Living Room Makeover in Gotham Gray Paint

Tell me if this is how you feel about your living room.

It’s one of the most-used rooms in the house. We spend all kinds of time in there and so we want it to be comfortable and our best reflection of our home’s style right?  We lounge there, eat there {even though we’re not supposed to}, play with the kids in there, host guests and all kinds of other activities.

I do all those things in mine and was just feeling “off” about the whole space.

I’d made some updates to it recently, particularly the addition of a new rug, a bookshelf makeover, and some new pillows, but the whole space just wasn’t jiving for me.

Then I realized what the problem was.

I was tired of the current paint color, which we picked before we moved in when there wasn’t any furniture in the space. It’s called Creamy Mushroom, which is a fabulous neutral color, and we have it in several other rooms in the house. Many of you have asked me about it too.

But I wanted the living room to get a little refresh. Something different. Something bold.  I talked about my living room dilemma here and have FINALLY decided on a what to do.

So in a world of trendy white walls and trim, I painted my living room in a medium gray. Here’s the story and stay tuned to the end for a free printable to keep track of your home’s paint colors.

This is my first project as one of the Behr Paint DIY Experts and I’m thrilled and how it came out. Now I look at the living room with excitement, not with blah-blah lack luster feeling.

This new color is called Gotham Gray and I’d be lying if I said the name of the paint didn’t TOTALLY persuade me to select it. I mean, who doesn’t love Bruce Wayne right?

This ladder belonged to my in-laws and their parents. It was in their barn forever and was used to load hay into the barn many years ago. I spotted it and they graciously let us take it home. Now we have a place for our many blankets and is aged perfectly.

This is the first time I used Behr’s newest paint, called Marquee and you all know I’m happily a Behr DIY Expert, but believe me when I say, this is an amazing paint.

I have used several brands in the past, for walls, furniture and crafts, and this one is at the top of my list. I was impressed by how well it covers (1 coat covered the light beige to this medium gray with no primer – it’s built in), and now smooth it goes on the walls.

It did take a long time to select a color, even if I was persuaded by the name. I tried out several samples on the wall to get just the right one.

I even had several shades at home that I tried out first. Here’s what our walls looked like for a while. I had several colors up there, including some that are in other places in the house, just to see what they looked like. And a few samples I picked up. I didn’t love any of them.

Then I headed back to Home Depot and to the Behr display. You know how I picked this one? They have these ‘Popular’ colors in the display that are easy to see and so I grabbed a few of the gray ones.

And when I got Gotham Gray home and up on the wall, I couldn’t stop looking at it.

That’s when you know you’ve picked the right color. When you can’t wait to see the whole room covered instead of just the little paint chip. I sectioned off part of the living room late at night and got to painting. If you follow me on Instagram, you saw a sneak peak here.

For this mini living room makeover, I hung up some marbled paper in these frames I got at a consignment shop. I don’t know if I’ll keep the gold hanging chains yet or not. I like the little accent, but also the simplicity of frames just hung on a wall.

I’ve also been adding some fun accent colors in the pillows and blanket, which you saw on my Summer Home Tour. Although now that fall is approaching, I’ll have to change those up again, but I look forward to it. The lamps are new but I like to keep my table tops clear, so I keep the accessories to a minimum.

Here’s a picture of the room on that summer tour.

Here is that same corner after. That blue lamp was originally gold and I’m considering stripping it to get back the gold. What do you think? It could use a little bling in there.

The entire room is very comfortable and cozy now, it has just the right feel. I’m always so impressed by how much change a gallon of paint can do, aren’t you?

Disclosure: I am one of the Behr Paint DIY Experts and have received product and compensation for this post. All opinions are my own because clearly I love to paint!