Last week, when Leah wrote about her Evolving Living Room, it got me thinking about my own home evolution. It was 6½ years ago that I bought a beautiful, sunny apartment (my first) in Chicago and I was thrilled to be able to put my own stamp on it. I was also just starting design school and learning about exciting concepts like accent walls.

When repainting the walls after moving in, I decided to play it safe in most of my combination living room-dining room and went with a beautiful light grey that I continue to love to this day. But I felt that the wall behind the dining room table needed something more — something that said "this is the Dining Room!" and I decided that something was a large Tiffany blue wall.

A year or so after moving in, I began eyeing the wall behind the living room. Tasteful grey suddenly seemed too staid and I longed for a bold statement to rival the blue wall in the dining room. This is where things went very, very wrong and I selected an avocado green for which I have no real explanation. About halfway through painting, I could tell it was a disaster, but I had bought the paint and gotten on the ladder and, well, I was going to finish and live with it, darnit!

After a year of living inside an avocado (my poor, patient husband!) I finally came to my senses and got out the brushes and ladder again to paint the offending wall and it's neighbor in the dining room a new slightly deeper aqua (Because, of course, I had run out of the original Tiffany blue and couldn't remember what brand it was).

By this time, though, I had graduated design school and been working for a few years in one of the city's top design firms and I knew I could do better. I came across Schumacher's Modern Trellis one day at work and knew immediately that I had found the perfect accent for my accent wall. 6 years and 4 incarnations later, my work is finally done!

How many evolutions has your home gone through and have you finally found "the one"?

Images: Bethany Adams

You might also like