Lounge Room Lovin'

Yes I'm still here! My giant post on Friday night about the kitchen plan blog-xausted me, but I'm back!

We had a giant weekend, and my wrists are once again thanking me for it. But my oh my did we make big changes!

Not only did Daniel manage to get his bedroom undercoated and then two coats of wall paint up in the last week, but we managed to complete the second coat on the kitchen walls, undercoat the living and dining rooms AND get the first coat of colour up in the main living areas as well!!! Whew!

So here's Daniel's room before, during and afters for you:

Before (sorry it's so focused on the floor)

 

Another Before that gives you a better shot of the walls.

During: After the undercoat.

Allie wasn't very impressed. She decided to curl up for a nap on the pile of paint flakes from my ceiling endeavours.
 

And now I get a slap on the wrist because it looks like I haven't taken any after photos of the room! The only one I've got that shows the new wall colour is this one of Daniel vacuuming the ceiling (don't ask):

After: Terrible shot, I will take a proper one soon.

And now onto the really exciting transformation! The lounge and dining!

First of all, my friend Maree deserves a giant shout out for being the only non-relative (meaning she actually had a choice in the matter) who has come to help us. She rolled up ready to work on Saturday, courageously attacked the second coat of paint in the kitchen, and was the only one of us motivated (or perhaps fresh) enough to cheer us on to completing the undercoat in the lounge on Saturday night. You're an absolute gem Maree, your help is and was so much appreciated!

Here she is tackling the kitchen.

And the undercoat in the lounge.

We love you Maree!

So now to get back to a 'Before' of the lounge while we were in the midst of sanding the floors...

And another partial before shot once we'd stained the floors, with Daniel looking random, and the walls still very yellow.

The 'durings' are still ongoing, since we have yet to finish the second coat of paint. The difference even now is incredible, though. Here it is with the undercoat finished, on Saturday night:

And now in daylight on Sunday morning:

Allie's beginning to look a bit more cheerful about it. Yes, those are my shoes she's cuddling up to.

This is the view to the left, looking toward the two bedroom doors. Tom's just emerging from our bedroom, and you can just see Daniel's shorts and the vacuum cleaner perched on the scaffolding in his room.

And continuing to turn anti-clockwise, the view to the dining room with the lounge undercoated, the dining room just starting to be undercoated on the left there.

The boys got to work undercoating the dining room while I painted the first coat of paint on the lounge.

The last bit of yellow about to disappear in the dining room!

And here is the after of the lounge with its first coat of colour.

And now for some before shots of the dining room! Here's a classic of Tom acting like an idiot one evening.

And here is one with better lighting.

We were all so busy painting that we didn't get too many progress shots of the dining room, but here we are working on that last little area (above the doorway to what will become the laundry - opposite the kitchen) with the last of the first coat of paint. Yes, I'm pulling up my pants. AGAIN.

Once we stood back and rested for the evening, the verdict was unanimous. The house feels so much more welcoming and pleasant now! Who would have thought a sunshiny yellow on the walls was such a downer?!

A part of me is actually wishing that we had gone slightly more colourful with these walls than off-white. I'm thinking a cool grey (not a warm one like on the ceiling of our bedroom), since these rooms get a fair bit of heat from the afternoon sun. Not too dark, just enough to make them feel cooler and soothing. But never mind. This colour (still Dulux's Sandy Day Half in Solver paint) is nice and flexible, and is a million times better than this:

I promise I will eventually get to taking proper photos of both rooms. Perhaps once we finish the last coat of paint we'll have a big dramatic reveal. We might even go all out and clean the floor for the picture!