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Tom and I have spent the last couple of days painting our living room a milky shade of white (actually, I think it's just plain 'white'- nothing fancy). The white-washed look has really brightened up the room and everything looks shiny and clean and I must confess, I felt strongly tempted to start painting the wooden floor white, too (inspired by Soulemama and her new house) before realising I hadn't bought enough paint for that. The room was previously a shade of beige (not unlike the colour of pantyhose) so the paint job had been on our to-do list for a while. Hooray for summer holidays and teacher-partners who are home to help with d-i-y.

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26 responses to “milky white”

  1. Cinnamon Avatar
    Cinnamon

    Oh yes. The things a fresh coat of paint can do. And I would probably paint the floors white too.

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  2. Mary Avatar

    The only thing that stops me from painting my floors white is the thought of keeping them painted (and white) ;^) But I have never regretted painting even my cheeriest yellow walls white. It’s amazing how happy and calming white can be, isn’t it? And such a great backdrop for all your cool finds too, yum.

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  3. Emily Avatar

    Yum. I love white. Our living room is a rich, deep green at present which seemed like a good idea five years ago when we moved in but now I long for the clean brightness of white…my husband is having none of it though!

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  4. Holly C. Avatar

    Lovely and bright!

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  5. Maribeth Avatar

    You must be enjoying your brightened up place. I was just looking at a tumblr site with lots of all/mostly white interiors. Something very soothing, although I like color too much to go all white!

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  6. Nicole Avatar

    I love my white rooms. I’m also tempted to paint my floors white, but I haven’t been able to convince my husband yet.

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  7. Jessicah Avatar

    White is so refreshing, isn’t it. Full of possibilities……

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  8. Jessicah Avatar

    And are you planning to tackle the bricks in your fireplace?

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  9. Margaret Oomen Avatar

    it looks so fresh and bright.

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  10. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    Ah, nothing like summer holiday DIY. Nice backdrop for all your finds and artwork.

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  11. Tamuna Avatar

    white is such a calming clean color. Kudos for accomplishing the diy task!

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  12. tinyhappy Avatar

    hi, thanks jessicah, and no- we gave up on the fireplace! i was hoping to have enough paint left over int he end to do it, but we didnt. ah well..

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  13. elena gold Avatar

    oh this is lovely- i’ve been dreaming of painting our living room white- it was painted a weird peachy color-bleh. i love love white rooms. I also really love your curtains- i’d bought some plain linen curtains from ikea, and have been wanting to block or stencil print them with white paint- yours is a great pattern. did you print them yourself?

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  14. renee ~ heirloom seasons Avatar

    We have painted most of our house white too. Pantyhose color sounds almost as good as the band-aid color our walls used to be!

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  15. magpie chic Avatar

    Sounds great. Completely transforms a space doesn’t it!
    Have been fascinated by your posts about having your own fabric designs made up.
    Jacqui

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  16. Heart Felt Avatar

    Looks lovely, it must feel very satisfying too. xx

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  17. gracia Avatar

    It looks great, and I love giving rooms a new lick of paint. They feel just right, and all looks refreshed. The process of painting, too, is one I can’t resist. I think about little save for the wall before me. That said, skirting boards are a beast (if painting them in a different hue)!

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  18. Jacqui Dodds Avatar

    The room looks lovely and refreshed – I like your bottles make great displays for flowers.

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  19. Julia Avatar

    You can’t go wrong with white it looks lovely. I’m dying to tackle a few painting projects in our home but I think they will need to wait until the Spring.

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  20. Brenda Avatar
    Brenda

    Looks great Melissa. I am Norweigan on my mom’s side. I have read that they use a lot of white, light colours to make things reflect more and give their houses more natural light. I really like the clean look. Accents go with white and you can change accessories for a totally different look. Good job.

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  21. betty Avatar
    betty

    It all looks lovely.
    But crumbs! …even your decorating sheet is beautiful!

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  22. Donna B. Avatar
    Donna B.

    I absolutely adore white, anything………..if only there weren’t so many little hand prints and grubby marks that would happen to it here. I would truly paint the entire house white if given my greatest choice.

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  23. brooke Avatar

    A coat of white makes it bright, doesn’t it! Our living room is now white and the colors of the books and treasured items just pop off of it. 🙂

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  24. tinyhappy Avatar

    thank you elena! yes- i did print the curtains myself- i wrote a bit about it here. (freezer paper stencils)- http://tinyhappy.typepad.com/tiny_happy/2010/10/fern-printed.html
    good luck with your curtain-printing!

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  25. tinyhappy Avatar

    oh yes, i completely agree. it’s almost rather meditative to paint white atop of white layers… but i don’t enjoy the skirting boards either!

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  26. celine Avatar

    Even your dustsheet is pretty….!

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