By the time I saw my 750 square foot apartment in Long Island, New York, my fiancé and I had seen more apartments than I can even try to remember. I was sick of the search process, especially knowing that closing and purchasing our seat would take even longer once we found something. I remember walking through the front door of our current house and my eyes immediately found themselves on the brown kitchen walls. Walking a few meters ahead, in front of the bedroom door, I noticed that these walls were lime green. And the bathroom a few meters away? Purple It was fair. . ugly.
I wanted to turn around and walk there, then, because of my aforementioned Sick of This Process™ mood (where were all the fully renovated, move-in-ready dream apartments like the ones I was parading around on Instagram?!). Luckily, I had a real estate agent who was lovely, and she kindly reminded me that when we bought the apartment, we could repaint whatever we wanted without having to consult a landlord. Having only rented apartments up to this point, it was like a light bulb had exploded in my head. The space was small, the kitchen had old appliances and a chipped counter, and the bathroom was very dated, but it was actually an ideal space for us, and I was ready to transform it with paint, a bright white paint.
I decided to reject the idea of accent walls and all the other painting rules, opting to paint the entire apartment white. Painting in general is great, but I will never use a color other than white again (although some designers will probably want to fight me on this). Here's why:
Benefits of painting your walls white
- It's not expensive Paint can be expensive, so by purchasing a few large containers of one color, we didn't have to spend more on different color mixes. Plus, everything left is guaranteed to be used eventually, whether for touch-ups or in our next home.
- Makes everything clean and tidy. There's something about walking into a bright white room that feels like a deep breath of fresh clothing. It just feels and looks cleaner than the other colors, in my opinion.
- Plus, it makes everything lighter and airier. We don't have a lot of natural light in our apartment, which is one of the only things I don't like. The white paint helps a little though - the sunlight we make bounces off the walls and makes everything more airy and open. (Because we don't get much natural light, we opted for a cool-toned white, Behr's Ultra Pure White.)
- White paint creates the illusion of more space. White definitely opened up my space physically, making the rooms look bigger and longer, and the ceilings higher.
- This makes decorating easier. White paint makes your walls the perfect background for any colorful furniture or decor. You won't be limited to neutrals to offset a mustard yellow bedroom or pale blue living room. Cool and warm tones play a role, but it's much easier to navigate than working with multiple colors.
- White walls photograph well. If you, like me, love sharing photos of your space, it's amazing what white walls will do for your Instagram feed. They really do everything in the room.
Read on to see how I used white paint throughout my apartment to open it up, make it lighter, and give me all the decorating color options. It sounds very simple and obvious, of course, but before and after photos don't lie!
