IN Chartiers Valley Spring 2014 | Page 16

HOME IMPROVEMENT Paint Colors to Brighten Every Room GET THE LOOK For wall-to-wall color: Monterey White by Benjamin Moore Paints (HC-27); benjaminmoore.com Along the handrail and knoll post color: Midsummer’s Night by Benjamin Moore Paints (2134-20); benjaminmoore.com Transformed trim color: Creamy White by PPG Paints (512-2); ppgpittsburghpaints.com 14 724.942.0940 TO ADVERTISE | Chartiers Valley J amie and Jim Graham had been living in their Wexford residence for two decades before they realized that it’s actually their dream home. The couple bought the brick-and-cedar Colonial in the Ramblewood neighborhood back in 1993. When the builders contracted it in 1986, the house served as a showpiece. “The interior is covered in wood—on the foyer’s vaulted ceiling, on much of the walls, and there’s crown molding everywhere,” Jamie explains. Yet the elegant detailing and natural beauty of the wood were obscured by a high-gloss, green-blue stain. “Back in the ‘80s, I’m sure that was impressive, but it really dated the entire look of the home,” Jamie comments. In 2012, the Grahams had painters come in to assess the situation. “One of them said, ‘Lady, it would be cheaper for you to move.’ So we put it to rest for a while.” Then the Grahams called in the painters. “They went wild with the possibilities of how to change the home’s look by switching out paint colors, and they did a fantastic job.” “It was nothing short of a transformation,” Jim says about the project, and jokingly adds that the green-blue stain “was seriously the ugliest trim color known to mankind.”