Paint Colors Used in House #2

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.

Kitchen Trim Continued

Cabinets can be such an expensive cost when building a house. We received many estimates outside of our price range. I wasn’t trying to have elaborate cabinets, so I can’t imagine what the price tag would have been if I did!

I asked to have “feet” at the base of the cabinets on one wall in the kitchen, but that was the extent of “extras” I requested.

I asked for turned column legs on either side of the stove and got a version that was not my vision, but I went with it. If you remember my experience with the cabinet supplier, you will understand that I ended up accepting a lot of things from them just to get the experience over with. 

For a year, I stared at my island dreaming of how I wanted it to look more like a piece of furniture. I added baseboard to it and some trim. (Post here)

At the time, I also added a piece of trim to the wall cabinet.

All was good. My base cabinets felt finished.

But then I studied fancier kitchens and noticed the finishing details on upper cabinets. There was trim at the base of upper cabinets. So, I found trim and installed it.

I used wood glue and my nail gun to attach the trim to the cabinet.

I used my miter saw to cut the corners.

Before

I used wood putty to fill in the nail holes and the seams.

Once I sanded, I painted.

When I added the trim to the island, I bought Benjamin Moore paint from Lowe's. The color wasn’t an exact match, but pretty close. I could tell the difference. I was glad I had taped the trim instead of assuming the color matched perfectly.

So, this time around, I bought Benjamin Moore paint from the Benjamin Moore store. The color was still not a match, but better than the Lowe's attempt,

I am now thinking that the cabinet maker does something a little different to the paint. And it makes sense reflecting on a comment he made while visiting the house during construction. The owner of the cabinet company actually told the cabinet maker not to make a cabinet I wanted. !!! (I had many issues with the company, so this was not a shock.) But the cabinet maker went behind the owner's back and built me the vent cover I needed and I paid the cabinet maker directly. When the owner was checking the final job, the story we gave was that my trim carpenter made the vent cover. The owner’s comment was that he was surprised the paint matched so well! I don’t know what it is that they do differently so that you cannot match the color perfectly, but I wish I knew. I actually like his shade the best!

The new trim color is not too big of a difference, and I’m probably the only one that notices.

After adding the trim, the kitchen does feel complete. I kind of wish I would have added feet to all the lower cabinets, but that is something I don’t think I will attempt to do myself. And since it has been years since our cabinets were made, there is no chance the cabinet maker has our paint still and can add them. Without the legs, it is still pretty!

Adding Shelves To A Cabinet

In our kitchen, there are cabinets that have wire fronts that I love.

It was hard to pick out a wire because they didn't have samples to choose from. Just like the doors, they had hand-drawings to choose from. I studied the drawings and picked a wire. Good thing I loved it!

The cabinets with wire fronts were built with the purpose to display my mom's plates and things. We were combining two households and I liked her pottery better than mine, but I would treat it like the special occasion China while I have kids at the house!

I don't have many "before" pictures, but the cabinet only had one shelf! That gave us two surfaces in the cabinet to display the pottery. We made it all work, but it continued to feel "off."

I thought about calling the cabinet guy to build us another shelf, but as time passed, I figured he wouldn't want to do such a small job and would probably not have my paint anymore. (I am still wishing I would have asked for his leftover paint. I cannot get a match.)

I went out and bought wood and mimic'd the current shelves. I was limited on spacing of the shelves because of the outlets in the back. I couldn't space them evenly, so the tall things go toward the bottom and the short items are on the top.

I am very pleased! With only one shelf before, I used  other items to lift up the display (Bowls turned upside down with a plate to look like a cake stand; Bowls stacked on top of stacked plates, etc) Now the display didn't feel lacking.

I had fun creating symmetry with the display.

Without too many things stacked on each other, they are easier to access. Now it is hard for me to remember how I arranged it without the extra shelf. It must have been a mess!