May 10, 2016

Let's Paint

Well, not really.  But let's chat paint colors, shall we?  I have always said that I can put an outfit together in the blink of an eye, but when it comes to putting a room together, I am useless.  I typically leave that to my sister, who is an interior designer, or my mother, who might as well be.  They can put patterns and textures together and it looks great!  So I typically lean on them to make sure what I want to put together actually makes sense.  

Cue calling my sister in the middle of Home Depot last week to ask her if the paint color we had just purchased for the living room walls would go with the couch and new chairs we picked out.  Too late to turn back at that point, but I had a moment of panic that the paint would look dingy or make the couch look off next to each other.  She quickly put together an idea board with our new chairs, our couch and the paint color and instantly I felt better!

I love crisp, clean and bright rooms.  I don't mind adding a bit of wood or metal to rooms with accents, but I typically gravitate towards light walls, furniture and then add color and patterns with accessories.  Chip is more of a traditionalist when it comes to furniture.  He likes things to match and leans towards dark pieces.  So when we initially started looking for furniture, it was a bit of a challenge.  But I must say that we have both come closer to the middle and have found ways to mesh both of our styles together and agree and like the pieces we have picked out.  But I'll get to that in a later post.  

Today, we are all about paint colors.  My original thought was to paint all the walls white.  I just wanted a classic white, that way we could have the ability to use color with our furnishings and accessories.  Weeeeelllll, when I started looking on pinterest for a 'white' I was overwhelmed with all the options!  Some whites give off a yellow undertone, some green and others blue.  Some are great for trim and cabinets. Some for large rooms, others for small.  It was just a tad over the top, so I jotted down a few that I liked and called my sister.  I knew she had her list of 'go-to' white's she uses, so I wanted to get her opinion on the ones I had picked.  A couple of them were on her list, so that reassured us we had some great options.  I went to get the samples and Chip and I mulled over several until we came up with 4 colors we wanted to test on the walls.  

After we closed on the house, we headed over to the house to take a load of stuff, and test the paint.  Now, for reference, the living and dining room walls were a manila folder-ish yellow. So it was really hard to actually see what the colors really looked like.  It was a little easier in the bedrooms, where the color wasn't as washed out.  I chose the below colors to test on the walls.  I decided that for the common areas, I wanted something with a hint of color and not so stark white.  There is a lot of light that comes into those rooms during the day, so having stark white walls, sort of frightened me.  I wanted a light grey, but most of the ones I looked at were too dark. 


Chantilly Lace
I really like the pictures I found with this color.  But when I put it on the walls, it just didn't jump out at me.  I am not sure if it was the yellow walls, or what.  I am going to use this color when we redo our kitchen cabinets.  I think it will be a great color for those. 

Decorator's White
From what I have seen, this is typically a color used for trim, doors and cabinets, but I found that it was a great color for our bedroom and office.  It was a 'clean slate' to allow us to add color and patterns without having major color undertones to worry about.

Misty Gray
I actually wasn't sure I would like this color, but wanted to try it because it looked like a slight step up from white.  We wanted something with a hint of color and this worked out perfectly.  It has a hint of gray in it, which works great with the furniture we already have.  

Sea Salt
This originally was the color we liked for the living room walls.  The swatch we got was lighter than this and the actual paint in the test can looked lighter as well.  When we got it on the walls, it was more of a beige/brown than we wanted, so we took this off the table.


We tested the four colors and decided on Misty Gray for the living and dining areas.  This color was a 'whim' choice while in line at Home Depot to get paint samples.  I wanted to get something other than a traditional white, and thought this would be nice.  And it ended up being the one we picked!  We ended up going with Decorator's White for the bedroom, bathroom and office.  It's a bright white, but the rooms aren't as bright as downstairs, so I think this will lend to opening up the spaces and making them seem bigger. 

Below are pictures (not the greatest quality) of the walls in our dining area and master bedroom.  You can see the original wall colors and then the paint swatches on the walls.  It's hard to see what the actual color will look like since those walls are just yucky! But I'll have a post on our finished product soon to show you how great they turned out. 



Dining Room Wall
Colors L to R - Sea Salt, Decorators White, Chantilly Lace and Misty Gray



Bedroom Wall
Colors L to R - Misty Gray, Chantilly Lace, Decorators White and Sea Salt


And now to the after pictures.  Below are the updated walls in the house.  Much better than the manila folder yellow!!

Dining Room
(Ignore the light fixtures, those will be replaced)

Living Room


Office

Bedroom


Once the light fixtures are gone, you will get a better sense of what the walls looks like.  They cast a terrible shadow on them!

It's amazing what a little paint can do, no? 
SHARE:

1 comment

Blogger templates by pipdig