The paint problem has reached fever pitch. I awoke to about 500 sample swatches painted all over Ike’s walls and had a major WTF?! moment this morning. Should I pick light Stonington Gray and just dewit, or should I pick a medium gray and hope that it will balance out the jumble of white and mahogany furniture I have amassed? Or should I go with the sample Sanders sent home with me yesterday, as seen in a very fancy Austin home featured in House Beautiful:
Oooooo, the dark! (and eeeeeewww, that bedskirt!)
Sanders gave me a pint of Wolf by Pratt and Lambert (they sell P&L paints over at his store) and it’s gorgeous. But dark. Verrrrrrry dark. Too dark for a nursery/playroom? Too dark for what may be the best lit room in the house? Too dark for my tiny cojones? I just don’t know. But I like it.
Meanwhile, Karly is all like, why are you painting over the blue? I like the blue. And I’m like… duuuurrrrr… I don’t know. I’m so tired of a toddler trying to climb up the ladder behind me and rub his tiny grabby hands in paint (he has succeeded only once) that I am wondering the very same thing myself.
Except that, I don’t actually like blue. The hormones made do it. The second I found out I was having a boy, I was all BLUE ROOM!!!!
Gross. Not that there’s nothing actually wrong with blue, since it’s the most adored color in the world — there’s something wrong with me. (it’s not you, it’s me. promise.)
Anyway, I need to take the day to reassess my motives. Light and kid friendly, dark and brooding, light with a dark accent wall (sounds very noncommittal at this point, which is somewhat appealing but also annoying), or some kind of medium neutral gray.
All advice and support is appreciated. You guys are the bestest support group for painting freaks ever.
Not that you are a freak or anything… but our tagline does say that Design Crisis is the fix for your creative compulsions.
So there you have it.
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i think it would be fun to put up plaid wallpaper and black trim and make it like a gentleman’s smoking room. i think ike would appreciate that most.
I LOVE that idea! I really really really wish I did not have a bunch of white kid’s furniture in there… next go round I am buying wood so it could blend with something more vintage feeling on the walls.
Alright, to make matters worse, I just sent you an email with another color possibility. I love the idea of dark and broody. We painted our bedroom this summer and went dark, whole hog. I was slightly hesitant, but couldn’t be happier with the ultimate result. Does Ike really spend a lot of time in his room? I know my boys mainly use theirs for sleeping. I think his white furniture would look fabulous against verrrrrrry dark walls.
Erin,
Why don’t you do the pale gray on the walls and a dark gray stripe or zig zag on the ceiling so he has something graphic to look at?
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We have Stonington Gray in our bedroom and I love it. You cant go wrong with anything from the ‘Historic Collection’. My painter friend suggested it because it is a warm gray and not one that feels too cool or icy if that makes sense. I’m looking forward to being able to enjoy the versatility of that color with our bedroom sheets. Now we have dark plum for winter and in the spring/summer, Stonington Gray will look great with cooler colors. Happy painting!
I love the dark walls idea. One of my favorite “darks” is Hague Blue. In brighter light, it would be a lovely deep dark blue. At night, near charcoal-y black. Yummy.
what if you paint one wall……. black chalkboard and put a little ledge on it with lots of colored chalk and then his grubby hands will look like art. I’m just saying.. and as he gets older you could make Ike erase the walls when he gets in trouble and use it as punishment. I think it’s a fabulous idea.
Please if you do use this idea and it’s form of punishment do not I repeat DO NOT tell him Auntie Mari came up with it.
Hi Erin
I have just found your site an am loving it!! I have just painted my bathroom slate grey and I absolutely love it. I thought it was going to be too severe but actually the colour feels warm and calm. The best thing about it is how bright colours seriously pop against it so if you have colourful kids stuff all over the shop, dark grey walls will act as the perfect canvas for them. Ive just started my blog but there are piccies of it up if you want to see. Ive used walnut and mahogany in there and white woodwork, all the colours you mentioned and I think it works just fine! P.S. Since you are from Austin you might recognise a few South Congress goodies on the walls carefully carried in my handluggage all the way to Scotland!
Is Major Tom off the table???
I’m thinking about your inevitable move…
How about Winter Orchard with some kick-ass art on the walls and graphic curtains?
Can you paint any of the furniture?
Ike won’t care what color it is, until he turns about 11 and then he’ll want “black” – so you could just go ahead and go dark now!!
I’ve been quite enjoying watching this saga unfold from the sidelines!!
I have no opinion to offer -but look forward to the outcome!!
Hi everyone, thanks so much for all your ideas! I didn’t have a lot of time to work on it today, but hope to update tomorrow. I can say that Winter Orchard is too light, Stonington Gray looks alright, and I love the dark Wolf color, but I’m having commitment issues.
Also, super thanks and welcome to all you new commenters — Scotland? The Interiorist?! I feel like I’m in such good company!
so was that NIZZO to the black chalkboard?
Mari, I love the idea (and it’s actually been very popular with some very fancy designers), but I don’t love the idea of cleaning up chalkboard dust… Plus, if I do an accent wall, it will be the wall behind the crib and that could be a cleaning disaster.
It’s a great idea, though.
Go dark! Looks good with white and wood.
I agree with going dark. There is a room recently saw posted on aliceindesignland.com you can use for inspiration. Good Kuck
Does Ike like silver? Gray with silver lightening bolts! Shazam! Sham-pow-pow-pow. Like a demented 80′s fever dream across the ceiling and down the wall. Then when he’s older, he can be like WTF, Mom? And you can say, I regret nothing! Nothing!
Ok, now my hormone fueled imagination has completely run away with me.
I think you were good at just “dewit”. Go for the bold and worry about it later. Dark will look good with white furniture, the “good” light coming into the room will still be there, and you’ll have something to blame when real lifey things seem crazy.
fancy designers huh??!! Woo hoo. I knew i has some sort of sense. ;-P