Well I warned you guys, so here comes the foretold home improvement whining.
Paint choices are hard.
Remember this handsome mint suite?
As seen in the real estate listing.
Well I thought I had an idea…and then this happened.
This cell phone picture I just took is poorly-lit and in no way reflects any accurate colors.
You see the big beige wall was an experiment (Benjamin Moore – Shaker Beige – heralded for its versatility and neutrality), and it proved that green everywhere makes neutral brownish look pinky. And that I don’t think I like beige. Who knew?
Then there was an impulse dark color from Home Depot (Behr – ?something? Creek) which is too dark for the squashy space and cheapy streaky.
Then I decided grey was going to be my ally in neutralizing the green carpet (which stays for now), so Benjamin Moore – Harbor Gray (left) and Stonington Gray (right) are now drying on the walls, looking very similar and waiting for me to choose one and go wild on all that green mess.
Then there is the matter of the following decisions:
Trim will be white, but what do I do with the built-in bookshelves by the window, built-in drawers and closet door? The brass hardware is coming off, but do they go grey like the wall? White like the trim? A little of both? Zebra stripes? Hire a decorator and go out drinking (!)?
In conclusion, I have food, water and shelter. This is a definite whiny baby situation. But I do have only two weeks or so until I ship off for Alasky again (yiiiiipes) , and I would like to get this malarkey sorted out before that. All signs are pointing toward me being underqualified for these refined decisions.
Anyone still awake after all that?
You should let me come over while you’re away, and I’ll fix it up right like. There shall be a grand reveal!
But really, I can’t wait until I have a house and I can do this shit fer realz. You be the decorator and drink. Drunk decorating is best.
Let you?!! I would probably pay you like an aulde English pauper child (a sixpence, a beer and a scrap of bread each day!). I like looking at all the pretty things on Pinterest, but no matter how many hours I do that (even while drunk), the house doesn’t decorate itself.
seriously, I would do cabinets and doors etc either a shade or two darker than walls or a shade 1/2 way between the trim and walls for contrast and interest, all white would be too much white and would make the gray walls look dingy rather than gray
I agree with Robin about making the color slightly different — otherwise you end up with a weird optical illusion because the drawers are the same color as the background but look different because there’s a shadow around them. And I like the idea of making them a darker gray (on the same scale as the lighter gray you choose to put on the walls) for two reasons: 1) That shit’s hip, yo! and 2) Drawers get dinged up more than non-drawers, and having a darker color on them won’t reveal scuffs and stuff as much and if they get dented, it won’t show as much when you paint over them as it would if you had white or lighter colored drawers.
That said, I also once decorated an attic with “terra-cotta” colored paint and trimmed it with thick rope to make it look like I had resurrected the wild west. What do I know?
(That attic was beautiful.)
Noted and appreciated…and taken with a grain of rope and terra-cotta salt. (That attic was something.)
I wonder if charcoaly grey/black would make the built-in dressers look hip and modern?
garrett makes good points about going a shade or two darker, but definetley don’t go white
My favorite thing about getting familiar with paint is that if it looks gross, you can repaint it. Depending on your time, money and patience, there are unlimited do-overs! I feel like that is going to help me in this process more than anything.