Quick Fix: April

Look, we're all busy. Unless you are lucky enough to be a full-time decor blogger (kudos to Young House Love! I heart you guys!), your decorating time is likely limited. And if you're like me, your budget is, too. Now that I've blown my tax refund on a new couch and new paint (I heart you, too, Painter Bob) for my bedroom and kitchen, there won't be many big-splash changes for me over the next year.

So what's a design-loving girl to do while she saves up for her next big project? Indulge in a few fast, relatively cheap updates, that's what!

This is the first in a series of posts on simple things you can do to spruce up your house without blowing your budget ...

Make a Switch
Change out your light-switch plates and outlet covers. It makes a HUGE difference, especially if, like me, you are currently sporting cracked, dingy, yellowish-cream-colored plastic numbers. It can be daunting (and pricey) to replace every.single.outlet in your home at once, so just go room by room whenever you get the time. And the rooms don't all have to match either.

I chose this glam beaded style for my bedroom, where you only see a few outlets (feel free to save some cash and skip the outlets no one can see; I changed out all of mine, but I am OCD like that):

A simpler silver look for the living/dining room (there are a LOT of visible outlets and too much glam might be, well, too much):

And in my bathroom, I went with a mod no-visible-screws white laquer switchplate. So no matter your style, there's a option that'll work.

Have fun! I'll be back in May with another Quick Fix!

Kitchen Before & After

Finally, it's done! Well, you know, mostly done. Nothing is ever really done at Chez AD.

First, let's take a peek at the kitchen before:

Not bad, exactly, but not me at all. Lacking the funds or the energy for a full renovation, I decided to give the power of paint a shot. I liked the existing Santa Cecilia granite countertops, so I worked the color palette around them.

I chose a soft green, Benjamin Moore Guilford Green, for the walls and a warm off-white, Benjamin Moore Mascarpone (from the Aura line), for the cabinets. I replaced the antique gold knobs with cool rectangular oil-rubbed bronze pulls to tie in with the copper flecks in the granite. I have new copper pendants to replace the old builder fixtures, but I haven't gotten those switched out yet.

That's about it! Over time, I'd like to replace the appliances and the floors (the tile is fine, but never looks clean -- drives me insane!), but I think this little makeover will tide me over for several years until I have the funds for an overhaul.

Now, for the after photos ...

It's Not Easy Seeing Green



From top going clockwise: BM Dill Pickle, Pale Avocado, Palladian Blue

 Who knew choosing a kitchen paint color would take me approximately 3 months? At first, I was set on a warm gold or yellow, something like Straw or Hawthorne Yellow, maybe Restoration Hardware's lovely Butter. Straw and Butter (which are both more brownish yellows) looked nice with the gold tones in the granite, but didn't quite pop the way I hoped. Hawthorne Yellow, a nice true yellow, looked garish next to the muted granite flecks.

So on with the show. Next, I settled on a latte shade, Papaya, which played well with the granite. If the painters had come two weeks ago, I'd have a nice coffee-and-cream colored kitchen. Which would be gorgeous, but I fear a little boring. Then I decided that Palladian Blue it was! It's a color I've been dying to use, and I love browns and aquas. Except. When I painted a swatch on the wall it didn't look like pale aqua at all ... it looked like baby blue. And that would not do.



From left, BM Grasshopper, Guilford Green



Georgian Green

On to the greens. I painted 5 different swatches and hated them all. Dill Pickle (actually the perfect apple green) was TOO green. Pale Avocado too yellow (though I have to admit that it grew on me). Guilford Green looked minty. Georgian Green was my early favorite, along with Grasshopper, which on second glance turned out to be almost identical to Georgian Green (maybe a touch browner).

What to do, what to do? I have stared at the swatches in morning natural light, morning artificial light, afternoon natural light, early evening natural light with artificial light ... you name it. And I decided I hated them all. Until this morning, when I walked in to the kitchen and settled on Guilford Green, the dark horse of the group. It's not nearly as aqua as it looks in the photo here. It's more of a milky green. I think it strikes the right compromise between giving the kitchen its own "look" while still complementing the living/dining room color (which will soon be Wythe Blue). Georgian Green is probably the best "match" to the granite, but it doesn't work as well with the other colors in the house.

Now the painters better hurry up and get started -- I can't stare at all these swatches any longer!

P.S. Decided to change things around a bit on the blog too ... don't be surprised to see me playing with the colors and template fairly often. I get bored easily...

Paint Colors I Have Loved

Here are some of my tried-and-true favorite paint colors -- some of which I have used in multiple houses and would absolutely recommend.

Benjamin Moore St. Martin Sand ... warm taupe that looks gorgeous with black and white accents. This was also in the kitchen of my first house, with white cabinets, absolute black granite counters, stainless appliances, and warm terracotta tile floors.

Benjamin Moore Hasbrouck Brown (behind the shelves) ... perfect chocolate brown shade, not too warm, not too dark.

