When we moved in, I wasn’t sure what to do with large formal living room. A friend sent me an idea for a dark moody room, but I was nervous and painted just one wall. Doing the whole room felt too scary.

But as the last year has gone by, I realized, I think I would like the whole room painted. I didn’t exactly have Philip’s blessing. I would need his help to do the top trim and some time away from our lovely children.

It just felt like, whenever I shared a photo of this room, I didn’t like the other walls as much as I liked the dark one. I wouldn’t share them both in the same frame.

But he left one day for a couple hours………..and I started painting. I don’t really recommend this, but my gut said yes and we have recovered.

Painting all the trim work was a labor of love, but now that it’s done, I’m very pleased with the outcome.

The color is Wrought Iron by Benjamin Moore. The front door is Benjamin Moore Marblehead Gold, which makes me happy in homage to the Boston North Shore that this color is named after.