I'll start by telling you about the color choice. As I type those words I can feel my stomach start knotting up again. Boy, am I glad that is over with. So after all the agony of millions of samples, we ultimately chose (drumroll).... Halo by Benjamin Moore. Sound familiar? Yes, that was the original color I had picked and loved and posted about before all the second-guessing began. I know, I could slap my own self. But there's no point in that now. The color is on the walls and we are happy! J and I both realized that amidst all the other samples we had all over the place, that one proved to be the balance between gray and beige that we were looking for without being too dark, too drab, too warm or too cool. When I finally went back to the Benjamin Moore store to pick up the sample strip of it I had another moment of palpitations. Halo was the lightest color on the strip, but the darker two were distinctly green. We were not going for green whatsoever and I definitely didn't want to get the paint on the walls and have it read green. I really gave it a harder look and studied it in its various splashes on our walls. I couldn't get any green from the swatches we'd painted, even against our blue walls (which would certainly highlight any yellow undertones as we discovered with all the warmer tans we tried out). With that, I bit the bullet and bought three gallons of paint. I'm thrilled to report that I haven't had a millisecond of regret since then. Whew.
It took me just over a week of working through C's naps and after she went to bed at night to finish the entry way, living room and play room. There are still things we intend to change so I wouldn't call these rooms a finished product just yet. We will be replacing our switch and outlet covers, door knobs, lighting fixtures, and most definitely the vomit-covered living room rug (a result of babysitting a little one with an undiagnosed milk allergy). And as you know, the kitchen is still a work in progress.
Living room before...
Play room before
And the new and improved living room...
This is to show contrast with our trim/interior doors (neither of which is a true white). Also that's the edge of a soffit on the left of this photo, not a crack in our wall :)
A matted black & white photo to also show the color next to some true neutrals.
So there it is! It's probably so much less dramatic and interesting to any of you than it is to me, haha. The space is definitely warmer though, even though the paint itself isn't super warm. I actually love that it can look so different in different parts of the house or different lighting. Sometimes it looks ivory, sometimes it looks gray, sometimes it looks beige. My main goal was a soft, neutral back drop to highlight our furniture and decor, and I feel like we achieved that. I'm still undecided if we're going to go with brushed nickel or oil-rubbed bronze for the outlet and switch covers, door knobs and lighting fixtures. It's a big commitment for all of those things. We have some satin nickel and some elements of oil-rubbed bronze in the room now. We also have primarily black picture frames, shelves, coffee table and credenza. That decision is a different post for a different day though. I'm also undecided on the material for a new area rug. I can't decide if I want the simplicity of wool, or the real coastal charm of sisal. I just worry that sisal will not be comfy for future crawling babies and toddlers/preschoolers rolling around playing. Also another post for another day!
For now it's time to hit the road for Sunday dinner at mom's :) Tonight is my night to cook. We're having teriyaki chicken and I'm pretty excited. I hope it's been a great weekend for everyone else. We have another fun week ahead of us including story time at the library, another play date with our friends from P&B, and more kitchen prep/painting!
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