Living in a Red&Black Tribute

Thanksgiving weekend I started repainting my living room. I knew I wanted to go with a red and black theme in honor of Texas Tech. However, there were a few things to do first. This was my living room on move-in day.

When I saw my house for the first time, I knew the built-in bookshelf would be one of the first things to go. It might look ok in the photo, but once you look at it a little closer you realize it's basically Closet Maid shelves that were bolted to the wall and painted brown. 

It took a few months, but I eventually hired a handyman to remove the bookshelf. Because it was bolted into the wall and ceiling, I was a little scared to attempt the removal on my own.

Next it was time to pick paint colors. There are things in life that I am good at, but picking paint colors is not one of them. Praise God for those $3 test cans at Home Depot. 

After getting the opinions of a few friends, I finally decided on just the right shades of red, grey and creme. I also painted the fireplace cover silver to hide the dated gold.

My favorite feature of the room is my magnetic chalkboard wall. You may have already seen it in one of my Christmas posts. I've seen a few designers incorporate this feature into designs on HGTV and I was determined to make it a reality in whatever house I purchased.

I bough the tin cans from Ikea (aka: Heaven). They are supposed to be for kitchens, but they worked great for holding the chalk and erasers. I'm still in the process of collecting unique and meaningful magnets, but I have a pretty good start.

All in all I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out. I still have a lot of finishing touches like art for the walls, outlet covers, and getting a desk to make a workstation area against the red wall. In my ideal world, there is a space in every room to sit and work on my laptop or latest art project. 

I'm no where close to calling the living room a completed project, but I would say I am well on my way.