Visiting Lori’s House

My friend, Lori's husband, a KU professor of illustration, was teaching in Italy for a few weeks and her son was away at camp. She decided to use this break from menfolk in the house to do a redecorating project to surprise her husband when he got back. She called our friend, Jen Unekis, an artist who also dabbles in design, to help her update, brighten and lighten, but still keep the arty feel of her old home.  

Jen is an expert in arty-ness with a touch of funky, all done with the eye of a talented abstract painter.

Lori and Jen not only chose new wall colors, had the drywall and the ceiling patched, they took lots of shopping trips to pick out all new curtains, pillows and accessories, as well as repurposing furniture pieces that were already in the house and giving them all a shuffling around, or a coat of paint.  

The kitchen went from a deep, brick red, to this centering shade of gray, and the color continues into the entry hall, which had been kind of a dark olive before this.  The woodwork in the hall was painted to match the kitchen too. Matching up the two connecting areas, opened up the space visually and made it feel larger.

All of the rooms open into each other, so the colors had to flow, and Jen really found a good balance with the warm woods and the sunny gold with the soft grays.

The twig style chandy fits well with the eclectic art collection.

And Jen turned a storage problem into art, by hanging the instruments on the wall.

This room hasn't been painted yet, it is currently khaki, and the color is a bit washed out when compared with all the fresh tones around the house. Lori was asking for our advice on color when she invited us over for coffee.

 Mine was to use the same gray that was used on the kitchen and entryway walls throughout the room, then use the sunny golden dining room color behind the chest and up the stairs.  The room is small (I know what that is like, my house is of the same era) and my thinking was that continuity would make the space look bigger, while the gold color as an accent would brighten it up.

 I've noticed that with my small rooms, an accent wall seems to give the illusion of more space,  maybe because it takes away the boxy feeling of four walls the same color?  And a darker shade for the accent wall tends to make the wall  "step back" from the lighter walls.

 I'm also big on using the same color from room to room, but choosing a shade lighter or darker, from the same swatch.  I wondered if one shade of gray lighter than the kitchen might be nice.

What do you think?  

This is another angle of the living room.  All is redone and ready to go, but the walls are waiting for a color choice. The khaki changes with the light, and here it even looks greenish-gold, doesn't it? In the previous photo it is creamier, but that is just an illusion of the light.  I think a warm gray is a good choice, that is what Lori has in the kitchen, a gray with a mushroom undertone.

Kind of like Sammy, here.  All Lori needs to do is take the kitty to Home Depot and match up the paint chip colors to the cat's fur.

Here is the view from the dining room into the kitchen and living room. You would see the stairway wall from there.  I doubt if a shade lighter would work with the gold, it would turn buttery.  A shade darker for the accent wall in the living room could work, though.

 If not the exact same color…

Or she should just listen to Jen, because whatever she decides is going to be done with a lot of thought and care.  Plus, Jen really knows what she is doing.

I love what she has done with the rest of the downstairs.