Okay, I'm in interior design hell. I know what you're thinking: you've done this to yourself, jerk!...The room was fine the way it was! And you're right, the room was fine. But I have a nasty case of spring fever and this room must be changed quickly or my sanity will drift away, never to be seen or heard from again. Dramatic much?
Anyway, so I hit up good old Home Depot, not once, but twice today. Thank god the same girl wasn't at the paint counter both times or I'd have some explaining to do. Here's the back story:
See, on my way home from work yesterday I stopped by The Spinning Seed to drop something off and there I found the most amazing thrifted cardigan sweater in the most amazing shade of blue. Amazing, I tell you! The second I laid eyes on it, I knew this would be the perfect shade for my living room. So, today I went to the Depot, sweater in hand, to match this perfect shade of blue with some eggshell-finish goodness. The sweater itself is one of those "in-between shades" deals, so it was tricky, but I found two colors that seemed perfect. Bought the samples, got them home, put them up on the walls and...
hated both of them.
Yes, that's right. I couldn't stand them. This room is not meant to be blue. Not one bit. So, I decided to go with my original instinct and try out a nice linen color. Went back to the Depot and snagged two more samples, one called Wheat Bread (I already know I love this color because I use it in the gallery at the shop), a grayish beigy white, and one called Gobi Desert, a yellowey beigy white. Bought the samples, got them home, put them up on the walls and...
I'm not sold.
And now you know why I said "thank god for paint samples". Ben would have filed for divorce before I even closed up the paint cans had I bought gallons instead of samples. Yeesh.
I don't know. What do you think? I like Gobi Desert, I guess, and I'm waiting to see what it looks like in natural daylight because I'm sure it's going to look completely different. It's also possible that I'm being indecisive because I'm just not used to something this stark in this room. Afterall, it's been this dark green shade for five years now. But I don't think that's it. I'm very particular when it comes to color. I know what I like and I know what I feel comfortable with when it comes to painting my walls.
Two things I learned today:
* Lowes told Martha Stewart to take a flying leap, so Martha and her crap are moving on over to Home Depot. Eco-friendly cleaning products are there already, followed by a new line of paint coming in May. The paint lady mentioned that Glidden is providing the base for her line (booo! I'm a Behr fan all the way), and thank goodness for that because the crap she called paint over at Lowes was a complete and total embarrassment to her dynasty. Someone finally woke up.
* There is a specific kind of paint recommended for painting fireplace brick, even if you're only painting the outside. "Masonry, Stucco and Brick" paint is the way to go and it comes in a plethora of colors. Ahhh, you think I'm having a hard time choosing a shade for the walls now? Wait till it's time to paint the brick.
5 comments:
The only thing to keep in mind for the brick is that the "Masonry, Stucco & Brick" paint cannot be tinted too dark. We wanted to paint our brick house... well... brick-colored (it was orangey-pink when we moved in).
They just can't because mix dark colors due to the amount of pigment that would need to be added to base hence why the people before us had settled on the orangey pink. Our building is now slate blue/gray, but we were told that you can use the Masonry paint as a primer, and then use a latex paint over it. :-)
ooooooh, I kind of like the idea of the persimmon on just the wall of the fireplace, with it painted a similar color to the rest of the walls. That sounds pretty fantastic!
Any chance your paint sample swaths are being affected by the existing green? That can be so tricky. Regardless, I enthusiastically second the vote for a persimmon accent wall with the wheat bread. Sounds spectacular. It would give you the brightness you want without denying your fiendish love for gorgeous, saturated color (you can't fool me that it's over!). It also happens to be one of my favorite colors, which should probably be a deciding factor :)
Thanks, kids!
Melissa, thanks for the tip. I snagged a copy of the color chart for the masonry paint and they're all very pale. This is probably going to be a good thing for our house, but it's good to know that latex will work over it when I inevitably change my mind...again.
Sounds like you got a heck of a paint job on your hands.
And remember Sport, giving up is always the best option.
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