A simple can of paint can drastically change how a space looks and feels. Get bored of a room? Paint it. Have a room that feels small? Paint it with a lighter color. Want to highlight a wall? Paint it an accent color.

When we purchased our home, the previous owners had painted almost every room a different color. Bold colors. Dark colors. Odd color combinations. All of these colors made the house look small, unbalanced, and a bit chaotic. On top of that, the previous owners were smokers, so the whole house had smoke stains on the walls. Needless to say, the entire house was in dire need of a fresh coat of paint.

What we started with:

Living, kitchen, entry, hallway, and dining rooms:

I love green; it’s one of my favorite colors. However, 16-foot tall green walls are not only overpowering but shrink the space dramatically on all sides! Not to mention the green is almost everywhere in the main part of the house. The taupe in the dining room was not a horrible color, but we want to paint all these rooms the same color since they flow into one another.

The bedrooms, office, laundry room, and bathrooms:

The remaining rooms in the house get a bit color crazy: Pepto Bismol pink, cardboard yellow, blue (which is actually very pretty), burnt orange, and bright yellow.

In my opinion, the Pepto Bismol pink is the worst, and it was the first to go. (I bought a house with a pink shed in this same color once… must be a reoccurring theme.)

What we’ve done so far:

Big difference, right?

So far, we’ve painted all our “open-concept” spaces (living room, dining room, kitchen, hallways), primary bedroom, and both bathrooms.

• The main walls are Sherwin Williams, HGSW2457 Basalt Powder. This is a very light gray, almost white color.

(We painted our previous home a darker tone of gray, and I hated it (unpopular opinion, I know!) So, I chose the lightest gray color possible for this house without going into the “white” range, and I love the results.)

• Our trim, casings, baseboards, and drywall ceilings are Sherwin Williams, HGSW4002 White Gallery.

Refreshing the paint scheme in the house has drastically changed the appearance. It no longer feels small or dark; now, it’s open and airy – just what we were trying to achieve!

We still need to paint the boys’ room, guest room, office, and laundry. We will most likely give each space a more unique color pallet in addition to these neutral colors once we renovate them.