I think painting the side of one of the beams was a stroke of genius. It makes the ceilings seem higher. Great job!

How long did it take you to choose a color? How many samples did you go through?

Nice job! It is bright and clean looking now, and the floors look fantastic with the white walls. Before they were lost.

I prefer the yellow to be quite honest. The white looks quite dull.

We did the same thing with our lounge - the previous owner liked yellow and the whole house was painted in it (including kitchen cupboards!). Here's our lounge before and after painting. (Ignore the tinfoil on the potted plants: that was because we had a new kitten who thought plants were extra litterboxes.) We put in new floors too, so actually the real "after" photo is this one. But it's from a different angle. And of course the place is constantly evolving, so it doesn't look anything like that anymore. There's now a proper coffee table and a rug and some art on the walls!

I thought the yellow was the after. I liked it better before.

Great transformation! But please don't paint the lamp base - that lamp is gorgeous!

The after seems so cold and dreary. I prefer the before.

I never say this, but I really like the "before" better. The yellow made the room look so cozy and warm, while the white is kind of cold and blah, and you can barely see the gorgeous mouldings.

Of course, the only thing that matters is that you like it!

Hmmm I can see your and other commenters' points with both before and after pics..........the yellow in the first photo is a bit much, but the white, while fitting the room better, is a bit dreary-looking (maybe it's just the lighting).

I did love the yellow, though. Maybe you could have used it for an accent wall? That'd keep the warmth in the room w/o being overwhelming.

I totally thought the yellow was the "after", and I was thinking what a great improvement it was... eeek... the white doesn't look bad, but I much preferred it before.

Huh. I too thought the yellow was the "after" - I think it's a warm and beautiful color. The plain white looks plain and dreary to me. Of course, if it wasn't working for you, then it's great that you switched it out; you're the one who gets to live there!

Loooved the yellow! Think - if the furniture were white and mahagony with a touch of aqua accents, that yellow would have rocked. Not so fond of the white/sterilized look myself.

I too thought the yellow was after. The white looks so institutional.

The contrast between the walls and ceiling bring out the beam detail which is a nice element in the room. Color always makes a huge different. Although color is subjective, its only the inhabitant that has to be pleased with the outcome.

The painting technique needs improvement though :)

The color you chose makes the room look warm, cozy, and much larger. It gives it a soothing look and not a busy cluttered look. Definitely two thumbs up ;-)

Wow I thought the yellow was the before. I am not a big fan of yellow but it looked good in that room. Oh well.

I also liked the before better--the white looks plain and institutional. What was the yellow color, if I may ask?

Maybe labeling ON the pictures 'before' & 'after' would clear up the much communicated confusion amongst all of us. I prefer neither, to be honest. The white does strike me as walking through an apartment you will soon be renting, and you start to think of how to liven up the room with paint.

Oops. I meant I though the yellow was the after, not the before.

Please please don't paint that awesome green lamp! I understand that yellow doesn't quite click with everyone (I personal love it), but I think that room still needs color, or artwork, or something to liven it up and make it feel lived in. Maybe bring that giant poster back?

Awesome!
I was hoping the yellow was the Before, it gave boosebumps. The After is such a magnificent transformation and although nothing else has changed, the room is so much more put together! Again, thumbs up.
Does it say anywhere what was the paint color that you used? Or did I overlook it?

qfiffle - thumbs up to you, too! I love your After and I seriously envy you the two sliding doors and the view.

This is AT, people. The before always comes first. (But I'm in the yellow camp too),

I love the paint! It definitely brightens up the room...great color too

I like the after. Our downstairs is a light yellow/beige and I can't wait to paint it. I much prefer grey, white + greige right now.

WHAT?!?! you guys like the yellow? the gray makes everything POP! the yellow had absolutely no purpose. very surprised with these replies....

I too like most of the others preferred the before, all it needed was to paint that door in the distance white and paint it a less intense yellow and it would have been magnificent. Painting it white has really knocked the pop out of that room, it makes it look somewhat dark and dingey

Sorry, but I quite prefer the yellow. It is warmer and brighter and cheerier, IMO. Maybe the two pic's were taken at different times of day, or was it overcast when the after pic was taken?

Can't believe I am saying this, but I like the yellow better in this room. I think maybe just the back wall should have been left yellow then everything would stand out more. Or, if you had some nice large art on the back wall the white would have worked well

Agreed the yellow was a bit dated/tired, but instead of pure white, why not do a a lovely gray with a hint of blue or lavendar, or even a pale greige, and do moldings and beam gloss white. Do a glossy white credenza maybe. Green lamp is very groovy - leave it be. Stark white walls rarely look good to me unless it's a huge loft.

please don't paint the lamp!

BTW, I think the after is much better than the yellow.

I like the white, but have you ever thought *black doors*?

