Fireplace/Built-ins Before and After

Hi guys!! Today I would like to share some pics of our original fireplace and built-ins and how dark and dated it once looked. It has seen various changes over the few years of living here and I still want to make even more changes to it in the near future, but today I thought I would show you how it looks as of now.

First, the fun part. Let's look at some before pics.....

I fell in love with these built-ins the moment we walked into this space!

I love the character built-ins add to a room.

We were only moved in a few weeks before I started painting these...

And here is what it looks like now after a big paint job...

So much brighter!

The miracle of white paint!

I kept the cabinet tops a warm stain to tie into the mantel.

By painting all the original orange-toned wood out to Benjamin Moore's White Dove in their Advance Paint, and refinishing the mantel with an antiquing wax this room now feels 1000 lbs. lighter and brighter!!

I also painted the brick out white after living with it whitewashed for a while. I found the whitewashed bricks didn't quite cover the brown undertones enough, so I opted to just paint it straight out in Benjamin Moore's Simply White.

I know some of you may see these after pics and think "how could you paint over all that beautiful wood!!?" I get it, it's not for everyone. I know me though, colour and my interior spaces can affect me mentally. If a space doesn't surround me with light and brightness then I can get rather down....may seem a bit extreme, but it's so true. I need the colour and paint choices in my house to be on the brighter side or I get grumpy. Do any of you get that way??

Well guys, I hope these before and after's were fun to see. I still want to shiplap behind the bookcases and rework some of the "fancier" upper trim work to have more clean lines, but for now, it's a happy, bright and airy space to be in!

Love,

Dale xo