Total Paint Re-do

I have mentioned it before, but I really want to re-paint the entire upstairs.  Not to mention that I will soon have to pick out a paint color for the basement.

After several too many hours spent googling the best greige-y colors out there and painting some samples on our dining room and bedroom walls here is what I have almost picked out.

1. Revere Pewter for the upstairs
2. Edgecomb Gray (a lighter version of Revere Pewter) for the basement

Revere Pewter

{via}

Edgecomb Gray

{via}

Kitchen Indecision

I always sway between decisiveness and indecisiveness... like when I thought I had the color picked out for our kitchen cabinet painting session.  I had my mind set on BM's Fieldstone... but then came across this!

This is Inspired Rooms renovated kitchen

From A Perfect Gray's kitchen inspiration & my Pinterest Board

So, compare it to my most recent inspiration -

Sally Wheat's Kitchen

And BM's Fieldstone color test on our cabinets -

Why the change in inspiration and direction.  Mainly, it is the fact that we have gray/white tile floors and not that lovely hardwood floor that offsets the gray cabinets in Sally Wheat's kitchen.  That BM Dove White + BM Kendall Charcoal combo from above will keep our kitchen from looking very monotone.  What I do love from both the White/Gray kitchen and the Light Gray kitchen, and what will likely end up in our kitchen 'update' (Hubs doesn't like the word 'renovate' for our kitchen because he has other future plans for the space that will have a hefty price tag) are the

1. Marble Countertops
2. White Subway Tile Backsplash
3. Open shelving
4. Bin Pull Hardware
5. Pendant Lighting

So, our trip to Home Depot last weekend for some Pavestone retaining wall pavers also included:

1. Wood Putty
2. Deglosser
3. BM Dove White Paint Sample
4. BM Kendall Charcoal Paint Sample

I am getting serious.  This weekend I may actually get to it! 

Kitchen Inspiration

Our new home's kitchen is quite 'builder basic-oakey cabinets-... just quite blah'.  So of course a girl is to search high and low for kitchen inspiration! 

What we are working with:
- Light Oak Cabinets
- White Appliances
- White/Gray Ceramic tiles

I love the look of white kitchen cabinets, but after thinking about it and knowing a kitchen transformation will take some time, white cabinets + white appliances + white floors = overwhelmingly white hospital look.. eek.

So, with that thought, I headed back out onto the interwebs and blogosphere for gray cabinet inspiration and white + black kitchen cabinet inspiration.  I had seen some gray cabinets (mostly on islands with main cabinets in white) and figured it would be the middle-ground I was looking for.  I also love the split white upper and black lower cabinet look, like House Tweaking's new kitchen. 

Now lets just get right to it... pics that make we wanna 'jump jump'...or something like that ;)  Sources are via my pinterest page, uon

House Tweaking's New Kitchen

Sally Wheat's Kitchen

August Field's Kitchen

After pondering and obsessing for days, oh yes, I realized gray was the answer.  That opened up a whole new can of worms, as in, I had to find the absolutely perfect gray for our kitchen.  I googled for what seemed an eternity every benjamin moore gray color that has ever existed - I really liked rockport gray, chelsea gray, and secret.  And then lighting struck and I landed on a picture of sally wheat's kitchen and cabinets in Fieldstone Gray.

That my friends, was like being punched in the stomach, gasping for air as I oogled her kitchen.  Which led me to August Field's kitchen as well.  I am super pumped to start the kitchen cabinet painting!!

A Smokin' Exterior

I have our new house on my brain constantly these days.  Hubs and I still can't believe how far away Dec 26 is (our closing date).  Arg. 

What I am thinking about lately ... how to spice up the exterior. There is lots of white going on, see.

Not that I don't love white, but it is just begging for pops of color.  I was thinking a red or yellow door, like YHL's first house and second house .... but Hubs most definitely vetoed the idea of a yellow door. 

So, that leaves me with the following color scheme...

Front door in either Behr's California Poppy or Daredevil

Behr California Poppy

A California Poppy Red Door

Behr Daredevil

And Shutters in Behr's Black Suede

Behr Black Suede

A Black Suede Door

Mind Painting

I have sworn off painting for the past couple of months, but the minute we put an offer on our new place, I was already thinking of what colors we could paint the place.  Maybe I have a slight painting problem.  Not that the beigey color isn't bad - I looked at it again during our home inspection visit - but really, I want to add my OWN colors - OCD, possibly.

So, I have been scanning the interwebs for some paint colors for the house.  Here is what I want to paint:
- Living, Dining, Office - color 1
- Master Bedroom, Guest Bedroom - color 2
- Bathroom & Kitchen - I am not sure (cabinet color for kitchen will dictate wall color I think)

And here are the colors I am loving (for now) from BM:
Color 1 - either Revere Pewter or Broxburn Greige


Revere Pewter

Broxburn Greige

 Color 2 - either Tranquility or Gentle Gray

Tranquility

Gentle Gray

Hmmmm.....

I've got the Blues...

... Blue-ish Paint that is.

As you know from my previous posts I am dying to lighten up our master bedroom and ‘the other’ room as I will call it.  I haven’t had much success in paint colors for both rooms and have spent the past month looking for inspiration.  Most of my blog stalking has unveiled a trend in light gray-ish/blue-ish/green-ish paint colors that give the bedroom space a calming feeling.  My first attempt to find that new calming color didn’t wow me.  Aqua Breeze and Water Mark from Behr just had me feeling blue, as in too much ‘light blue’.  Hubs “warned” me that he didn’t want to wake up to a “baby blue” space.   I agreed.  Spending some more time really searching the web, I realized I needn't to calm the blue and green down and add some gray.  I just think my fear of gray had me heading in the wrong direction at first.  So, back to Home Depot I bought the following sample paints:

1)      Gentle Tide by Glidden (they no longer have a sample of this color, but I just had to tell them the color name).  (I was inspired by the pic below)

2)      Quiet Moments by Benjamin Moore

3)      Healing Aloe by Benjamin Moore

4)      Woodlawn Blue by Benjamin Moore

Gentle Tide {via}

Tested all 4 all over the two bedrooms last week, but it still left me confused.   So back to Benjamin Moore and Behr’s website to come up with more colors

1)      Coastal Fog by Behr

2)      Lookout Point by Benjamin Moore

3)      Polar Ice by Benjamin Moore

4)      Windy Sky by Benjamin Moore.  (Inspired by the pic below)

5)      Glass Slipper by Benjamin Moore

Windy Sky {via}

Now, some of those colors on our walls below.... 

Left of window, top to bottom - Coastal Fog, Lookout Point, Windy Sky

Right of window, top to bottom - Gentle Tide, Lookout Point, Windy Sky

The 3 big sample areas, top to bottom - Gentle Tide, Lookout Point, Windy Sky

Yes, I may be slightly obsessed ….I just feel like I have to get this one right.  I was hoping that the third time would leave me with the answer.  Well, it did!  I picked Gentle Tide and purchased a Gallon tonight!


P.S. I plan to use Gentle Tide in bathroom too.  I will wait until the bathroom renovation that is in the works... hopefully this winter, fingers crossed.