Sorry for the quiet around here of late. Ike’s out of school again and I’ve been whipping us both into a frenzy of day trips and play dates. Today is dr. appt # 8million, so I don’t have a lot of time but I thought I’d report on what’s been going on around here.
A whole lot of painting, and none of it’s good.
You’re probably thinking: But, Erin — you have Sanders! Every paint color he picks must be magical!
It is. And yet sometimes I foolishly do not listen to him. Sometimes I chicken out and second guess him. Sometimes I am an idiot.
Now my bedroom looks like this:
Also Ben is pissed that I didn’t just use the extra gallon of dark gray navy paint from Ike’s room instead of trying to pick a new, slightly different dark blue paint.
Did I mention that I’m an idiot?
But you know, it’s hard picking colors for the last rooms in the house. The first ones go up pretty easily — limitless choices! And then the possibilities narrow into a handful of pathways… and then I get confused.
Should I repeat a color, or choose a new neutral color? Because I’m not sure I love the dark blue. And peach didn’t work (promise! and I did try Jumel Peachtone, aka orange sherbet, for the person who suggested it).
I am inspired by this trio of beautiful rooms:
This paint looks like Ike’s room color, BM Deep Secret.
This one looks like the front room paint color, Dark Harbor.
And this is the missing element. Kind of gray, kind of purple. Kind of amazing.
Could be BM Evening Gown.
Or perhaps Evening Skyline.
And my wild card pick is Arctic Seal.
So you can see I’m thinking something purpley, but not Violet Beauregardey. Something warm and enveloping or perhaps deep and mysterious.
Or maybe Sanders will tell me to do something else entirely, and I WILL LISTEN.
Details to follow.
Also, I may be getting a new rug for the bedroom. And possibly designing it and the paint color around these curtains that didn’t work for the living room:
Because, when the choices narrow down I try to make things more difficult by adding another level to the equation.
I can derive a polynomial function in my head faster than I can decorate (remember the shortcut, calculus nerds?).
But I am learning.
[photos via design traveller]
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girl, i feel ya. our bedroom is going to get the shaft due to its position on the priority list. casting my vote for the purple/gray. sanders can make sure you get that depth, can’t he?? it’s dramatic, warm, fairly neutral….winner!
I looooove those drapes!
take a look at BM Dior Gray
the drapes are perfection! love the purpley gray idea and the colors you are looking at now. I bought that FB elephant,s breath gray recently (Sanders matched it) and it has lots of purple undertones in it. might be worth slapping a tester of it on the wall while you’re at it?!
Leah, did you paint an entire room in EB? pictures!!!
Anita, I have Dior gray and it’s lovely but very very gray in our room. Think I’d like a bit more warmth.
Ahh the birds again, huh? You know how I feel about them. I don’t totally get them with your lovely bedroom rug. I do like your gray/purple inspiration image. My monitor is telling me all of your samples are too gray. But my monitor lies plus it all depends on your lighting. You know that, though. You are going to come out of this experience a color pro!
The current wall color and Evening Skyline look like winners to this reader.
The drapes in context are awful purty.
No birds with the rug… either one or the other. You were so right that they don’t work together!
BM Silver Fox is a much more pale gray but in certain lights is very lavender – it is gorgeous and constantly changing!
xoxo -e (modern24seven)
Purply gray is lovely (don’t forget to look in the purple section). Oddly, I remembered seeing this conversation from a desperate googling session some years ago. And thanks to the web, it is still there: http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/42132301.aspx
But I don’t think you should feel weird about a repeat color. I think the gray from Ike’s room or the teal would look smashing with the bird curtains. Maybe punt on this one, and wait for the house to settle in a bit and repaint in a few years if you don’t like it.
Can you re-tint the left over gallon to a shade that you like?
Wow. I actually have no opinions. Monitor color distortion being what it is, I don’t see any problems with the color you have, or a good way of distinguishing between the colors you’ve proposed. (I find if I have to look at digital pictures, I either need to match them against a digital photo of a paint color I’ve already seen in person, or just use a digital photo of an entire room that somebody painted, so I can see the color as it appears in different lights and angles.) I can’t really picture the operation of the curtains (you have them already on hand? Then definitely use them somewhere. Not baby’s room? Wait, is it a he or a she?). Except that they make me want to suggest that you look at 1940s wallpaper. And William Morris prints. That will make everything so much simpler
. And that halfpricedrapes website has such beaauuuuuuuuuuuuutiful taffeta striped curtains. But I promised myself under $150 for ALL THREE living room windows, so I need to keep trolling the bargain bins. Even though they’re soooooo pretty…
I’m currently trying to hunt down the perfect purple. Not Barney or teenage girl, but deep and smoky. Actually looking for 3 purples as I have a color block / ombre effect brewing for my master bedroom. I’m trying to add drama with paint so I can go cheap and plain white with the bedding and possibly an diy upholstered headboard.
Kathleen, I just got a sample of evening skyline and it’s very pretty — muted and brownish smoky purple. Not sure it’s going to be the right color for me, but maybe worth a try for you.
As for the controversial curtains, I did already order them from HPD and I am obsessed with them, but they just may not work with the rest of the house and if not I will return them. No biggie. HPD does have loads of good sales, so maybe the taffetas will go on sale, misfit.
And just to clarify: I have an entire gallon of unused paint, which makes this whole search for a fancy new paint color even more stupid. Sometimes I really hate myself.
i can’t even deal with your deal. bc our deals are so similar right now except mine is still in the planning stages not the real stages. i have nothing to offer you. but know this….i am LEARNING from you.
and that is priceless.
sometimes i like to watch the scariest movie i can find. ya know. to change the subject.
looks like B.M Rose Dust to me, but what does my monitor know?
I think you need to slow down & take the pressure off yourself. Rushing through is when you make the mistakes that get expensive. Decorating your house SHOULD BE FUN!
now i keep looking at ‘mountain ridge.’
but it might be too dark. ‘sleepy hollow?’
xo
lordy- i’ve been meaning to call you for two weeks about your family room curtains. if you are free tomorrow noon my time, let’s do it. put on tomas the train for ike and we’ll do some decor talk.
ps- two bits of good advice in the comments: anita’s rec for dior gray. it is super pretty medium-deep-ish gray with a hint of purple. and camilla’s advice to slow down is the best advice ever. i know you want to get as much done as you can pre-newborn, but, honey, decorating your home is something to be savored and enjoyed over time, and not rushed. rushed decorating is usually followed by regrets decorating, and that’s never a fun feeling.
OK, Erin, usually I am behind you 100%. 110%. You may know this from such moments as The Time I Texted You a Million Photos of Dressers or The Time I Overshared Pregnancy Medical Shit.
However, I hate purple and all things purple-ish, slightly purple and purple-tinged, so I can’t really back you on this. It hurts me more than it hurts you.
Let’s try to remain friends.
Listen to Christian, Erin. I’ll swing back around to offer my two cents when I can. Things have been a little kooky here.
I’m looking for the same kind of purply-gray for my guest room. And I have a can of unused paint. It’s Grey Heather from Glidden. I’m not sure what came over the husband, but he ran out and got the paint last year and I wasn’t even settled on the color. Feel like I need a shade or two lighter.
Hi Karly and Erin
My colleague and I from New Zealand are trying to reach you, but the email address keeps bouncing back. Can you please email me so we can make contact with you. We love your work.