Wednesday 30 March 2011

Project Get Rid of the Cave

I have to admit, I never registered the color of our master bedroom when we bought the house. We were on such a whirlwind tour of house hunting that by the time the deal was signed - I had no memory of what we were moving into.

Let's just say I was a leeetle surprised when I walked in to a dark, dark chocolate brown bedroom with ummm....oak trim and doors (sorry to all you oak lovers out there). At first I thought I could live with it for a while, even though I hated it. Well, all it took was one evening of trying to sort through our clothes and hang them up in the closet. I couldn't see a ding-dang-dong thing!!!! It felt so stinking cave-like in there!

In our first home - the one we just moved from - our master bedroom was our very first project, so I guess I never truly realized what a treasure it really is to have a beautiful room to retreat to at the end of a hard day of battling stubborn two year olds and drooling nine month olds (I only have one of each, but whatever), until now.

Here's a shot of that lovely brown that, in my opinion, is much better off found in a bowl of ice cream.


Don't get me wrong about brown. I like it! It would be stunning in a powder room with thick, glossy white mouldings and a pedestal sink. Maybe even throw in a chandelier! But NOT. WITH. OAK. TRIM. And definitely not in a bedroom with a small window. Blech!

So. We decided (everyone knows that means me, but hubs is pretty easy going about paint colors) to try a nice cool shade of grey-blue. Let me just pause here to say that I have been trying my very hardest to swing over to the contemporary side of the decorating fence for YEARS. But I've never quite been able to make it there. Some nice scrolly (is that a word? It rhymes with trolly) piece of iron work would always catch my eye and steer me back to the Old World fence. Arrrr! Well, this time I am breaking loose and I'm gonna make it over to the contemporary side!! (But...maybe hold me accountable, just in case, okay?) Thus the grey-blue paint.

Well, let me just say "they" aren't kidding when they say it's tough to find the perfect shade. At the first swipe of cutting in, I fell in love. Oh yummy in my tummy. And then a few more strokes around the room and lots of worried glances at the drying paint and....I realized that this color was NOT going to work. Hubby tried his hardest to convince me that I was nuts and it was a fantastic color. Just what we wanted! But I know he just hates painting. And he doesn't call me stubborn for nothing. It just felt like a baby boy's nursery in there. 

This is where those nice little pots of paint samples come in reeeeeally handy. On our next visit to Home Depot, I snatched one up in a big hurry and asked the nice paint lady to mix me up a nice new shade of grey-blue. Aaaannnd I tried again. Nope...way too light...almost white. The color right below it on the paint card looked like it just might be the shade I was going for. So...another 45 minute drive to Home Depot and a 5 minute rant to the above nice paint lady about how neither of the paint colors have worked and neither of them exactly matched the paint chip and it had better match this time so you better give me a matte paint...or...is the primer and paint in one better...well all I really care about is that the PAINT MATCHES THE CHIP this time. Above nice paint lady's eyes glazed over as she politely asked, "Ummkay. So do you want matte or eggshell?"


After all the drama and ranting and raving, we lived with the three colors all slapped together on every single wall for about a week. I inwardly worried that the third shade was going to be too grey but I figured it might just be a case of three-strikes-and-your-out-honey, so even if it was too grey I knew I'd be living with it. Hubby really hates painting.

Well, after the worlds longest post, I'm happy to tell you that we painted. Hubby lived. And I. laaahuuuvvvvve. it.
And I have no pictures of it. Yet. But until then - take my word for it, it's a silky, calming, bluish-grey that smacks perfectly of contemporary design. Yesssss!!

Stay tuned for pictures and updates. They're coming, I promise.

And for anyone else on the quest for the perfect shade of grey-blue...it's Behr's Light French Grey. Yum.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...