Well...
Mom dove right into painting. I'm telling you, the woman loves to paint. She claims that she finds the activity "meditative," which I guess is what happens when the stresses of own your own business become "normal" daily activity. But hey, I ain't complaining. My whole house got painted in less than a week, and I was only there to help one day!
Oh, but let's talk colors! So last May or June, I'm talking 2014 here, before we nailed a single nail, before we even dug a single hole, I went to what would soon become our second home (that is, Home Depot) and picked out the paint color of my dreams. I mean literally. It was this soft, pearly shade of gray that looked not unlike a little slice of heaven. It was as though someone had taken a cloud at sunset, when the sky begins its deepening, when the cool indigos and navys of the night are softened by the last remaining rays of sunlight into that mystical purplely hue, and had, with one dreamy fistful, taken that a fluffy cotton-candy chunk of that cloud to turn into a very lovely shade of Behr paint.
We each were assigned jobs at the beginning of this house task, and luckily (I mean, seriously thank goodness for us all because can you imagine ME as project manager? We'd all still be in the park gazing at the sky. Heck, we'd probably have just removed the roof and decided to live in the house's bare walls at this point), I was assigned "lead designer." Yeah, ok, I could handle that. BUT that doesn't mean that all my ideas were taken without hesitation (which is often fine because I certainly need to be reigned back in sometimes). Case in point: the paint color.
I bought the sample one day after work (along with two other options because I was already getting some negative feedback on just the 2 inch slice) and splashed a good square foot section on the wall. I also added the other two color options for good measure. Nobody, I mean, nobody liked the color. Mom thought it was pink, Todd thought it was too feminine, and Dad, well he's colorblind so he thought it was some olive green I suppose.
So one early morning, Mom, in her attempt to thwart the pink overhaul, bought a number of samples and swatches of her own and called me over on my way to work to examine the options. This is what I saw:
What's your favorite? That brilliant, soft, purplely gray in the center? That one that looks like the chunk of sunset cloud? Mmhmm. That's what I thought.In the end, we decided to go with the original color I picked (aka Behr's Oyster Shell Grey) plus the one of the other color options I picked that first day (Behr's Urban Gray). It's amazing to watch the colors change throughout the day with all the abundance of natural light, especially in the downstairs. The first few days, Mom and I played "name the color," chasing the light around rooms and attempting to name the shades as they morphed. It's rather entertaining, and you know what? Everyone likes it.
I knew when I was dreaming about the inside of this house that I wanted it to be airy and bright, an ethereal surround to inspire and awaken thoughts, and I'd say at this point we're definitely on the right track. I mean, hey, who doesn't love clouds....?
 |
| The house's main color, so airy that it's barely visible without white trim. |
 |
| Behr Urban Gray for the side rooms, including the band room. |
 |
| The dining room in Urban Gray with gold leaf stenciling. |
Kudos to Mom for allowing me to have my way with the paint colors (and trusting me even when she had her doubts!), letting me stencil the dining room with this shimmery gold leafing paint, and for doing such an amazing job painting!
Did I mention she did all the priming (55 GALLONS WORTH!!) and painting in one week? The woman is a legend....
Looks amazing!
ReplyDelete