Wow, I agree with everyone who has said the space has lost it's panache and oomph. While I didn't love the yellow, per se, I loved the warmth and finished look it gave the room. The white/grey seems cold and stark and as if it's an blank canvas. I hope you bring some additional elements back in the room to being back the wow factor. Maybe some art on the walls or something else.

I can't tell which I like better. The after photo does not look newly painted. Maybe it's a problem with the lighting, but the walls and doors don't look clean. If we were to see a better photo of the after, we might like it more.

I love the white "after"! I find it so much more restful and sophisticated. Great job! And I totally second runswithscissors' idea about black doors...

Yellow or bust.

I adore yellow, and my living/dining/kitchen walls are painted a shade similar to creamy scrambled eggs (white ceilings and trim)... but my furniture is an eclectic mix of dark woods and things like a camel back couch, antique-ish finds and a palette of purple/greens/brown so the yellow works with the furnishings.

With the pictured furnishings, the beautiful yellow walls were clashing. I personally don't like the furniture (I like certain traits of midcentury mod, but some of it just does not speak to me at all). The bones of the room(s) are gorgeous and my humble opinion is that either the furniture or the wall color needed to change. I'd have dumped 90% of the furniture and kept the yellow, but the owner loves their furniture style, so the yellow had to go.

I do wish that the walls were a color, tho. A soft dove gray with undertones of blue would have been absolutely lovely. I see white walls (and colors so close to white as to be indistinguishable count as white in my book) as a tragic waste.

I prefer the "before" yellow room to the "after" white room. Maybe it's the lighting but the white has a greyish, institutional look like it's an old hospital. The yellow at least looks welcoming and cheerful. The white screams "lock me up and throw away the key"!

I am planning on doing the opposite - I'm going to a saturated greenish yellow!

Great job. The white makes the room look clean, crisp and sophisticated.

I just did the same thing - our 1920s apartment was painted beige, floor to (and including ceiling) and now it's clean bright white. The white makes yours look like those lovely European apartments. I vote good decision.

I thought the yellow was the "after", too. I love yellow rooms, especially when sunlight is limited. The yellow before is soft enough (at least in the photo) to give a sunkissed look. Yellow also brings out the warm tones in the wood pieces and textiles.

The white room makes me shiver. I feel cold just looking at it.

At least you won't have to prime if you decide to repaint!

Hmm... well, the yellow was... a lot. And if she lives there and doesn't like it, then the yellow is definitely not working. The white is a little stale, but doesn't look bad.

I think you could have made the yellow work, but it would have taken a great floor rug, since the timber and yellow just didn't work (for me). I think the white can work too, and it does look nice and crisp, but I think you really need some small snaps or colour (or even a few big ones), preferably something bright, sunny, warm or even acidic... Check out today's house tour and the way yellow is used with black and white. So bold and contemporary and snappy. It never looks drab or overly cheezy or clinical.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I like the stark white walls better! I generally much prefer color, but I think the plain walls really bring such cohesion to the room. I agree with previous posters though, a bit of color, maybe presented in a bold graphic print above the TV, would do you well.

Interesting, but In the photos, the yellow looks better. Having had a yellow bedroom and then gone white, I know that the change probably feels great in the actual room. I do agree with many of the others posts in urging you to reconsider painting the lamp base.

It feels so much calmer in white. The yellow just made it feel busy and cluttered. Good job.

Its funny, I too like the yellow better. I wonder if some of that has to do with the amount of light streaming through the window. My bedroom is the same color of yellow, which I thought I would love. I don't. It looks dull and drab once the sun is gone. I'm now looking for the perfect shade of white too :) So I guess what I'm trying to say is that pictures don't tell the whole story and the only one that matters is you :)

the yellow was a bit too much. but the white is just too drab. a pale grey would warm it up a bit and provide a clean look with white trim...just sayin'

I love the cozy yellow 100x more than the white, and I don't even like yellow! Also it doesn't help that the "white" (grey?) picture is of very low quality, so you can't see the details in the items in the room, and there is way too much contrast, so you can't see the warmth of that beautiful floor or the colorful ottoman thingee. Run-on sentence I know. Anyway, it's always fun to change up paint in a room and if it makes you happy, then all the better!

I like the white. I just moved into a yellow apartment myself and can't wait to paint it. The yellow looks good in pictures, but when you're sitting there it feels like you're in your grandmother's parlor.

You are in dire and immediate need of artwork.

I LOVE the white - makes the room more sophisticated. In all fairness, I've never been a fan of tan/taupe/yellow/sage walls in the first place, white and grey are my faves.

I spent a lot of time painting over the holidays too. I didn't go plain white though, too bland.