Benjamin Moore Bird's Egg ... so pretty and calming without being washed out. I'm using the color above it on the paint strip (Crystal Blue) for the ceilings in my new house.

Benjamin Moore August Morning ... a beautiful apricot color, but only use it in a sunny room! (I put it in a darker room in the next house, and it was pretty, but didn't glow like it does in a sunny spot.) This is probably my favorite room ever. It was the living room in my 90-year-old house in Birmingham. Love the color, the old floors, the woodwork, the stone fireplace.

Restoration Hardware Sea Green ... not green at all, but a lovely aqua. This was my bedroom in my last house. Chocolate brown and black really pop against this shade.

Benjamin Moore Pale Sea Mist (above and at left) ... used in three houses now, and I've never gotten tired of it. A lovely light green. May very well end up on my new kitchen's walls too!

Restoration Hardware Shore ... nice blue, not too "baby boy". It's not really my favorite, but exH picked it when this room was his office. It is lovely with the slate blue couch he has in there now.

Restoration Hardware Rose ... beautiful medium pink color; a perfect match to the Shabby Chic line at Target. This used to be Lulu's room before she decided to move in with Boo. I still love how it came out. You can't tell, but the slanted ceilings are painted RH Peony, a much paler version of Rose.

Benjamin Moore Jamaican Aqua ... love this color! It might be a little much for a large room, but I just adore it for a smaller bedroom or bathroom. So beachy and pretty.

Benjamin Moore White Sand... not my favorite choice, but we repainted with selling the house in mind, and it works very well for that. It's a warm off-white. (This is the room that I mistakenly tried to do in August Morning.)

Benjamin Moore Strawberry Sorbet on walls with BM Stem Green in the closet. Yummy, delicious perfect pink. This was my daughter's first pink room (she's had three more since, the RH Rose above, BM Cat's Meow, below, and another BM pink I didn't like nearly as much as this one).

Benjamin Moore Yellow Lotus. It's bright -- way brighter than even this photos shows -- but I used it in a basement playroom that had no natural light and it was fun and cheerful.

As I mentioned above, this is my daughter's fourth (FOURTH) pink room! This one, BM Cat's Meow, is a nice, slightly coral shade that gives it a twist. I think I still love Strawberry Sorbet the best, but this is a little more grown-up.

Master Bedroom and Bath Before & After

Of course, nothing is ever 100% *finished* here at Amateur Decorator. But I thought I'd share the pretty-close-to-done pics from my recent master bedroom and bath makeover. As with everything at Chez AD, it was a fairly low-budget project, except for hiring the painters, which was a pretty big splurge. But I'm not much of a DIY-er (who has the time?) and besides, no way was I going to attempt to paint a room with 13-foot vaulted ceilings! The problem is, though, that like hiring movers, once you go pro, it's hard to go back. It's such a luxury to come home to perfectly prepped and painted walls!

When you aren't shelling out big bucks (and even when you are), I recommend going for mega impact with a few "statement" pieces. My Ikea light fixture was only $90, but talk about impact! (There's a slightly smaller version for $50, see it here in these gorgeous pics from Young House Love.) Painting the built-ins a glossy white was another big transformation, as was replacing the old, faded honeycomb shades with bright white sheers (from Ikea, bunched together to create some opacity for privacy) and pretty gray curtain panels from Target that added some shine and texture. (They look a little wimpy in the pic below, but I hunted down a few more panels and now they look lush and luxe, for $30 a panel!) The Dwell for Target (best line ever!) Mandala quilt makes a cheerful statement as well. It'll be my warm weather bedding, paired with crisp white sheets (you can see the berry-velvet "winter" quilt -- Crate & Barrel Outlet -- in the before pics; it's stunning with my beloved gray flannel sheets).

Without further ado, the pics!

What do you think? I'm still waiting on new end tables (they're actually Flint metal bar stools from CB2!) and I'm not sure where various art pieces will end up (I think the Escapes print will probably get relocated to the living room), but it's close! Oh, and I did touch up a few things between the time I took the photos and today ... new light switch and outlet plate covers, more panels on the windows, a new sconce above the bathroom mirror.

Now on to the kitchen ...

Where It All Came From ...
Bedroom:

Paint - Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray in Aura Matte on walls, Sherwin Williams Extra White in gloss on trim and built-ins

Bedding - Dwell for Target (~$80 for the coverlet, $24/each for shams)

Light fixture - Ikea ($90)

"Escape" painting - CB2 ($149 on sale)

Desk - West Elm (bought this awhile ago)
White shelving - Ikea ($129)

Headboard - West Elm (bought previous, but still available)
Gray curtains - Target ($30/panel)

White sheers - Ikea (bought awhile ago, I think they were $10 for two panels?)

Bathroom:

Paint - Benjamin Moore Sanctuary in Aura Matte
White rayon/bamboo towels - CB2 ($8-$25)
Textured silver towel bars and knobs - West Elm ($6-$39)