Monday, June 18, 2012

A New Wall Color That I LOVE!

Happy Monday to you all!  We had a nice weekend with our family visitors and a lot of R&R...however, the house projects continue around the visitors.  :)


As many of you know we recently moved into our new house.  My husband keeps reminding me, as my house to-do list keeps seems endless, that I said I loved this house when we looked at it.  Well, I do, but...well, you know how it goes.  :)  I think unless/until we build our dream house I will never settle down on wanting to change/enhance/beautify things around the house, and perhaps not even then! 


Anyway, one of my latest projects was to change the wall color in our powder room.  The guest powder room is small and windowless, but I am OK with that.  The big challenge was that the walls are not in perfect condition.  I am not sure what the history is there but they need a lot of hard labor to make them perfect again...and that won't be happening anytime soon!  


That meant making the most of it for the time being.  I would have loved to go with a bold wallpaper or grass cloth such as the powder rooms below, but given the texture of the walls that would have been a major undertaking.  Check back for a blog post on that in a few years!  


Powder room wallpaper.
via

Neutral color pallettes don't have to be blah as long as you bring in lots of rich texture. And grasscloth wallpaper is back and beautiful.  Check out the rich drawer pulls and the heavily textured tile flooring.  Nothing boring here--all drama!
bhg.com

So of course that led me to paint.  I was debating on lightening it up with a bright color, but in the end I went with a dark color.  The dark color hid the imperfections and gave it a cozy, moody feel whereas the light paint showed up all of the flaws with no forgiveness.  


The paint I went with is called Cracked Pepper from Behr and I'm so crazy about it I wanted to share it all with you:

BEHR Ultra 8 oz. Cracked Pepper Interior/Exterior Paint Tester

I don't know if your computer will do the color justice.  I was going for a dark charcoal, which it sort of is, but it also has a deep blue hue to it that - although unexpected - is absolutely gorgeous.  It came with primer already built in, so I only needed one coat!  To me, that was huge since I tend to lose steam after the excitement of the first coat.

Here's a collage of two angles of our bathroom.  The picture doesn't look like it, but the new wall color blends well with the (already-there-when-we-moved-in) granite counters, too.  (Please ignore the very odd looking orchids that I didn't arrange better before the photo!)


It ended up having a very Asian vibe - the soap holder was purchased in Bangkok on our honeymoon, the wooden sculpture was found in Singapore on a business trip years ago, and the photo was taken on our recent trip to Bali.  Who knew all of these things would come together in one small spot?  I'm sure I'll change it out regularly, but that's how it's going to start.  

What an improvement over the odd pumpkin color that was there before.  I love pumpkin/orange in decor, but in this space it was all wrong.  Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you all because I'm crazy about it! 

By the way, for those of you that read my privacy post a while back, this picture (as well as the one I posted here) is the kind of snippet I was thinking about.  
Hope that works for you wonderful readers!



17 comments:

The enchanted home said...

Barbara.......I not only like the color I LOVE it! Gorgeous, rich, elegant, dramatic...all in one. Your powder room is stunning, I love the sophisticated eclectic vibe...very zen!

Acquired Objects said...

Barbara your snippet of picctures works perfectly for us to seee nothing more needed. That color you painted your bathroom is stunning!!!! It looks so rich and elegant and the pieces you used from overseas works beautifully in your spacce.

Enjoy your day!
XX
Debra~

I Dream Of said...

It looks fantastic! Our powder room is actually a very similar color - we did it about 4 years ago and I still love it. I think that no matter how much you like a house, there will always, always be projects - it's how we make our houses our homes.
Have a happy week, Barbara!XO

Stacy CUrran said...

That color is GORGEOUS!!! I always use Benjamin Moore, but I have to say, I haven't found the perfect charcoal. I like this better than any I've seen! thanks for sharing!
Stacy

The Buzz Blog said...

What a gorgeous color, Barbara! It has the feel of the ocean on a stormy day... Love your little vignettes and hope to see more!
xxoo

michele said...

what a great color for a powder room! thanks for sharing and giving a great description of how it reads--looks rich.

smiles to you.

michele

Thoughts on Design said...

Perfectimundo!!!

A very clever solution with lots of personal value and personality. House guests will Love your powder room.

BTW - New construction may satisfy the itch, but not for long... Our tastes, style preferences and needs evolve as we "mature"...

Cheers,
John

Donnamae said...

Color works beautifully! Thank you for sharing the snippets! I think our spaces keep evolving as we do, that's the fun part!

Leslie said...

I like your soap holder! So different :) and the wall color is lovely. I feel the Asian vibe and can see the blue in the base color. Very nice Barbara!

So funny about your comment regarding the house not being exactly right - "but you loved it"
and .. now you see the flaws. I felt the same way when we moved to the house we are in now. Liked the floor plan with the exception of the pantry space in the kitchen. We have loads of cabinet space and NO walk in pantry. Drives me NUTS but I'm just living with it for the time being.

Enjoy the start to your week!

leslie

wendy said...

barbara,

your powder room is stunning! kudos to you for going dark (charcoal). i did the same in my powder room with restoration hardware paint, albeit with a petite vintage crystal chandelier that seems appropriate with our 1915 home.

as an aside, i'm an avid follower and completely understand your desire for privacy. i've started to create a blog more times than i can count, but stop from publishing because of my overriding concern for my family (husband and children). keep up the great work and never succumb to pressure to show more photos of your home than you're comfortable sharing. i don't know...perhaps you've shown that you CAN share, without sharing too much.

best,
-wendy

designchic said...

Adore the color - so rich and dramatic - a perfect choice!! Such a sophisticated space ~

debra @ 5th and state said...

oh my, you have me looking around my home and where i can possibly use this color. i found a breath taking image on pinterest i will have to go back to, it looks like the same color

thanks for sharing your gorgeous bath!
hugs
debra

Anonymous said...

I have been in love with this (almost) exact color since my neighbor (shop) painted one of her walls with it. Prior to that, about three months ago, I downloaded this color and now that I see your powder room dressed with it, I am even more in love. This particular blue/gray shows everything to its best--art looks especially amazing. Thanks for my confirming my suspicions. Mary

Meghan @ Wishful Thinking said...

Love your choice Barbara! It looks fab! I also love that you have pieces from your travels in there and each one of them has a story!

Splendid Sass said...

Barbara-
I LOVE the color you chose! I am loving the bluish grays that are popular. No flaws in this room.
Thanking you for sharing the color.
Happy Tuesday!
Teresa
xoxo

Taylor Greenwalt said...

Barbara, what a daring color and worth it...Looks fantastic!

Haus and Home said...

Wow such a beautiful color! I love all your accessories are from your travels! One of my favorite German words is mitbringsel so I like to see all of your mitbringsels from your travels :)

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