Painting Tips & Ideas from My Five Favorite Paint Projects

We’re talking paint today – one of my favorite design topics to chat about! I’m sharing five of my best “before” and “after” paint projects to give you some ideas for using paint to make transformations in your own home. (post includes affiliate links; full disclosure statement available {here})

It’s OK to Paint Wood, Really!

I thought it’d be fun to go waaay back in the Driven by Decor vault for this first one since it’s something not many of you have seen (any longtime readers out there who remember this space?)! Flash back to when we moved into our previous home that had a painted brick fireplace flanked by orangey wood built-in bookcases:

I know there are a lot of wood purists out there who hate the idea of painting it but there was no question in this case – that orangey wood had to go! I whipped out my paintbrush and went to town painting the bookcases white and adding burlap to the back of them to keep it from looking too stark:

I finished off the makeover by having stone veneer added to the front of the fireplace. Aaaahhhh… the power of a can of white paint! And stone! Definitely one of my favorite transformations:

You can read more about the process of adding stone veneer to our fireplace in {this post} and about adding burlap to the back of the bookcases in {this post}.

 

Paint the Room White (All of It!) 

I’ve painted almost every room in our house since we moved in four years ago and it’s made a huge difference in each space but there’s one room where it was truly a night and day change – our family room. We inherited a red walled family room that just wasn’t at all my taste. Honestly, I kinda cringed every time I walked into the room and can’t believe I left it the way it was for three years before doing something about it:

The room has a lot of funky ankles and a partial dropped ceiling along one wall so I thought that the best way to keep it from looking all angular and chopped up was to paint everything white (Benjamin Moore Cloud White) – the trim, the walls, the ceiling, the bookcases… everything. Best decision I could have made – it’s now light and bright and a room that my whole family loves to hang out in:

So if you have a space with weird ceiling angles (like an attic space or room above the garage) going all white might be your answer. Just be sure to warm it up with some wood tones and lots of textures (like the wood media console and basket). A few of my room sources are below (images are clickable) but you can find a complete source list for this space along with more images of our family room {here}. And you can check out my favorite white paint colors {here}.

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Give a Craigslist Find New Life!

I few years back I was finishing off the makeover of our master bedroom for the One Room Challenge and I was plugging right along until… the delivery of my new headboard got hung up in shipping. A master bedroom reveal isn’t much of a reveal without a headboard so I had to plan B it FAST. After hours of desperate online searching I turned to Craigslist and found this diamond in the rough:

I loved the lines of it, but definitely not the dated wood color or the fact that it was super short. My solution was to add about a foot of height to it:

and paint it up (I used Benjamin Moore Steel Wool). It ended up working beautifully in our room and was a fraction of the price of a new headboard to boot!

So when you’re searching Craigslist for a bargain find, look at the design and lines of the piece more than the color because that’s an easy fix! A few of my room sources are below but you can see the full “before” and “after” transformation of our master bedroom plus a complete source list for the space {here}.

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Save Money by Stenciling Instead of Wallpapering

Such lovely ’80s wallpaper, right?! After stripping it off the wall, I wanted to add something a little more interesting than plain paint without having to re-wallpaper.

I decided to try my hand at stenciling and after a little bit of practice (and a LOT of time), my bathroom had a whole new look! Of course, the change in mirror and lighting didn’t hurt either:

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The paint colors that I used were Benjamin Moore Aura Bath & Spa (Matte) in Chelsea Gray for the basecoat and Platinum Gray (Benjamin Moore color but mixed in Behr Premium Plus Ultra in Satin) for the stenciling. For more details, you can see the full “before” and “after” bathroom transformation post with a complete source list (including my stenciling supplies) {here} and read my post about stenciling how-to tips {here}.

 

Use Chalk Paint if You Hate the Prep!

Our guest room doesn’t have a closet and since we were expecting houseguests within a couple of weeks of moving in, we knew we’d need a freestanding clothes armoire pronto. A few days before our move I saw this TV cabinet sitting in my neighbor’s open garage and soon found out that they were getting rid of it. My neighbor gladly donated it to me so we lugged it over to my house and, later that week, put it on the moving truck:

Once we got it to Connecticut, I made a few modifications on the inside (removed the TV shelf, added a clothes rod, & screwed the bottom and top doors together), painted the exterior with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (one of my favorite paints since there’s no sanding or prep work needed), and added new rope pulls:

So happy with how this piece turned out! I’d definitely recommend Annie Sloan Chalk Paint if you’re like me and don’t mind painting but hate the prep! You can read my tips for using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint {here}. And if you love paint projects, be sure to check out my post on three simple spray paint ideas {here}. You can also seemy five favorite paint colors {here}.