The house of many colours

Pippa says she's a little bit obsessive about painting and since they moved into this house just over three years ago she's painted it pretty much top to bottom. The lounge is part of an open plan lounge/dining/kitchen, so Pippa likes to keep it in a bolder colour to differentiate the areas. The lounge has in fact been painted four times since they moved in! First with Resene Tree Frog, then Resene Blanched Pink, then with Resene Rock and Roll. Pippa has now settled on Resene Hullabaloo, which is bright enough to keep her happy, warm enough to feel cosy in winter and unusual enough to quell boredom.

The main walls of the house are painted in Resene Quarter Periglacial Blue on one side of the house and Resene Quarter Powder Blue on the other. Because of the light effects they look similar but the grey of the Resene Periglacial Blue helps remove the reflected blue from the lounge to even out both sides of the house.

The children's rooms were all beige when they arrived and as Pippa is practically allergic to beige, she quickly applied some Resene Merino she had left over from a previous house on three walls of each room and got them to choose a feature colour for the wall that you see when you enter. One chose Resene Hip Hop and the other Resene Tickled Pink. Both kids also have a chest of drawers painted in a range of Resene when each of them was born.

The attic bedroom is painted in Resene Celestial Blue. They added a skylight so the room is light enough to handle such a dark colour, and it was done in a matt finish to make it look really velvety and inky. Pippa painted up a ladder-style bookcase in high gloss Resene Smitten pink to give it a pop of colour. The ceiling is painted in Resene Merino and she painted the floor temporarily too, while waiting for carpet to be laid.

The staircase on the way to the bedroom had a disgusting grey carpet, so Pippa pulled that out and used Resene testpots in different colours to create a rainbow staircase. It's hard to photograph as it turns a corner, but it gets the most comments of anything!

Pippa has painted furniture too - the side board is Resene Pearl Lusta with Resene Olive Green in the recessed parts. She mixed the paint with tile grout to make it very matt and easily distressed with a sander.

The finishing touch was getting the outside of the house professionally painted in Resene CoolColour™ Black. She finished the outside window frames herself with Double Pearl Lusta to make it creamy and luscious, but gentle enough for an older house.

Pippa loves her colours, but is always hankering for change!

Lounge	Walls	Walls	Child's bedroom
Resene Hullabaloo	Resene Quarter Periglacial Blue	Resene Quarter Powder Blue	Resene Merino
Child's feature wall	Child's feature wall	Attic bedroom	Bookcase
Resene Hip Hop	Resene Tickled Pink	Resene Celestial Blue	Resene Smitten
Cupboards and windows	Sideboard	Sideboard	Exterior
Resene Double Pearl Lusta	Resene Pearl Lusta	Resene Olive Green	Resene Black

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