Moving into a blank space that has bare walls and is mostly neutrals can make the decision of which color palette to choose an even more difficult one. But in today's Color Cure Before & After Gigi shares with us her inspiration and just how she came upon it. And what's more, this play-it-safe kind of girl went bold...just how bold? Read on to find out!
The Color Cure: How long have you lived in your home?
Gigi: Since mid February 2011 (six months)
The Color Cure: When did you overhaul the space?
Gigi: Immediately!
The Color Cure: How long did it take?
Gigi: It is always a work in progress, I find goodies in thrift stores or on craigslist, but it took two days to paint the room (we can only paint while the baby is asleep or napping) and another two weeks to paint the table and chairs.
The Color Cure: Where did you find your color and design inspiration?
Gigi: I usually do keyword searches on Google Images and Apartment Therapy. I believe my search was for "dark blue dining room." This picture from the Elements of Style was my starting place. I loved the jute rug and the dark blue. It looked classic but included natural elements, too. Then, Young House Love painted the inside of their dining room cabinets a dark color which showcased their white ceramics and I was sold. We have built-ins on the other walls where I did this as well.
The Color Cure: How much planning did you put into the project?
Gigi: I've had a vision since we first saw the house...I decided on the geometric blue and white curtains (which were impossible to find for any affordable price) and the blue walls first. The paint was the easiest thing to do so we did that first. After hunting for the right fabric, I finally made my own on Spoonflower and we truly love them.
I originally had planned on distressed wood floating shelves along the back wall, but this midcentury piece appeared on craigslist and we like it there for now (though who knows what the future brings). We love this piece because it is our "office." It hides our cell phone charging station, our wireless stereo speakers and our wireless printer. The dining room has housed many different pieces of furniture over the 6 months we've lived here. A huge armoire, file cabinets, the piano, a chair, but we realized it needs to stay fairly sparse. In the future I'm hoping for a huge green houseplant for one of the corners and hopefully that will liven it up a bit—but we haven't found the perfect one yet.
The Color Cure: What was the most challenging part of the project?
Gigi: Coming to terms with the dark color! I've always been a play-it-safe kinda girl. I loved texture, but my last house was all neutrals and mostly shades of white and brown. I knew we were in for a change with this house. The dining room was the first room we worked on (and the one closest to "completion" at this point), but its inspired lots of color and shape throughout the house. Finding the right balance of color was critical so our house doesn't feel like a circus—it still needs to be where we unwind. But its fun and reflects our crazy little family of three perfectly.
The Color Cure: Did you learn a new skill during your home improvement project?
Gigi: This was the first painting project I did without taping first. I feel like it was fairly successful and it saved many hours. The real lesson I learned here was that quality paint matters, zero VOC paint is FANTASTIC, and a good brush takes you a long way. The money we spent on quality products saved us a ton of time and headache (literally on the headache—the zero VOC paint has no small at all)!
The Color Cure: Are you happy with the outcome?
Gigi: We love this room. I don't feel like it's completed yet, but we're close. It looks nice when the sun is streaming in, but even better at night with some candles lit, the chandelier on a low light, a glass of wine and friends over for dinner.
Our building has two identical flats and my mom bought the one upstairs, so it is really fun when people come over and get the tour of her place and ours. The differences are striking. Her place has white walls and is mostly yellows, reds, and oranges with oriental rugs—but each place is perfect for our personalities.
The Color Cure: What, if anything, would you do differently next time around?
Gigi: The process for painting our table was horrible. I knew I should have sanded, but we didn't—so we spent WEEKS painting and waiting for them to dry. They still aren't done (we need one more coat and a coat of a low VOC poly cover), but we HATED the process, so we're sort of just waiting until we're really bored to do it again.
The Color Cure: If you had one piece of advice for Apartment Therapy readers, what would it be?
Gigi: Go for it and trust your gut!
Do you have a Before & After or a Color Inspiration Story to share with The Color Cure? Go ahead and get your entries in soon—The Color Cure ends next week. We can't wait to hear from you!
The Color Cure, Week 1: Color Families
Week 1 Video: Color Families
Color Hunting: Inspiring Color Families
Color Research: Find Colors You Love All Around
Before & After: Monica's Color-Filled Living Room
Color Quiz: Which Color Family Are You?
The Color Cure, Week 2: Warm and Cool Colors
Week 2 Video: Warm and Cool Colors
Add Color to Your Kitchen Even if Your Backsplash is Tiled
Before & After: A Kitchen Overhaul Complete with Painted Cabinets
Color Quiz! Are You Warm or Cool Colored?
Before & After: Two Living Rooms Transformed with Color
The Color Cure, Week 3: The 80/20 Rule
Week 3 Video: The 80/20 Rule
Color Tip: Accent Your Entertainment Space with Colorful Dining Chairs
Color Prescription: What Color Would You Choose?
Before & After: Finishing Touches in an 80/20 Living Room
Color Quiz! Would You Add Color to Your Ceiling?
The Color Cure, Week 4: Easily Changeable Color
Week 4 Video: Easily Changeable Color
Great Homes with Color: West Coast
Color Story: What Do You Think Inspired This Space?