HUGE improvement.

great job & congrats on tackling some DIY painting! i love the crisp white about 1000x more than the yellow, but would still prefer a light gray to make the moldings & beams stand out better... please DONT paint that awesome green lamp! it is one of the few pops of color u have- u def need more color in accessories: pillows, artwork, rug, etc... its such a nice, blank canvas now- its so much easier to c what direction u want to go in when ur not drowning in all that yellow...

I painted over my yellow, too, some three years ago. And Back down the yellow brick road I now go....

Oh, please don't paint the base of that beautiful vintage lamp!

I painted our living room white a few years ago with the same idea in mind (make it loft-like) and love it. I think you're definitely on the right track. One thing I did was switch out our plain white curtains for some with a little color. They're a subtle gray and they give the walls more interest without taking away from the clean look.

How about painting the ceiling grey or beams and trim grey and change drapes to add some graphic dimension...then I think you are there!

Sorry terrible. Like many have commented, I thought the yellow was the after.

First-Nothing worse than trying to brighten a warm space with white. Makes it seem cold. The yellow definitely did not go with your modern furniture, but it did go with the house.

Second-This isn't a modern space. The apartment looks vintage. The white fights the bones of the house. If it had been built in the 70's or something and had different lines, I could see a white shade.

Third-All whites are not created equal. Not only is white wrong, but this is the wrong white. Looks like a cheap white thrown on to a dorm room wall by contractors who were trying to cut corners with the least expensive paint possible.

What a mess. Wrong wrong wrong for so many reasons. Really surprised this one made it on to the AT web site.

This is worthy of a post? Surely we can come up with something more interesting than a simple color change, one, I might add that is so insignificant that people can't tell between the before and after.

Well, I think that room is a fashion victim. Although I can understand that everyone has different tastes, replacing ANY colour, as long as it isn't a colour faux pas, with a non colour like white, grey or beige, is a big mistake. Compared to the before, that room looks like it has some kind of disease and it is dying.

I think people are going overboard with this grey fashion. How can fashion even apply to wall colour when the idea of your own living room is not to look like someone else's but rather for you to feel good in. Everybody has a different idea of what colours make them feel the right way, so it follows that we can't all be using shades of the same (non)colour and each be happy with our respective choices.

People, stop ruining your living space with fashion! Those who think you have an awesome sense of fashion only spend a few hours a time in tour home, but you are stuck in that colour vibe day after day!

I prefer the white, although this section of the room looks cluttered no matter what color is on the walls.

Definitely add more color and make just a few changes. (but whatever you do don't paint that lamp!)

1) Lose the big-ass T.V. It's too big and ends up commanding the entire room, like your eye immediately moves to it Put a large colorful piece of art on the big-ass T.V. wall.

2) Change the blanket thing draped over the sofa to a different bright color.

3) If you always have fresh flowers on that coffee table, make sure they are bright - tulips, red/pink roses, irises, whatever.

It just needs a little color here and there but I agree it looks much more sophisticated.

I've never seen anybody use the word "vibe" as a verb before. And is "greige" actually a word?

You're right that the yellow had a 70s buzz to it. But the 70s are in again. Sigh.

I agree with getting rid of the yellow. Yellow walls are always ick, and the space is definitely improved by going white, however the paint job looks (at least in the photo) quite patchy and, somehow, dirty. I agree with the previous 'institution' remark. I also think the white clashes with the cream of the ceiling and trim.

I personally would have gone with a very light, soft blue, grey or a warmer white. As well as not calling 'done' til I was sure the paint job was top notch.

As it is now, I think you need to change out the curtains to something coloured (or striped, even).

The yellow is a bit too much, but the white is definitely too stark and sterile. The furniture does not offer much warmth so the contrast of the grey, black, and white are all so startling. I definitely would have shed the yellow for something along the lines of a slate blue or green and only paint either the baseboards/columns, or accent walls leaving the rest white. That would add dimension and depth into the room without crowding it. This leaves your pieces to stand as a unit with the aesthetics of the environment.

I liked the yellow too, but I think the real problem was not enough lighting on the "white" picture. You can't really call that bright white if people can actually mistake it for gray. Maybe adding some more white/blue-ish spectrum light sources would make it show up as "bright white"?

I understand what you were going for with the bright white loft feeling, etc., but there's something just too cold about the white. I think you could have gotten the same, bright, modern effect with a gray or something a little less stark than the white.

Yellow :)

One other thing I forgot to say: I agree with the poster who commented that colors usually look better on most older homes that aren't actually lofts. This apartment has more architectural detail and higher ceilings than most, but most typical apartments and homes of modest size and lower ceilings look sad painted bright white and much more welcoming painted a color.

For me, sometimes yellow looks good in a picture, but EVERY SINGLE TIME I've been in a yellow room, it's made me feel tense and jittery.

I think both rooms are lovely to photograph, but definitely support the owner's decision to paint!

