The ‘L-shaped’ room is ready for color!

 

Can you believe I tried out this many samples for one room??  I mean, how many different browns are out there?  A lot, apparently.

Even with sampling the colors on the walls, I’m still a teeny bit hesitant about my choices.  I think it’s that I hadn’t anticipated doing an accent wall, and I’m still getting used to the idea.  I’m excited to paint and excited about the colors, just wish I felt more confident.  I will say, though, that I brought EVEN MORE paint chips home from Lowe’s yesterday and STILL ended up with the same two colors that I’d already chosen, so I guess that’s a good sign.

Carolyn came over to help me paint, which was a MAJOR blessing both time-wise and so that I didn’t have to roll.  I much prefer to cut-in around the edges since I’m pretty accurate and have a steady hand (and it’s my house, after all–I have to live with the mistakes!), and having her roll while I was doing that made the job just fly by.  Also, I really did a number on my neck at the gym Monday and I’ve been in agony ever since; rolling would have just made it worse.  I’m going to have to roll the color on this weekend, but having the help with the primer was a huge blessing.

Here is a shot after we primed:

 

I wasn’t going to prime since it was already very light beige (in fact, the photo above almost looks like a ‘before’ shot), but it’s always best to prime.  I think I’m really sensitive to pinks, and I could definitely tell some of the beige was showing through even when I was painting on the samples, so I knew I’d feel more comfortable if we primed.

Here is a shot with some more light:

 

Can you believe how NOT WHITE the trim and mantel are??  I tell you what–you wanna know what color your baseboards are?  Just prime the room and it’ll be obvious.

Once I get the brown up, they’ll look much better, but ultimately I’d like them to be white.  Like, bright white.  And the trim in the newer part of the house is already white, so the OCD-ness in me wants it all to match and be the same.  And plus, if they’re all the same and you have to touch something up, it’s easy to find the paint and take care of it.

So, project number 4,873: Paint baseboards, moulding, doors and frames (and apparently the mantel, too) in the ENTIRE HOUSE.  I did this in Ohio, so I know exactly how big a project this is.  Sheesh.

I got four paint samples from Lowe’s for what I’ve been calling our “L-shaped room” downstairs.

I don’t normally get samples; I typically am confident enough in my decision about the paint color that I don’t think I need to sample it.  However, this is a pretty big room and I’m not painting twice!

The room will have one of our red couches and a leather chair and light brownish drapes, but that’s all I know for sure.  I know I want to keep the room neutral and get away from the red/teal/black theme I had going on in Ohio.

So, I wanted to go with a really neutral and somewhat light shade of brown on the walls.

The first one is way more gray than I’d thought it would be, so it’s out.  The fourth one is too dark, so it’s out.  The two in the middle I could live with, but I was really looking more something just a bit lighter.

Here are the colors on a different wall that gets less light:

I think I’m going to have to go back to get another sample or two…

And Andrew’s chair is on its way, so I might just wait until it arrives and I can see it in the room before I pick the color.  It’s not like there aren’t other things for me to be doing around here!