Living & Dining Room Refresh: Cream to Light Gray

An older home's living and dining rooms — brick fireplace, built-ins, window seat and arches — repainted from cream to light gray with crisp white trim and crown, in a single day.

Location: Twin Cities, MN
Completed: March 2016
Duration: 1 day
Setting: Occupied home

Before: Living room fireplace wall: cream walls to light gray with white trim — Living room fireplace wall: cream walls to light gray with white trim

After: Living room fireplace wall: cream walls to light gray with white trim — Living room fireplace wall: cream walls to light gray with white trim

Before: Living room toward the arch — Living room toward the arch

After: Living room toward the arch — Living room toward the arch

Before: Dining room windows and window seat — Dining room windows and window seat

After: Dining room windows and window seat — Dining room windows and window seat

Drag the handle to compare before and after.

About this project

A one-day refresh in an older home with a lot of character: a brick fireplace flanked by built-in bookcases, a window seat under a stained-glass window, arched openings and deep crown molding. The cream walls went to a light gray, and the trim and crown were painted white so the woodwork details stand out.

Rooms like this are mostly cutting-in — around built-ins, window seats, arches and crown — so the quality of the lines decides how the room looks. The before and after photos were taken the same day, from the same spots.