Does anyone else have a problem with posting "before" and "after" pictures? I find it embarrassing. Sometimes you don't realize how "bad" it's gotten until you capture it on film. Typically, when bloggers post "before" and "after" photos, it's a comment on those who owned the house "before" the blogger bought it. But, when you've lived in the house for over 20 years, you've no one to blame but yourself. {sigh}
I tend to get used to things around me until one day it hits me that an update is definitely in order. Last week I started painting my main floor hallway, and during the process realized how outdated the color was in my entryway. I painted the entryway "Butter Cream -- Restoration Hardware" years ago and liked it at the time, but it had definitely seen better days. Last week I tested "Behr Coliseum Marble" -- the same color I was painting the hallway -- on one of the walls in my entryway to see if we would like it. We lived with it for a few days before we decided we loved this warm gray color...
Years ago I painted this entryway myself. It's a two story monstrosity. I could have been killed. At the time I didn't realize how difficult it would be until I was halfway through and by then there was no backing out, so I finished the job and vowed "never again." This time I got three estimates. One came in at $1200, another at $1100, and the third at $500. {I furnished the paint.} If the $500 quote would have been from a high school student with no experience, I would have dismissed it, but it was from a professional painter with 40 years experience, references and insurance. I'm no fool. He and his assistant arrived yesterday morning at 8am and they were done by 3pm -- two coats of paint on everything. It looks gorgeous...
My camera doesn't capture colors well when I take inside photos. There is actually more of a difference in the very white ceiling and the gray on the walls. It's so pretty.
Within the last few months we've updated our main floor with new paint in every room. Now I'm heading down to the basement and updating the paint on those walls. We're also going to be refinishing a bathroom down there. That's another one of those "before" pictures that is going to be hard to publish. {eek}
