Easy Way To Brighten Up Dark Decor

I have always liked a natural, earth-tone look in my home, and I still do. But lately, I’m getting really sick of all the browns and darker colors. I know the transition is going to be gradual, so I’ll share it in stages.

My first area to tackle is the entryway.

Dark wood. Dark basket. Dark Star. Dark dried floral.

I decided to start with the floral basket because it was the least intimidating.

The first thing I did was remove the eucalyptus and the star and clean the basket. Then using a paint brush and white paint (I just used latex paint), I painted a light layer of the paint on the outside of the basket.  I rubbed the paint with a wet rag to blend it and give it a more weathered look.

Then I painted the dark red star with white primer.

And spray painted it silver with a metallic paint.

The hardest part with this basket was finding flowers to put into it. It’s hard to find bright, artificial flowers that don’t look fake and all of the dried ones seem so dark. I settled on these.

I ended up cutting off the big leaves and other parts that looked fake and adding some dried sticks and curly willow to it.

This basket gave me the confidence to take on this piece.

To start, I removed the glass and hooks and used newspaper and painters tape to cover the mirror. Then I just used light brush strokes to paint the wood with white latex paint. I purposely painted in light layers to match the weathered look of my basket. I left some of the dark wood showing through to give a white-washed appearance.

Then I replaced the old hooks with these hooks I already had sitting in the garage.

Then I added a couple black and white photos and I now have a whole new piece!

It is amazing what some paint and a couple fixture changes can do to totally transform a room. I love how much brighter this entryway is now.

Here it is before:

And now:

Much better.

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