren’t permanent – you should be able to just scratch them off with your fingernail when you need to remove them, so they might work for your apartment too!

    Reply
  7. The Modern Gal says

    September 22, 2010 at 1:55 am

    It looks so great! So light and airy. I would love to write in there.

    Reply
  8. Erikka says

    September 23, 2010 at 12:05 am

    WOW! Great work, Allie. I love that little corner you did in a sort of antique look. Who knew you’re an author AND a designer.

    Reply
  9. Mickey says

    September 24, 2010 at 9:22 pm

    Chalkboard paint! Great idea.

    Reply
  10. Wombat Central says

    September 28, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    I totally want to come over and draw stick people and dogs all over your closet doors now. :D How fun! Nice work!

    Reply

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Okay, fine. Her jacket is reversible and we kinda Okay, fine. Her jacket is reversible and we kinda match. I admit it. Alright? We all knew this was coming. None of this should be a surprise to any of us. #dailyroxydog #huskychihuahua #dogjacket #peoplewhomatchtheirdogs
Just a dog in a puffy jacket that matches her lawn Just a dog in a puffy jacket that matches her lawn chair. And she likes it! #dailyroxydog #chihuahuamix #ilovemydog
We are in the habit of starting and ending our day We are in the habit of starting and ending our days side by side in our lawn chairs, while the light rises or dims. It’s still chilly at the outer edges of the day. Sometimes Roxy shivers. I bought her a sweater, but she won’t wear it. Sometimes I try to wrap her in my jacket, but she’s not having that either, so I throw her ball and try to get her run and then she comes back to her chair, warm for a little longer. #dailyroxydog #huskychihuahua #dogssittinginchairs
“I got a secret I should tell. I’m going up to “I got a secret I should tell. I’m going up to heaven in a split pea shell.” ~ @petermulvey43 Words Too Small to Say
Happy as a dog in a freshly dug nap hole. #dailyro Happy as a dog in a freshly dug nap hole. #dailyroxydog #huskymixesofinstagram
I saw this little dresser at my favorite magic ant I saw this little dresser at my favorite magic antique store sometime in November and didn’t buy it. But then, of course, I kept thinking about her. She’s the perfect size for my office, and I found those drawer pulls hilarious. When I finally went back in December, I told myself I was shopping for wall art, because I assumed she would be gone. But she was right where I’d seen her last: balanced on another dresser with boxes of old picture frames and tchotchkes piled on top (the true mark of a magic antique store). I didn’t even realize she had a towel rack — that she was a wash stand, not a dresser — until I asked about the price, said I’d take her, and my favorite magic antique store person asked if we needed to unscrew the towel rack to fit her in my car. I suspect this little sweetie is not from the days of necessary wash stands so much as from a country kitchen in the 80s. She was in rough shape, and not made from wood worth stripping and re-staining, but her price reflected that. I had to disassemble that door and put it back together, but I’d been in the market for some experience working with old furniture, and she made me feel brave about trying. I thought about painting her something more neutral, but I’m so glad I didn’t. She deserves to be pink. She’s not perfectly painted and needs a few touch ups. I learned some things about chalk paint and finishes. The drawers stick a bit. Eventually, I’d like to line them with fabric and when I do, I might plane the edges to smooth things out. But goodness, I love her in a way that I wouldn’t if I hadn’t spent time cleaning away her cobwebs and scrubbing the grime from her hilarious drawer pulls. She’s also become a little shrine for the book I’m working on, which makes me love her even more. I’ve always been a person who sees some soul in certain things, and I’m learning to cherish that idiosyncrasy, because there’s so much joy to be found in a brave little toaster or an underdog wash stand. We’re not here in the world for all that long. We may as well love some bright little things. #furnituremakeover
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