Room Swap

What can I say, I like change. Change makes me happy. If I could, I would repaint, refurnish & rework almost everything in my house.  Not that I don't love our space - I just simply like change. However, I have a husband who hates change. So, in order to keep my marriage alive, I have to throttle back my desire to change things (just a little bit).

After 6 years of marriage, I have found a few ways to make changes that require little or no involvement from Dean, AKA Mr. Things Are Perfect Just The Way They Are.  Sometimes it's as simple as adding more pillows or switching curtains without him even noticing. Other times, it requires moving furniture around - to which he fights me, but still does it to make me happy. And in the end, although he hates to admit it, he loves the changes too.

Now, on to the room swap! With the arrival of a new year, one that started out a little bumpy, I thought it would be the perfect time to make some changes in our living space.  Our living room was lacking space and comfort.  And since our girls are growing at an incredible pace - our 4 year old is a head taller than all her classmates and our soon to be 3 year old is all tall as her sister's classmates - I wanted a living room that could accommodate our size, our lifestyle, have room to play, cuddle, read, relax. This meant swapping the living room with the dining room.  Well, I am sure you can imagine how the conversation between Dean and I went...

...Since Dean thought I was crazy, I had no choice but to call in backup.  Lucky for me, I have a friend who is an interior designer.  Enter Jen Storey of Jen Storey Designs. She is exactly what you would picture an interior designer to look like. Tall, beautiful, funky and stylish.  Heck, if I couldn't convince my husband, I knew that she could!

After our consultation with Jen, I was even more excited to get going on this project. The paint colour she choose for the "new" dining room was perfect. Sherwin Williams Mossy Gold - a mix between pea soup and a dirty diaper. Trust me, it's awesome.  Now, I just had to find the perfect time to start painting.  As I mentioned earlier, after 6 years of marriage you know how to navigate these kinds of situations. I simply waited for the long weekend Dean had to work. Picked up the paint on Friday morning and finished painting Sunday. Clever? Yes. Sneaky? Absolutely! At least I did all the dirty work.

Well, let me just say, the next two days were spent moving furniture, compromising, convincing Mr. Things Are Perfect Just The Way They Are that it was going to look great, and more compromising.  The end result? Our room swap was a success. It is now a functional, comfortable space. We (yes, Dean loves it too) are all very happy  with how it turned out and we are using the space the way I envisioned.  Cuddling & playing more as a family. Change is good.

Before

After

Before

After

Sad news - during our room swap, we put a crack in the beautiful mirror hanging above the couch!

That's why you no longer see it in later pictures. 

During - the first wall in new dining room painted with Mossy Gold paint

The chaos!

A few more after photos.

I still have a few more things to do to finish things off, but overall we are loving our new spaces.  Now onto my next project - turning the nursery into my walk-in closet! Yay!  Just do me a favour, and don't tell my husband.