I <3 blue. The last one reminds me a bit of my china hutch.

Anyone else a fan of the Before??

@Taurgo - I'm DEFINITELY a fan of the before. Glad I'm not the only one.

I'm with you Taurgo. I ain't feelin' that blue.

Yeah - preferred the before

Agreed. Before is better.

What was wrong with the before?????????

I love, love, love that stenciled "silver forest." Wow!

Love, love,love the blue. Highlights the bookcase in an otherwise neutral space. Great pop of color!

Yeah, they did NOT need to paint that built-in. Just a few accessories to finish it off is all. They don't look quite moved in. The blue is cheesy. Blue Cheese.

The blue in the After certainly pops. Not sure I like it, but I'm sure the people who did it enjoy it!

The stenciled forest bedroom is...dreamy. Love it!

I like the blue - it's a vacation house in the Turks & Caicos, not a Manhattan loft. Have some fun with it.

Agree. Too blue.

The blue looks great! I think the before looked a little washed out -although it could be the picture.

But I like living in homes, not museums, so...

As much as I like the blue, when I first saw the "before" picture I thought that was the "after" pic. Maybe they should have done the entire wall in blue, not just behind the bookshelves.

yes,before is better

I thought the before was lovely, but the blue is visually interesting and look how it accents the height! Amazing how colour can affect the overall architectural design.

Too much of a POP for me. I liked the white shelves. Only you need more books on them! (Resist the Kindle revolution!)

This is a home in Turks & Caicos! It's an Island people....They should be allowed to have some fun with the place. The blue looks great!

not so much.

It is not the blue that bothers me so much in the first picture, it is the way the television just seems "off" to me.
Love the hutch and that forest is just dreamy.

I thought they must have mismarked it. It was fine "before."

I DO like the insides of bookshelves to be painted. I might have gone with a less bold blue, but given the location I, the color certainly is appropriate. The silver trees in the bedroom are so lovely.

Maybe you could show us more "inside" paint jobs.

Love the stenciled forest!

The painting of the hutch was a huge improvement. Great job.

I also favor the "before" of the built-in bookcases, but wonder if I'd feel the same with the TV gone. I personally find it (the TV) to be a bit of an eyesore. Perhaps replacing it with a fish tank, and then adding more plants/more books/art would do the trick? Knowing that this is an island location does make me think that the blue is appropriate and probably looks really festive in person. All those empty shelves, though, and that monster of a TV suggests they haven't unpacked yet.

Definitely a fan of the "before," personally.

What!? you people don't like the blue... you must be joking, I love how it pops and shows the height. Agreed about the TV, and not a big fan of the grey for the rest of the wall. I would have either left that white or painted it blue as well. I think it makes a great feature wall... especially for a place in Turks and Cacos!
The forest wall is amazing. Would love to know how to do it.

The Before was amazing. What a glorious, classic bookshelf. If it were full of books alternated stacked and vertical, plus some tropical themed vases, etc would have worked much better. There's a reason pale walls were preferred in the tropical model a la British Colonial. They look and "feel" cooler in the heat............

The blue behind the shelves is way too intense. A more subdued shade and more books, artifacts, plants, etc. would be an improvement. It would be interesting if the tenants repaint and take some of the suggestions offered. ;-)

love the silvery blue wallpaper but that bedding needs to go.

I liked them all, but, just from the pictures, I didn't follow how the stencil project was accomplished.

The before is incredibly dull, to me anyway. Not sure I'm a fan of the color choice, but it's an improvement.

I, too, preferred the before. However, if the person who lives there likes the after better, that's enough reason for them.

What ever happened to, "If you haven't anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?''

I like the after much better. Before, it was bland. And although sometimes white is very good looking, in that situation it was boring. The after really popped.

me too, Taurgo.

Wow! Tough crowd here on AT. ha ha!!

I guess you had to live in the place to get it. That was my loft (a rental) in the TCI. TONS of glass, INTENSE sun, and everything was white. The floors (painted white wood), the trim, the walls, the ceiling, the bookshelves, the stairs, the railings, EVERYTHING. So, after spending all day at work on a beach that's whiter than any beach you've ever seen with the sun reflecting off of it into your eyes, you sorta get sick of WHITE! The color helps make the trim and white floors pop and also tone down the sun during the day. That's why it was painted...and it's fun, so why not!

Personally, I loved it and it made it feel more like a "home" to me and less like the other 33 units exactly like it.

Oh yeah, my landlord is able to get more rent than anyone else for her unit after I redid it while living there. So, someone must like it!

Different strokes for different folks I guess. Thanks for the compliments from those who liked it. :)

I live in anything just to live in the TCI for a long while. I like the blue = if you're not from the south you can't understand the intensity of the sun here. Your soul begs for cool colors after a short while. And I like the blue & white secretary for a seaside cottage where mahogany secretaries would be out of place. I think its just adorable, but I would tone down the intensity to a much softer blue. Very Martha, that.

I'm a HUGE fan of color and love the blue. I tend for less accessories and use color instead.

I think the rest of the room should be painted. Not as bright as the bookshelf, but enough of a blue that the bookshelf ties the room together.

LOVE the stenciled bedroom!!! what a great idea for a small space!

It was helpful for the designer to point out that they live (lived?) in Turks and Caicos. In northern climes, that blue would be too gloomy, but it does sound like it worked well for him.

Hey, it's in Turks and Caicos Islands! It works with its surrounds IMO.

There is some of that bright blue in the Flor carpet tile (isn't that what that is?), so I think it's acknowledged just fine. And given that it's a tropical place, I agree with betty33.

Meanwhile, I think that forest stencil is to be lived for. The silver would look great in morning or evening light and changed in every light. Lovely.

That secretary in the bottom photo would probably be closed most of the time, so only the person using it would really get the full impact of the bright blue, and since that probably relieves the drudgery of bill-paying or whatnot, I think it's quite a giggle. Plus, I love that arch at the top.

love the first one, it doesn't mave to be blue, the bedroom nice but only the head board wall not all of it, the little cabinet good something different!

it's nice but the before is sort of fresher looking. It just needed a bit of a "face lift".

I like the *before* better, but after examining the before and after pics again, I think it may be the grayish walls in the after pic that don't go well with the bright blue, making it look "off" somehow.