So Many Colors, So Little Time
Wow, week three snuck up on me! Let’s talk about paint. I knew I was going to want the new house painted and painting it while it’s empty is the way to do it. No heavy lifting, no paint dripping down on my duvet, and best of all - no kids touching the freshly painted walls while they dry.
I scheduled the painters to be there as soon as we closed and had the key in hand so that they would be done as soon as possible and we could start moving in. I had them start on the main floor so I could come in and start painting my baseboards and it could dry before my heavy furniture came in and covered them up. I knew that once they had something in front of them it was highly unlikely that I would ever paint it.
In an ideal world it’s best to paint your walls to go with your décor. I had some idea of how I was going to decorate each room so I picked paint colors based on a few things – the amount of light each room got, the direction the room faced, the colors of the décor, the colors of the adjoining rooms, and the wood windows and doors.
First let’s talk about light. I love brightly lit rooms with lots of natural daylight. This house has a lot of windows, but the beige walls in combination with the oak floors and woodwork just seemed to dampen it. Even getting decent “before” pictures was difficult because they all came out dark. Each paint color comes with a number called a LRV, which stands for “Light Reflectance Value.” This is the amount of light the color will reflect. Instead of boring you with a dissertation on this, here is a great blog post by Kylie Mawdsley on this:
Another factor I took into account was the direction my house faced. My living room and family room both face north, which takes advantage of the fantastic views behind the house, but is not so good for the light as northern exposures never get direct sunlight. In addition the light coming from a northern window will always be a little bit colder and bluer than the light from a south facing window, so I did take this into account when choosing the colors for those rooms. I wanted a very subtle blue gray, so I picked one with a touch of green to it so that when the blue light from the north hits the walls they aren’t frigid. Brrr!
I knew that my wood windows and doors would look best with colors that had some blue or green undertones to balance the red tones in the wood. For fun, I went all out with a darker green in my upstairs bathroom because I’m not planning to remodel it anytime soon. I wanted a paint color that would be enhanced by the wood vanity and mirror, along with all the wood trim, and since it’s a bathroom I don’t have to live in I could have more fun with a darker color. There are thousands of colors to choose from, and narrowing it down can be a bit overwhelming. I started with this blog post by Cyndy Aldred called:
What are the best paint colors out there for wood trim and flooring?
This gave me a jumping off point and from there I was able to expand on my own and find other colors I liked, checking the LRV on each one, of course.
Finally, the only room I painted white was the master bedroom. White is not as forgiving as one would think and can’t reflect light that isn’t there to begin with. However, in this room, I planned to have white bedding, giving the white walls something to relate to and there is a large window. I also chose not to paint the trim in this room because it has beautiful crown molding and with the white walls the wood trim seems to fit the aesthetic. But more on that later.
So what were my final choices? Here they are:
I came into the house the first day after the painters had been there, feeling a little apprehensive because it’s always scary to see how paint will look when it’s all over the walls, like the time I painted my dining room a soft wheat color and when I got it on the walls it was almost a sunflower yellow. Words cannot describe how happy I was when I walked in. The whole house was lighter and brighter. Painting the fireplace and baseboards made it even better.
Here you can see the lighting in my living room with the old paint color. The image was so dark I had to brighten it with photo shop just so we could see the room.
Here it is after it has been painted with Benjamin Moore Quiet Moments. I have also painted the fireplace and one of the baseboards so they could deliver my piano. I really didn’t want to climb behind the piano to paint, or worse yet have to move a piano to paint. It is sooo much brighter. The paint reflects so much light I didn’t even have to photoshop the photo to see the room. You can see the Ballet White in the arch and the hall behind it.
The rest of the rooms turned out just as bright and cheery, but I’m saving them for later posts. Can’t give away all my secrets at once!