(In a general note, I REALLY appreciate that you didn't rearrange the room hugely or change the angle of the photo between. So many before and afters are less about the changes and more that someone got a new camera in between so OF COURSE it looks better. ^_^)

Congratulations on completing the paint job! It's amazing what we can learn to do for ourselves. I'm in the After is Better camp.

The yellow, Before, version of the room looked warm, but there was too much of the yellow and it was a dated shade. I like the white better, though the room still needs warming up. Some colorful accents and art and some more texture/pattern would help. How about changing the curtains to a color or pattern? Could you dye them - maybe a warm neutral or even a sunny yellow? Yellow curtains would make the light in the room seem warmer.

White just makes me think of all the boring white rentals I've lived in. Maybe if you at least had some nice colorful art up and some color in the curtains? The only way you could have gone more safe and boring and plain in my opinion is with beige. Can we stop the "paint it all white (/light grey)!" phase already? It's just as bad as the "put a bird on it" style of design.

Eek! We painted our dining room BLACK! And surprising, we have received rave reviews. It was kind of a crazy idea but after seeing so many other people go for it online, we thought what the heck --- it's just paint. Kinda loving the look but still trying to decide if we'll paint the other 2 walls or leave it as is. Thoughts: http://twosixe.blogspot.com/2011/12/black-out.html

The white is definitely an improvement. That yellow was absolutely blinding and not close to "warm and welcoming". The floor is there now and it is a fantastic prominent feature.

Though I do agree with other posters, bring in art or photos for the walls and please paint the doors. The white on white is as bad as the yellow on yellow. It is washed out and takes character away from the entire room. And those doors are beautiful.. show them off! Black, grey, red. Emerald green would be amazing even. I would consider painting the beams the same color as you choose for the doors =)

I don't mind the yellow (although Benjamin Moore Sundial is nicer), but the white looks like the room is just primed and ready for real paint, to me. Maybe if you wallpapered or stenciled one wall in a strong black and white design, the white would work, but there is too much of it (more than the yellow) and the architectural details just disappear. If you want the minimalist loft look, paint isn't going to give it -- minimizing and spaciously arranging furnishings might.

But it's your place, so our opinions are not totally relevant. Enjoy your space.

Yellow .......

White

....or something else entirely?

Ok, so i like the white but it seems so generic. Maybe replace your white curtains with something with a bold pattern and color?

I think the yellow is a lot warmer looking. I usually roll my eyes at the "before was better!" crowd, but this is one instance where I agree.

To me at least, while it may appear "cleaner" the loss of warmth is apparent.

i wish you had kept the yellow door at least.

The room looks boring, although i don't blame it on the white.

yellow is used in staging for sale precisely b/c it makes a room feel bright & airy. this white in this post looks dingy. it can be improved, however, if you go for an all-white effect w/ lots of texture, maybe add a large robert rauschenberg-esque painting as a focal point (do it yourself; he sold his technique in a kit, so he would not have minded) & a furry area rug & white mccoy. leaving the mcm woods alone so the white leather & linen pop is your good idea.

Sorry I like the yellow, at least it had a pop and brightness to it, with the white it looks dated and like a dingy old tunnel. Some color on the walls would be a much better contrast, maybe try something in more of a butternut squash color, it will make the room look bigger, cleaner and bring a modern feel to the gorgeous old architecture details.

There is some strange trend now where people hate white walls -- they are supposed to be boring and dull. Nonsense. It is just home decorator TV programs brainwashing or something. White is beautiful, clean and crisp. The only thing is, you need to pick the right white. I think this room needed a warmer white. You picked a very bright, pure white, which looks good in a modern room, but not as great with older styles. Still, it's better than that awful yellow!

I agree. DON'T paint the lamp base. It is beautiful as is!

I've done this..went alll white..BM flat super white...I loved it as it was a pure and simple background. A simple clear glass round vase with small branches that still had their reddish autumn leaves on them..looked stunning in that room. It had a beautifuuuuuuuuuull stark look, but also large and airy. Simple furniture of a dark chocolate brown and black picture frames really looked great. Color was used in lavender and aqua toss pillows with vintage metal baskets about...Any color used looked crisp and airy...It felt 'warm' with the vintage metal accessories and nature's 'flowers' of any kind..Your space will also come along as it inspires you.

This is my first prefered before! May be because of the light that seems missing in the second picture. But I love the yellow effect. More lights in the room.

What paint colors and finish did you use? I'm painting my rental and would love do this.

I love the contrast of your molding with the walls. So often, people go lighter and brighter on the molding, but I love what you're done. The room makes me think of milk glass and matte china. Love it!

The after looks better regarding the arrangement of the room. It seems like you move some things slightly and it made the room a bit more open. HOWEVER I agree that the yellow was a much better choice and why no art up on the wall? Maybe that would remove the 'cold and dull' look from the white paint. But as someone else said, IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU and if you love it, that is all that matters..