Big new project to show you, folks. Remember, when i was going to have this room be my dining room?
Well. This was obviously the VERY ‘BEFORE’ picture. Nothing was styled. I hated the wall color (for me), i don’t like that table anymore (its going to be our outdoor dining table now), plus we needed another office (Brian is using the back one for now, but we might switch, who knows) instead of a dining room. We have a little nook that brian and i can eat at, so a dining room wasn’t the priority. I mean, who are we kidding, we eat in front of the TV like the rest of America, whilst watching (or rewatching) Friday Night Lights.
So first off, we needed to paint it a better color, a more ‘me’ color. Low and behold it is Sherwin Williams’ National Painting Week this week. They asked me to participate (to paint something of my choice a color of my choice) and it seemed like the perfect excuse to paint the dining room, er, office an fancy, nay, dreamy, color.
I’ve always wanted a navy room, truly. But it takes balls to paint a room that dark. Now that we have 10 rooms in our house (don’t get too excited, i counted every single possible thing that one could ever pretend to count as a ‘room), so i figured i could go for it.
Navy, like any color really, can be hard to find the right ‘one’. It can go really dark and look almost black if there isn’t enough light in the room. But i was feeling risky….although let it be known that painting is the easiest and least risky thing you can do to your house besides rearranging furniture. You can ALWAYS paint over it. It’s normally a $25 – $50 investment (plus your time and effort). So don’t be so precious, its just paint, and even the pros mess up the color all the time.
I like navys that have a lot of green in them, as opposed to more red (which goes more purple). See how ‘indigo’ which is usually my favorite color is slightly more purple than ‘loyal blue’? And loyal blue matched my sofa and dining chairs perfectly so the whole house started to flow together.
It’s like the exact color.
So i chose LOYAL BLUE, by Sherwin Williams. Here we go:
I emptied her out. Wow, i should be embarassed to show that picture, but its all changing.
My supplies. Nothing too surprising here. Roller, brush, tray, paint, blue tape (and yes, HGTV has a line of everything which i happen to like because its blue and pretty).
When i opened the can i was scared. But things always always, always dry darker (i kept chanting that during the first coat…its gonna dry darker…its gonna dry darker….)
OH and
BUY ‘FLAT’ PAINT
Flat paint reflects the light the least, so it looks the most sophistacated to me. Don’t get me wrong, i love a high gloss, but my years working as a stylist taught me that flat is always better for pictures than any sort of eggshell, satin, semi or high gloss. It soaks up color and light more and creates less reflection problems. Flat is also good because if you scuff it up you can just touch it up with the paint and not show brush strokes whereas if you use satin and you touch it up you’ll see the ‘new’ brush strokes. (For bathrooms always use semi though because its more durable and can withstand moisture better).
See? proof that i did it. But Mr. Orlando did help me. Because he’s my friend (who i pay to help me).
We taped off the room (i’m a terrible cutter), and hit the first coat; me with the roller and Orlando with the brush.
What a brave man to wear a white tee-shirt and good shorts. It’s almost as if he didn’t have blue paint splattered in his hair for the next four days like i did. (never hire me to paint your house, i’m the woyst).
The first coat was up and i was totally terrified. It was looking VERY smurfy to me. Like smurfy mcsmurferston. I like royal blue in pictures, but it has to be a very good/perfect royal blue to be in my house. But the first coat (especially with a color underneath) is never the true color. So we let it dry, had some sushi, played with Bearcat, watched The New Girl and then came back 2 hours later. And note, its always important to wear a cute vintage scarf whilst doing any project. There’s a secret for you.
Better. So much better. And after a second coat?
Hello, Mr. Beautiful Loyal Blue.
Man, i was soooo relieved. It turned out to be a really, really good color. Way more ‘me’ than the other green and not smurfy at all.
But then there was the issue of that not so beautiful floor. Yes, it was a very productive day.
Ikea flooring. Not easy, not hard. But that’s a whole nother story. Worth every penny ($150) and the 5 hours it took.
And here she is folks, my new office:
TA DA!! Oh she is dark and cozy and 1 trillion times better than it was last week.
The blue turned out perfect. When the light hits it it goes lighter and where the light doesn’t its all dark and moody, but still really happy. That painting is from the flea market years ago and that brass sculpture is actually The artemide tangle light that i sold (sold out) on Open Sky.
That fern is a Maiden Hair that i was talking about yesterday. Incredibly pretty, if i do say so myself. The paintings i’ve had forever, the sculpture is a random art student sculpture (I have a thing for heads).
The desk is from a thrift store, its vintage. The fern is an Australian fern, mate. The golden egg was a recent purchase by Scott at the Rose Bowl from my favorite vendor and then i snagged it for the shoot….BECAUSE ITS A GOLDEN EGG!!!!!
Those are my shelves where i hoard all my pretty things – soon to be traded out for less beautiful office-y things.
The hand chair i got from Round Top antique festival last year. The green chair i scored from a thrift store recently for $60 (perfect upholstery) and the cat i got from the bronx 7 years ago. That is General Meow, my other cat, Bearcat’s sister. She is normally fairly elusive and prefers to remain anonymous on the blog (hence the overcompensation by me for the Bear). She has the body of a lightbulb.
Oh and the arc table lamp is from the flea market for $100, but Dwell makes a new version. Disregard the terrible chord styling. It’s hard to take pictures and style at the same time…..
The creepy painting of a girl in the background also from the Rose Bowl. It’s Brian’s favorite. He just can’t get enough of it. (Read: it makes him very uncomfortable but he can’t deny that the color palette is perfect).
The blue tape dispenser and the pens are from Poppin, the gold mug is vintage and belongs to my heart.
Kelly green and this color of navy, with white and gold accents is pretty much my color palette. I own it. It’s patented, reserved for me.
So to recap. Here’s a quick before with the slightly suburban shade of green:
Vast improvement, no? This room makes me incredibly happy.
Check out Cassandra’s ‘National Painting Week’ makeover on her blog, Coco and Kelley from yesterday, too.
Tomorrow Morgan, from The Brick House, is painting something yellow in celebration of the holiday. That’s all i know and all i can say, but i’m excited to see it.
It’s kinda always painting week in my book, but it seemed like an extra good excuse to make it happen.
So how do you feel about ‘Loyal Blue’ (Sherwin Williams)?
**And yes, this is a sponsored post, but every word, photograph, and opinion are my own. 🙂