Great Homes with Color: The Midwest
Great Homes with Color: The East Coast
Before & After: A Bathroom Color Makeover for the Ages
Color Tip! Add Color With These Accents
Before & After: 200 Square Foot Paris Flat Brought to Life
Before & After: From Ceiling Space to Playing Space
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
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The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
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Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
I love this change - my bedroom is almost that exact blue!
Fresh bold paint helps to make a space feel your own. White walls for some reason have always been associated with temporary spaces for me, so once we bought our first condo we chose vibrant bold colors and painted all rooms before even moving in. Great job!
Just beautiful! :) Love the entire room, but the wall color and drapes are stunning :)
love it! what a transformation. the chandelier is perfect and I love the blue on blue with the curtains and wall color
gorgeous!
I love the color but it looks very different in the two photos. One is more of a navy and the other looks more royal. I did cobalt and white in our dining room but the walls are grey. I've been wanting to change them but not sure to what. Hmm....
Oh I am loving that blue!!!
Absolutely in love with your curtains! Waiting for darker colors to cure on the walls, is a bit of emotional roller coaster.
Rare piano-spotting on AT, too.
Thanks, all!
The blue is closer to the first picture (more dark) - but it does really change color depending on the time of day (but our house is foggy 85% of the time, so it stays that darker color).
All the afters are missing the best accessory - that cute baby on the floor!
Wow! The curtains really pull it all together! Awesome transformation!
Love the dining room chairs
LOVE!!!
LOVE!!!
Fantastic!
Amazing. The piano in that space makes me claustrophobic. Maybe it is just the angle of the shot.
Fantasic
Just lovely. I love the white & blue. The curtains are stunning. I've always thought that curtains that blend with wall color make a room look more seamless & spacious. The wood wall unit against the blue is fantastic. Don't see how you could have done better. I hope I'm invited for dinner. :)
Impressive!
Looks great!
Amazing transformation!
Amazing is the perfect word. And I love the dining set redo.
great job, but those mirrors look a little shabby against the clean lines of the table/chairs.
Love the blue as it appears in the first pic! And I understand it's closer to reality. The drapes are gorgeous, too. Very nice vision... Without being too 70s, I would love to see one or two green, yellow, or even magenta, lacquer-finish pieces in the room, too. A bowl? A quirky faux plant? It's all very lovely.
Beautiful!!! Really love how you have made some bold choices yet, when all is said and done, the perfect amount of restraint has been shown too! Great eye Gigi!
Could you please tell me more about how you did the table? I'm thinking of doing the same with my massive dark dining table. What paint did you use, and did you seal it afterwards? Congrats on a great job!
Hmmmm...trixiedesigns...I like it! I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for something like that.
LaBelleProvince, I am the wrong person to ask about the table! We def did it the wrong way! We have a giant 5 gallon white paint+primer that we used from Home Depot(because we already had it). We didn't sand - which was a huge mistake. The first coat the paint practically slid right off. It ended up taking at least three coats (and all the cut outs on everything made it take a LONG time). Our plan is to seal it with a zero VOC poly coat, but we're just so DONE with the project it might be awhile before we get to it.
If I did it over again I would have sanded everything down, used a spray primer and a spray paint (even though it would have been pricier, it would have been so much easier).
I thank you, MamaGigi - I will sand and prime, and I didn't think of spray paint, so you have my gratitude! That sounds a heckuva lot faster-drying than using the enamel paint that I used for painting my tiles, which took at least a week to cure.
the colour-changing walls can grow on one & the curtains do go w/the walls & the space. disappointing that the furniture got painted, white yet. also, pull the pictures down from the ceiling. isn't this supposed to be in the san francisco section of a/t? nyc light is a bit brighter than sf.
Looks fabulous, you did so well to go with such a strong colour. I love your curtains too, they really set off the walls (or possibly the walls really set them off - either way they balance each other perfectly. And thanks so much for the link to Spoonflower, had no idea you could design your own fabric so affordably, can't wait to try it!
Great paint job!
I love the blue and the contrast with the white. Great job, the drapes are rocking that space. I would move the mirrors down a bit. Seated eye level would look more balanced unless you intend people to look up instead of side to side.
Thanks for all of the mirror advice :) The plan is to eventually add more down the wall but we're still on the lookout for the right ones.
We also have a bit of a babyproofing issue, so some things are higher than we'd like since a heavy mirror in a one year old's reach is a recipe for disaster :)
I probably missed it, but what color of paint did you use. Very lovely changes!
Beautiful!
I'd like to know what paint you used. We want to go with zero VOC paint but I've heard they can be hit-or-miss. If you have a recommendation, I'd love to hear it!
I have to go into the garage to find the paint color tomorrow, but it is Natura Benjamin Moore paint. I just did another room with it and LOVE it even more. It is thick enough that you can practically do one coat and it dries really quickly. I'll repost tomorrow with the paint color.
Thank you much!
Gorgeous! The contrasting blue and white are so satisfying.
I think its admiral blue...benjamin moore, but they didn't put the name on the can and I lost my sample!