So three weeks ago marked the one-year anniversary of us moving into our home. I’ve lived in apartments my whole life until now, so I was so excited to be in a house, where we could hang pictures without worrying about getting our deposit back & paint the walls with wreckless abandon. Yet, in a year, we’ve painted a total of one room. &That one room was our master bedroom- literally the smallest room in the house, and the one that no one else sees, ever. &We still haven’t hung a single picture.

It’s time for that to change.

Now that I am going back to work part-time, we’re going to spend some time & money on making our house a home. &We’re starting with the room I hate the most- the powder room/laundry room!

There are a lot of reasons I hate this room:

-It’s always covered in laundry, which is annoying enough, but since it’s the first room you see when you enter our house, it’s especially unfortunate.

-The toilet paper roll is broken: completely torn off of the wall. &Since we have been talking about painting the room {for a year}, Hubby didn’t want to install a new one & then have to dismantle it again to paint. So now whenever people come over, there’s an awkward moment where I have to tell them that the toilet paper is in the basket behind them.

-Just like the rest of the house, it’s very… blah. It’s painted a safe, neutral tan color & reminds me of the plain white walls I’ve always had in apartments.

So the time has come to give it a makeover! So, for the record, here are the before photos! {&Yes, I’m aware of how messy it is, and I considered straightening up for the sake of photos. BUT, then I realized you’d never fully grasp the huge difference that we’re about to make in there without seeing how it really looks most of the time.}

Our sink, with the hamper to the left of it- that hamper was Hubby’s as a kid. Functional, but not attractive. Also pictured: my one attempt at decorating the room- a little black bird & a candle holder shaped like a nest that’s supposed to have a little turquoise egg candle in it, but Shane hid it somewhere. Apparently, he thought it was Easter.

The hideous & incredibly stained blinds & our about-to-fall-apart towel rack. NOT pictured: the toilet paper roll. Because it doesn’t exist.

The mess on my washer & on the shelf above it. I love our washer & dryer and want them to be featured proudly, not hidden under this clutter! &I hate the dead space next to the washer- I could be putting it to use!

It’s a small room with not a lot of room for photo-taking, so this is the best “whole room” picture I could get. So, a tiny room, functioning as a powder room AND laundry room, with no organization & no sense of personal style.

No wonder I hate this room.

So as the first step toward changing my feelings about the room, we went to Walmart to pick up some paint testers! You can view my shopping experience on the slideshow below!

On Sunday morning, we used all three testers on the wall. The Glidden Testers are really cool because they have a built-in brush, which means you don’t have to pay for multiple brushes that you use for a minute or two & then throw away. It also means no pouring, which should mean no messes, but I totally made a mess. On my second paint stroke, I totally dripped paint all over the trash can- the only thing in the room we weren’t going to replace. My bad. Hubby made me let him paint after that.

Even so, the testers made it really easy to make sure we were happy with the color we chose before committing to it!

So here are the color testers on the wall- I think they each have their pros & cons. The one on the left, Rich Navy, is a beautiful color, but it’s really dark & that room doesn’t get much light to balance it. The middle one, Deepest Aqua, is really pretty and is totally “my style”, but Hubby thinks it’s a little too girly. &The one on the right, Steel Blue, is actually pretty purple.

What do you think? Which one should we go with?

We’re going back this weekend to buy a full-sized can of paint, &we’re having a hard time deciding since any of those are such a drastic change from the paint throughout the rest of our house! I’m excited to have a pretty, tranquil blue room but since the rest of the house is bland & tan, I’m afraid it won’t flow. So let me know which one you like the best & help me decide!

Also, if you’ve been putting off painting your house for awhile, now’s the time! Until the 30th, you can pick up a Glidden paint tester for under a buck! {94 cents to be exact if you live in Vegas- as low as 47 cents in most of the country!} The paint testers retail for $2.47-$2.94 but there’s a couple out that you can use to get $2 off one- just click on the photo below, print your coupon{s} & head to your local Walmart for some testers!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the makeover!