Billowing clouds in the mud room

Our mud room has been in a mostly done state for quite some time now. Last year I got a ton done in there. This one is out of my norm – I went with white walls and color on the trim and I LOVE it.

One of bigger projects I wanted to get done in this space was replacing the ugly fluorescent light. It provided great light but I just hated the look of it. I took it down sometime late last year and it was simple to do, it left two large holes in the ceiling that needed to be patched. But otherwise it was the same as any other light as far as removal.

Then I got a wild hair and thought recessed lights would look great in here, but we have plumbing running through the ceiling right where I wanted to add them, so that was patched and I’ve been left with this for the past few months:

Well, that was after I started painting the ceiling, so it looks even worse here. :) The light was a Habitat Restore find and I was so excited about it! But I realized two things after I got it hung – there was a piece missing so I had to rig it so the cord wouldn’t keep dropping through the ceiling, but it did. I could have fixed that but the bigger issue was this type of light is awful for such a small space like this. It only shines light from the bottom, obviously.

It was way too dark in there, even with the sconces above the bench. So I decided to switch some things up. Our master closet light is beautiful but in the eight foot ceilings in that room it was too low. 

We lived with it for about a year and I was tired of hitting it when I put a shirt on. ;) So a few weeks ago I picked up a new light for that room and yesterday took the old one down here to the mud room:

It’s so, so pretty! It’s like the surface-of-the-sun bright though, so I’ll be adding a dimmer in here. I’m dying to get some natural light in this room but it’s surrounded by garage and house – I’ve had an idea in mind for years to add some light and I think I’ve convinced myself to try it. Stay tuned for more on that. :)

Anyway, while I was at it I finished up a few other projects on the to do list in here. I painted the ceiling a very pretty light blue color called Billowing Clouds. 

I got it years ago for the powder room ceiling:

I absolutely love a painted ceiling (I’ve done it in about half of our house), especially a blue. 

It just makes the room feel so pretty, and I firmly believe a blue color on the ceiling makes a space feel larger. 

It truly tricks the eye and makes it feel like the sky. It was hard to capture in photos but LOVE it:

I finally finished painting the door trim to match the beadboard too. I painted it all white at first and it looked weird against the white walls. The darker color looks so much better!:

This room has come a loooong way! Here’s a reminder of the before:

And that spot today:

I’ve always said you should have fun in three rooms – the dining room (you can be dramatic!), the powder room (it’s small!) and the mud/laundry room – just because it’s a space only you see most of the time. Do something different and fun and stretch your comfort zone!

That light blue ceiling is just so lovely, it’s my favorite. Next up, building the shelves above the lights. (It will be random storage we won’t access much since it will be so high.) Then I plan to dress up the walls and accessorize a bit – can’t wait to get to that point!

Are you a fan of painted ceilings? Have you painted them in your home?