When we bought our house it was the victim of “neutralization” in order to sell. Obviously a real estate professional advised our previous owners to paint things neutral and de-clutter in order to attract buyers. I’m not against this. I hate clutter too. I believe in neutral. What I don’t believe in is buying 5 gallons of flat tan paint and sloppily painting the entire house (minus the blue room- more on that later). No lie, the entire house was the same flat tan paint. It was a cave. A neutral cave.

I first attacked our family room and painted it gray with stripes. The family room is open to our bi-level foyer over the half wall. The gray was begging me to continue into the foyer. That’s the thing about open-concept homes: you never know where to start and stop painting. But I felt the gray was a natural progression into the foyer. I knew it would have enough light and add a little balance. So we did it…. with a really awesome ladder.

{View from the family room}

 {View from top of the steps}

{From the half wall}

{From the landing}

So tan, Right?!?!? I somehow lost the paint-in-progress pictures when I switched around some computer stuff. But trust me- I painted the foyer gray twice. On a really tall ladder. Really.

Next came hanging pictures. I have always wanted an asymmetrical gallery wall. Now was the chance. I used the tried and true newspaper layout trick and it saved a tone of headache. I also marked each cut-out with the spots to nail holes for each picture. Boom- NO MEASURING whatsoever. My kind of project.

I spent a few days looking at the newpaper layout and rearranged a few things on it before I settled on the current layout. The best part is that its a work in progress. I can add, move and change things as time goes on. Note the teal door behind me. so cheery! Although I’m seriously considering painting it black to give a more chic/laid back vibe.

{Work in progress}

I’m still waiting to find the right inspiration for something to go on the big blank wall above the door. And We’d like to add more frames above the current collection. But for now this is just what the foyer needed. Stay tuned for another update and a breakdown of all of the art/photos up on this wall.