This may have seemed like a good idea back in the 1970's when the house was built, but it looks dated and ugly now, and makes the brick look browner than it is. We originally thought about painting the brick, but decided not to do so because a) once you paint your brick it is forever painted; and b) our brick is textured, which would make painting much harder. Plus, up close, it's kind of pretty. But the brown has to go. So: onward!
Perhaps it is as a function of reading too many design blogs, but I've gotten rather fixated on Benjamin Moore paints and want to use them for most things. In an effort to limit my options (and therefore not get overwhelmed), I decided to check out their Affinity Collection. This is limited to 144 colors that are all designed to coordinate together. Nick and I had decided to repaint the off-white trim a slightly brighter cream color, and paint the brown a lighter taupe to lighten up the exterior. So I brought home several swatches for us to look at. We both decided that we like the Mascarpone as an off-white:
When it came time to picking the brown color, we had a bit more trouble. The two options we came down to were Jicama and Frappe:
Keep in mind that when we originally looked at these colors, we did so inside the house, not outside in the light that they would actually be in. I was concerned that the Jicama was too orange, while Nick felt that the Frappe was too dark and too brown. To solve our dilemma, I bought three large color sheets that Benjamin Moore provides in many of their more popular colors. They're about 18" square, so it's a way to get a large color swatch up on an area where you wouldn't necessarily want to paint it. For example, up against the outside of your brick house. Once we had them outdoors, Nick thought that the Jicama was actually too yellow, while the Frappe was actually plenty bright enough. So Mascarpone and Frappe it is! Sounds like some sort of delicious Italian dessert. Not that we've painted yet - still have to clean the exterior of the house and scrape off some of the old paint.
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With regards to the interior of our home, we have also made some progress. I am more than a little bit anal-retentive and want to have all of the colors mapped out before we actually start painting, because I want to make sure that the colors flow well. This amuses Nick to no end but he is happy to indulge me (more or less).
We knew that we wanted our bedroom to be blue, since it is both his and my favorite color. I was a little nervous about picking a blue, since both my childhood room and our last bedroom were also blue, and I didn't want to go too closely to either color. So I pasted about 20 different swatches onto white pieces of paper and taped them to the wall to stare at. Our room does not get much sunlight, so Nick felt that it was important to not go with too gray of a blue, and I didn't want to go too green. I do love cusp colors (they are blue-green-gray depending on the light), but didn't want one in our bedroom. Originally we were thinking of one of these:
However, on a whim I picked up a large color swatch of Yarmouth Blue and taped it to the wall. We both liked it instantly! Not too pale or too dark, not too saturated or too gray or too green. It looks really nice with the light in our room and is a soothing color.
We knew that we wanted our bedroom to be blue, since it is both his and my favorite color. I was a little nervous about picking a blue, since both my childhood room and our last bedroom were also blue, and I didn't want to go too closely to either color. So I pasted about 20 different swatches onto white pieces of paper and taped them to the wall to stare at. Our room does not get much sunlight, so Nick felt that it was important to not go with too gray of a blue, and I didn't want to go too green. I do love cusp colors (they are blue-green-gray depending on the light), but didn't want one in our bedroom. Originally we were thinking of one of these:
However, on a whim I picked up a large color swatch of Yarmouth Blue and taped it to the wall. We both liked it instantly! Not too pale or too dark, not too saturated or too gray or too green. It looks really nice with the light in our room and is a soothing color.
We still like the other two very much, but it looks like Yarmouth is a winner, although Heaven on Earth is a very close second.
In terms of what room is actually going to be painted first in the house, the guest bedroom is clearly first. Why, you ask? That would be the violent shade of bubble-gum pink that it is currently painted.
After spending a while trying to decide what color to repaint this room, I decided to go with green. I wanted something interesting but also soothing. Again with the zillion swatches taped to white sheets of paper. This led us to the following two colors:
Pottery Barn conveniently sent us a coupon this week for a pair of free BM pints, so yesterday we bought the above two colors to try them out on the wall.
While the original small swatches seemed nearly identical, once up on the wall these colors appear very different. The Kittery Point is a bit brighter on a large scale than I thought it would be, while the Prescott is slightly bluer. While they were still wet Nick had a clear preference for the Kittery Point, but once they had dried he decided that either would do. I have had a much more difficult time choosing, and almost gave up altogether to go looking for a third color. But really, that's just a cop-out. I have realized that the Prescott wouldn't look quite so blue if it weren't sitting next to the Kittery, and it is a pretty sage green that borders on a cusp color. It is a more soothing color than the Kittery while still being woodsy enough to satisfy me. I really do like the Kittery but have concerns that it would be too overwhelming on a large scale. In the photos I have seen online where Kittery Point looks really good, the rooms are always very well lit with tons of windows. The guest room gets better sunlight than our bedroom or office, but it's not that good...plus that bright of a green I don't find quite as soothing on a large scale as I thought I would. So I think Prescott is a winner!
Ironically, both the Yarmouth Blue and both of the greens are from the BM Historical Collection. We did not do that on purpose but now I'm thinking perhaps I'll stick with it so as to not be overwhelmed with colors. We'll see. Next will either be choosing hallway/entryway colors or an office color. So far Nick likes Weston Flax for the office.
In terms of what room is actually going to be painted first in the house, the guest bedroom is clearly first. Why, you ask? That would be the violent shade of bubble-gum pink that it is currently painted.
This photo does not showcase the pink well,
but check out the hilarious owl decals!
but check out the hilarious owl decals!
After spending a while trying to decide what color to repaint this room, I decided to go with green. I wanted something interesting but also soothing. Again with the zillion swatches taped to white sheets of paper. This led us to the following two colors:
Pottery Barn conveniently sent us a coupon this week for a pair of free BM pints, so yesterday we bought the above two colors to try them out on the wall.
See? Bubble-gum pink! Wretched.
While the original small swatches seemed nearly identical, once up on the wall these colors appear very different. The Kittery Point is a bit brighter on a large scale than I thought it would be, while the Prescott is slightly bluer. While they were still wet Nick had a clear preference for the Kittery Point, but once they had dried he decided that either would do. I have had a much more difficult time choosing, and almost gave up altogether to go looking for a third color. But really, that's just a cop-out. I have realized that the Prescott wouldn't look quite so blue if it weren't sitting next to the Kittery, and it is a pretty sage green that borders on a cusp color. It is a more soothing color than the Kittery while still being woodsy enough to satisfy me. I really do like the Kittery but have concerns that it would be too overwhelming on a large scale. In the photos I have seen online where Kittery Point looks really good, the rooms are always very well lit with tons of windows. The guest room gets better sunlight than our bedroom or office, but it's not that good...plus that bright of a green I don't find quite as soothing on a large scale as I thought I would. So I think Prescott is a winner!
Ironically, both the Yarmouth Blue and both of the greens are from the BM Historical Collection. We did not do that on purpose but now I'm thinking perhaps I'll stick with it so as to not be overwhelmed with colors. We'll see. Next will either be choosing hallway/entryway colors or an office color. So far Nick likes Weston Flax for the office.
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