Whitening and lightening

Having moved into this house only a few months ago, there is a tremendous amount of decorating to do. So much dark brown woodwork everywhere, which in a house which only gets the sun in the front rooms is somewhat depressing. Strong colours on the walls too add to the gloom, so I am currently in the process of whitening everything. Already one room has been transformed from dark terracotta walls and gloomy yellow paintwork to white, and this has made a huge difference!

The above is before decorating, although the colour in real life was a lot darker than it shows here - believe me it was so so dark and gloomy!

This is after, although looking a little cluttered as the xmas stuff was being put out/put away - sadly still no change in the very dark and very navy blue carpet - it will be a while before that goes, and when it does and is replaced with a wooden floor it should make a huge difference again.

Meanwhile, having made a good start on "whitening" the hall before xmas, I'm having a little play with a smaller painitng project which is much more fun!
Being a bargain hunter by nature, and no stranger to second hand stuff to transform, I'd been keeping an eye out  for some balloon backed chairs to refurbish. My patience was finally rewarded a few weeks ago with 4 solid hardwood chairs for under a tenner! Thats what I like, my kind of price!

One chair had already been painted a pale Farrow and Ball colour, and last week I re-upholstered the seat in a Laura Ashley stripe, which I can't show you just yet as we were unfortunately burgled a couple of weeks ago and they took the digital cameras!

Chair No.2 is now Farrowed and Balled and ready for covering, then two more to go! I just love the elegant shape of the chairs, and as I'm a huge fan of pale Scandinavian interiors these seem to be perfect!

Am going to attempt to get some "after"photos in the next day or so using an old digital camera the burglars missed, or maybe passed over as not good enough for them!

Anyone else working on a refurb project? Would love to hear from you!