Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Luxe Living

Where to begin? Actually, that is how all of my major projects start. I get an idea in my head then I spend grueling amounts of time torturing my body and my husband to bring it to life.

In the beginning our living room was stark white with a few sparse pieces of furniture.
 This was before we had anything and it was this way for way longer than what is socially acceptable.

 Then we got our awesome couch.
 And we had our street find table, our black friday TV, and our home made coffee table.

Still, the room lacked interest. So, we decided to paint with a nice bold color. Anything had to be better than walking into an igloo everyday. Blah. In order to find the perfect color I hopped on over to Sherman Williams' Paint Color Visualizer. I use their paint because there is a store within walking distance from our house; I used the visualizer because it is fun and easy to use.

I used just about every color on the website. With a big green couch and a brick fireplace it is tough to avoid what my hubbs fondly refers to as "bitch-ass beige" but clearly that wasn't an option for him. Then I remembered the advice of my sister and my brother-in-law. She said "oooooh, paint it brown!" and he said "go bold or go home" (or something along those lines). So I crept into brown territory. Gasp! Dark paint on walls?!?!?!?!!?!?!! The room will feel so small, it will be like a dark dungeon, forget igloo; cave is even worse.

So, when I was done with all of that hubbub I went for it. Hubbs and I found a color we both liked and pulled the trigger on 2 gallons without so much as a sample swatch or the bat of an eye. Um. I can't say I recommend that path but then again, it worked for us.

After a few weeks of the paint sitting in the living room and me getting increasingly nervous about the color, we decided to put up a few test spots and lighten if necessary. We got many No's from friends and family; and while I respect and love them all, at the end of the day, this is our house and we have to live in it.

Check it out:



A few notes on this method. One, use two coats. Two, just because it is SO MUCH darker than the stark white doesn't mean you should chicken out. Three, if we had only bought the sample and did this we would have chickened out.

We decided because we have 2 gallons of the stuff we should just use it, and if we hate it then just paint over it with a new color. Onward bound!

Here is what I saw on the Color Visualizer (varying colors on monitors make it difficult to get 100% accurate color):

Here is how it came out in real life: 
 No Flash:

Flash:

 In person, it looks more like a mix between flash and no flash, pretty darn similar to the color visualizer.

After it was all said and done we loved the color even if there are still naysayers. So, we have decided to keep it and accessorize to spice it up even more.

Here is the finished look:








We are so happy with the way it turned out. All of our "cave nightmares" are outta sight, outta mind for sure. The room doesn't feel the least bit smaller. It actually feels polished, put together and really suits both of our tastes.

Side note: We are not completely done with this room (is anyone ever?) We have crown moulding to install, curtains to hang and once we replace the floors we are also replacing baseboards. Exciting things to come, people. Exciting things indeed.

Until the next project, my friends.

1 comment:

  1. This was a fun read!
    Thanks for sharing :)

    It looks AWESOME

    ReplyDelete