The truth is, Rudy is two now and this age has been kicking our bums! I seriously don't know how people have more than one child under two because we feel like we need to tag team her to get ourselves out the door looking moderately presentable. She's a good girl but she's headstrong, knows the word "no", knows what sweets are and can run faster than us. We're in TROUBLE! Between hurricane Rudy, work and just life in general, there hasn't been much time to blog... but I'm excited to start sharing some of the work we've done on our house so far. So, without further ado, let's talk about paint:
You guys know our last house was filled with colour but we'd like a more neutral backdrop in our
new home to showcase the dramatic ceilings and natural light. I tell Corey that the next house will be colourful again but I think he wants to divorce me when I say that because I promised him we wouldn't move again for a while. ;)
We'll still add lots of colour to this house through art and accessories, but the walls will remain fairly neutral.
We love Farrow and Ball paint but there's a Benjamin Moore store near our new house and they are known for having some great white and off-white shades. When we first took possession (back in November) we chose our favourite swatches in the store and looked at them in the house in different light throughout the day.
I'm just going to point out that the paint swatches are taped to the formerly wallpapered walls. We ended up discovering that there were so many layers of wallpaper on the walls, ceilings... everywhere. Some layers were painted or plastered over, all were pretty awful and we felt we were in over our heads. We ended up hiring a great company to remove it all, smooth the walls and paint. It was so worthwhile to start with a blank canvass.
From there, we narrowed it down to our top four and painted swatches on several walls to help us decide. We wanted a slightly off-white shade for the walls and a purer white for doors and trim.
For the trim, we considered Chantilly Lace and Oxford White. I'll include the descriptions from the Benjamin Moore website in italics as well as my own notes on how they looked in our space, since the light and shadows of a house can impact the colour.
Chantilly Lace: As delicate and refined as the lace it was named after, this crisp, clean white evokes images of pure silk, soft linen and simpler times. This shade felt like a clean, pure white.
Oxford White: A perennial favourite of both discerning consumers and professional designers alike, Designer Classics are colours you can choose with confidence to enhance the mood and atmosphere of any living space. This was a clean white with a tiny hint of warmth.
Decorator's White: Inherently sophisticated and endlessly versatile, the Off-White collection offers subtle nuances of whites that suit tranquil, serene environments as well as creates colour-enhancing accents for dynamic spaces. This looked like a cool grey on our walls. Very clean with a lot of blue.
White Dove: Unerring style defines this classic, softly shaded white. Light and luminous, it is a favourite choice for moldings and trim. This shade was a very subtle but warm grey.
We ended up choosing White Dove for the walls with Oxford White for the doors and trim. We wanted a clean backdrop with a hint of warmth to highlight all the natural wood details in the house.
While the painting has been complete for a while, we're still in the process of hanging artwork so the fresh walls don't look too lonely. Without art, they're terribly bland and I found myself missing my colourful walls, although I got over that as soon as we started actually unpacking accessories and hanging art.
Photos are coming soon but first, I may post about the progress with some "during" photos so you can live the nightmare with us! We can laugh about it now because the walls are smooth and painted and we've been hanging art so the house feels somewhat transformed. ;)
