Vintage Life: Paint the Walls!

It is amazing how a coat of paint can change a space. Or in our case, quite a few coats of paint can really start to make our three-year long 1920s vintage bungalow renovation project look like a home! But before you can appreciate the painted surfaces, I want to show you a
creative touch Greg thought up.
After the drywall went up, we decided to add a bit more character to the walls in the front living room as well as the master bathroom. We created wainscoting from beaded board that was original to the house. You might remember that some of the ceilings had water damage and those areas had to be replaced with new beaded board. We cut out the bad spots from the original beaded board, planed it down to remove the paint, and then dovetailed it in place with the shoe molding and the chair rail trim.
Here is a shot of the original beaded board ceiling after it was sanded down, caulked between every board, and then painted a fresh coat of bright white! It was very labor intensive, but we think the result is fabulous! We have 10-foot beaded board ceilings throughout the whole house and most of it is original.

You'll notice we've chosen 1950s pastel colors throughout the house to keep with our vintage motif. The front living room is a pretty mint green that has a nice calming effect and it really sets off the beaded board wainscoting after it was sanded, caulked between each board and painted bright white. My living room is pretty close to Guilford Green, one of the paint colors of the year that I blogged about last week, but it is definitely more minty than silvery.

We also painted the original fireplace that had been painted dark maroon with orange walls and changed out the ugly front door with vintage Craftsman style door.

For the kitchen and sun room at the back of the house, we chose a cheery, warm yellowish-peach color that seems to change throughout the day as the light changes.

The master bedroom is a soft greyish-blue that feels very relaxed. We found a great 1920s vintage kitchen cabinet at the Antique Tobacco Barn in Asheville and built it into the bedroom wall. We'll use it as a bookcase and as a place to display framed family photos and personal mementos. Here it is:

I have still have to replace the glass in the cabinet doors with seeded glass and paint the doors - it is on my very long to-do list!

I'll show you the paint colors in other rooms as we add vintage light fixtures throughout the whole house and start on the flooring. Till then, thanks for reading about our vintage bungalow adventures. What do you think of our decor so far?