When I'm right, I'm right

Do you ever have the feeling that you just know something?  I mean, like you decide something and you know it is the right way to go?  Really having no basis for this at all, other than your gut?  Yeah, well that is how I feel most of the time- at least when it comes to paint colors.

Ever since we moved in I have hated the color of our interior walls.  The previous homeowners painted almost EVERY room in the house a light yellow.  When we came to see the house, it was nice, clean and non-offensive.  But now that we live in light yellow all the time, it is the most offensive color I've ever seen and it is closing in around me!

This is the bedroom when we moved in

 I knew that our bedroom was going to be 1st up for a cosmetic master overhaul.  Unfortunately, like everything else in life, you learn to live with it and at some point you just forget that it bothers you and leave it.  Well, I was determined to not let that happen.

It's been 3 months since we've been in the house and I knew I couldn't let the bedroom wait another minute.  Unfortunately for Chris, when I get an idea in my head, I pretty much stop at nothing to accomplish what I set out to do.  So, being the wonderful husband he is, he sacrificed the middle of his Saturday and we went for a 2 hour tour of the Home Depot paint department.

I had my heart set on something dark and moody, like navy or slate blue.  Chris on the other hand was worried that by painting our walls dark, that our small bedroom would become even smaller.  I reminded him that would be nearly impossible since we still have a wall of mirrors (yep, we have a mirrored wall in our bedroom, jealous??).

1982 called, they want their mirrors back...

So on our paint hunt, I kept throwing paint colors his way, and he kept knocking them right back.  He was pretty much not sold on the idea, but we finally agreed on 2 blues that he didn't absolutely hate, so we got those cute little sample containers of both and headed home.  (While we were there we picked up paint for other rooms too, but more on that later)

Of course I spent the rest of my Saturday painting swatches all over the bedroom walls so I could see the colors in different lights.  I like to do this and then sit with the color for a while to see what I like best. 

I was leaning toward the bottom one

 When I woke up the next morning, neither of the blues we picked were really feeling right to me.  Chris had headed off to work and I thought about going back to HD for some new samples, but I was feeling awfully lazy.  I realized that the color I really wanted was one I already had in the house- the office color.

I immediately decided that I would "surprise" Chris with a completely painted bedroom when he got home.  I only have 3/4 of a gallon left from the office and of course I had a whole bunch of furniture in the bedroom, but when there is a will there is a way.  I moved everything into the middle of the room (nearly broke the bed), and spent the next 6 hours painting the room with 2 coats of dark blue/grey paint.  The carpet got a few drips on it, but instead of cleaning them up, I am going to use that as an excuse to get rid of that terrible carpet.

Once a full wall was done, I could tell that I was a genius (duh).  This paint color was perfect.

I was so excited to show Chris the big surprise.  I was practically jumping/twitching like a small excited child when he finally got home and went upstairs.  I was dying for him to see it.  Luckily for me and my poor tired arms, he agreed with my genius, because if he didn't I would have had a long second set of 6 hours re-painting it another color.

Now time for the big reveal................

Ta Da!

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Clearly we still have a ways to go on this room, but for right now, I LOVE IT!  It transformed from just a room in our house to a cozy and inviting space that just feels right (that is, if I squint my eyes and make believe that they carpet and mirrors are gone).

For those of you who are wondering what else is on my list for this room, here you go:

• New closet doors. 

  

  Aren't these cool?  They would still be light but not mirrored.

• A big white shaggy rug underneath our bed

  

  I want a rug big enough to go under my bed and stick out the sides

• Cool white modular shelves for the wall next to our bed  

  

  Interesting idea

•  I'd also like to paint our dresser white and add in a cool green accent color on the front. 

  

  This is the look I'm going for

Chris likes to say "by time we get this house how we want it, we will be moving out."  I laugh, but he's probably right!