So, I've spent the last few months painting and decorating my house. I'm a single mother to a 4 year old son and about 20 animals, so my house has to be pretty without having too many decorations, and I'm on a low income so I can't necessarily afford any big weekend projects. I'm a colourful person and a practicing Wiccan and tree hugger. This is what I have.
My sons room has a chaotic, vaguely nautical feel; wooden planks lined the bottom half of his bedroom walls and have since been painted mid-to-dark blue gloss, with a lighter, sea/sky blue wall above and blue furniture, and a white ceiling and white gloss for runners, cupboard doors, and book shelves. That said, we are working on making a black, starring night ceiling for him (but that's a whole other story).
The hallways has a white ceiling and runner through the middle of the walls, then a light grey top half and black (chalk board paint) bottom half. My room has a black ceiling and dark red walls with dark brown wood furniture and dark brown glossy bits around the room. The other rooms (bathrooms and craft room/spare room) are full of blues, greens, purples, all with white ceilings and gloss.
Downstairs, the living room has green walls and white ceiling, beige furnishings, dark brown curtains and glossy bits, and light brown furniture and lino wood imitation floor. The kitchen is dark stone grey, white, and light "sunshine" yellow with light wood furniture and the same imitation floor.
Basically, downstairs has a grass-and-woodlands theme, which I'm building on. Upstairs is more flowers and sky. As mentioned I'm a nature person and love colour! This will evolve as I decorate. Because of Jr and the pets I don't design these things with the intent of them lasting forever; my lino tiles downstairs cost 25p each, and will be replaced happily in a few years.
However, because of this, I'm not planning to get carpets any time soon. I was thinking of painting the rest of the floors throughout the house, but am not sure what I should do. In the hall-way I have dark wood panels down at the moment, which I'm not keen on and will be replacing soon. What should I re-paint with? The hall-way is black, white and grey with the only colours being from Jr's drawings on the chalk-wall. I'd love to paint the floor with more chalk board paint, but this is A - dark and B - relatively expensive. It is, however, very durable, fun, easy to clean, and easy to re-paint in the future, plus it works with the existing scheme.
The alternative is to paint the floors white or grey, or to make them the only colours in the hall (apart from the walls). If I do use colour, what colours should I do?
I was thinking if I wanted to I might introduce some colour or a more mature design on the stairs. I've seen loads of great "talking stairs" designs and since I have 13 steps and there are 13 Wiccan laws I might put on on each step; also a great way to teach my son by reciting them every day before bed. There are also several short poems and proverbs on life advice that would be suitable. Or I could just do two-tone stairs; brown fronts and green tops for instance, like trees. Something like that.
Upstairs, my room is simple enough I can probably just paint the floor black and accessorize with rugs. I have a really lush dark red and brown one I use at the moment, so that's fine. I'm going for a very dark, lightly burlesque or Gothic look; I have agoraphobia and a HUGE bedroom, so filling it with stuff and using colours to make it smaller, darker and more womb-like is comforting to me. I know what I want with that room.
In Jr's room, I was thinking more blue, but I don't know...someone suggested buying patterned paper and glossing it, or going with blue. I don't know; I want something durable and complimentary but think a light blue floor might look...I don't know...weird. But don't want to use the same bright dark blue as on the lower walls. What do you think?
The other rooms (craft/spare room and bathrooms) are also problems, but I think I might just go for white in the bathrooms (easy to see dirt) and a random colour in the spare room (the walls are all different pastel/flower colours) or white to make it easier to see little dropped things (like beads and such).
Also, the floor boards upstairs are quite un-even in some places (typical council job) and I was wondering if there's any way to mask or fill them, short of covering it with another layer of "floor" like a carpet.
What do you think?
My sons room has a chaotic, vaguely nautical feel; wooden planks lined the bottom half of his bedroom walls and have since been painted mid-to-dark blue gloss, with a lighter, sea/sky blue wall above and blue furniture, and a white ceiling and white gloss for runners, cupboard doors, and book shelves. That said, we are working on making a black, starring night ceiling for him (but that's a whole other story).
The hallways has a white ceiling and runner through the middle of the walls, then a light grey top half and black (chalk board paint) bottom half. My room has a black ceiling and dark red walls with dark brown wood furniture and dark brown glossy bits around the room. The other rooms (bathrooms and craft room/spare room) are full of blues, greens, purples, all with white ceilings and gloss.
Downstairs, the living room has green walls and white ceiling, beige furnishings, dark brown curtains and glossy bits, and light brown furniture and lino wood imitation floor. The kitchen is dark stone grey, white, and light "sunshine" yellow with light wood furniture and the same imitation floor.
Basically, downstairs has a grass-and-woodlands theme, which I'm building on. Upstairs is more flowers and sky. As mentioned I'm a nature person and love colour! This will evolve as I decorate. Because of Jr and the pets I don't design these things with the intent of them lasting forever; my lino tiles downstairs cost 25p each, and will be replaced happily in a few years.
However, because of this, I'm not planning to get carpets any time soon. I was thinking of painting the rest of the floors throughout the house, but am not sure what I should do. In the hall-way I have dark wood panels down at the moment, which I'm not keen on and will be replacing soon. What should I re-paint with? The hall-way is black, white and grey with the only colours being from Jr's drawings on the chalk-wall. I'd love to paint the floor with more chalk board paint, but this is A - dark and B - relatively expensive. It is, however, very durable, fun, easy to clean, and easy to re-paint in the future, plus it works with the existing scheme.
The alternative is to paint the floors white or grey, or to make them the only colours in the hall (apart from the walls). If I do use colour, what colours should I do?
I was thinking if I wanted to I might introduce some colour or a more mature design on the stairs. I've seen loads of great "talking stairs" designs and since I have 13 steps and there are 13 Wiccan laws I might put on on each step; also a great way to teach my son by reciting them every day before bed. There are also several short poems and proverbs on life advice that would be suitable. Or I could just do two-tone stairs; brown fronts and green tops for instance, like trees. Something like that.
Upstairs, my room is simple enough I can probably just paint the floor black and accessorize with rugs. I have a really lush dark red and brown one I use at the moment, so that's fine. I'm going for a very dark, lightly burlesque or Gothic look; I have agoraphobia and a HUGE bedroom, so filling it with stuff and using colours to make it smaller, darker and more womb-like is comforting to me. I know what I want with that room.
In Jr's room, I was thinking more blue, but I don't know...someone suggested buying patterned paper and glossing it, or going with blue. I don't know; I want something durable and complimentary but think a light blue floor might look...I don't know...weird. But don't want to use the same bright dark blue as on the lower walls. What do you think?
The other rooms (craft/spare room and bathrooms) are also problems, but I think I might just go for white in the bathrooms (easy to see dirt) and a random colour in the spare room (the walls are all different pastel/flower colours) or white to make it easier to see little dropped things (like beads and such).
Also, the floor boards upstairs are quite un-even in some places (typical council job) and I was wondering if there's any way to mask or fill them, short of covering it with another layer of "floor" like a carpet.
What do you think?
