I love a good paint job to tackle because it really does
change everything! But I’m sad and happy that I haven’t had to paint a thing in
this house. I picked colors that I have been happy with, but it’s mainly
because we already did the trial and error at the last house.
Now, just because it worked in the last house does not mean
it would work in the new house. I learned that lesson when I used the master bedroom paint from my condo to paint the master bedroom. I loved it in the
condo, but not in the new house. I’m pretty sure it was because the trim color
was not the same.
 |
| Condo Master Bedroom |
But I used the paint color in our old living room as the
color for the entire new house (living, halls, playroom.) Valspar – Fairmont
Penthouse Stone. It is a great color that I have really loved. I've lived with it a while and not have not grown tired of it.
 |
| Old House Living Room |
 |
| Current Living Room |
All of the bathrooms were the same color, and the color was
also used in our Master Bedroom. Benjamin Moore – Revere Pewter. This color is popular for a reason! It is a chameleon and changes with its surrounding. Very versatile color.
The boys’ bedrooms were the color I used at the old house
for the spare bath. I used the color again when I changed Little JCrew’s room.
It’s a fun grey that is warm. Bonsai
The Office was my bold color choice. I picked the darker
shade of blue from our old bonus room. I really like blues and this one was my
favorite. “Antique Tin” by Behr. I love seeing the deep blue color from a distance. It is such a moody color that I love so much that I want to put it everywhere, but then that would take away from it's magic.
The kitchen was the only color choice I wasn’t sure of. I
knew the color of the cabinets and that decision was set and I did not want to
change, but I didn’t think my ‘Fairmont Penthouse Stone’ color I chose for the
whole house, would go with it being right next to the cabinets. I pulled the
swatch that had the color of my cabinets on it. Since the swatches have the
“family” of colors on it, I knew if I picked one from the swatch, it would go
with the cabinets. However, I still have to go with the “whole house color” as
some walls would be touching. I ended up with 'Barren Plain' on the kitchen walls. It’s a
barely noticeable transition to the ‘Fairmont Penthouse Stone’ color.
That’s it for all the wall colors. I tried to keep the
amount of colors down but did not want to be limited. When you buy a spec home,
the builder usually only allows you to pick two colors. If you build a spec home, the
builder has a budget for two colors and you are charged for each color change.
I get it! It’s a much simpler task to just have one color to paint everywhere.
Now I can’t stress how important the trim color is. It can
make or break a color for you. I learned this the hard way. I ended up choosing 'Simply White' by Benjamin Moore after seeing it used by Young House Love. It wasn’t stark white,
but looked like it. Our old house had an off-white trim color, but it really
was off from being close to white. (Sherwin Williams 'Pacer White.') It was like a dirty white. Nothing wrong
with it, but it limited my choices in picking coordinating colors.
We used Simply White on the ceilings, trim, plantation
shutters, closet walls and the laundry room walls. The laundry cabinets are
also Simply White.
The fun color on the ceiling is Cooled Blue. I almost used it as
the interior of the closet that is now Pfitzer’s, but decided against it. I’ve
really enjoyed it being somewhere I see every day.
As for paint colors on the outside, this decision scared me
the most. I could repaint an interior room with no problem, but if I messed up
on an exterior paint color, it would be an embarrassment all would see until I
hired a painter to fix it. And who knows if my fix would be the final fix?
I had seen the color “Dragon’s Breath” painted on an
interior door in a picture on Pinterest. I loved the color. It looked black,
but had brown undertones in it. I loved it so much that I hung on to that picture and knew I would use it in the new house some how.
 |
| Inspiration |
I went to the store to get the swatch and see the family of
colors that coordinate with ‘Dragon’s Breath.' I then came back with my brick
sample to make sure it went with the brick.
I picked Gargoyle for my exterior trim color (columns,
facia, door trim).
Plymouth Rock was used on porch ceilings and siding.
Dragon’s Breath was used on the exterior doors, shutters,
and lapboard siding.
I am so lucky that it worked on the first try. It could have
been a disaster.
There you have it! Our paint colors at house number two.
