I’m so eager to get some paint on the walls of the new house. I’m fine with taking my time to make decorating decisions, to place everything and unpack all of the boxes… but come on. I want to pick up a paint brush already! Eleanor’s room is on the docket and I’ll share her color choices later today, but first I have some how-to videos to share that might be helpful for those of you about to paint.
I write for My Colortopia, and they’ve just launched a new online tool: Color My Room. You can upload your own photo, or choose from one of theirs, and play around with paint colors.
There are palettes, suggested by me and my fellow bloggers, but you can also create your own. It amused me to be getting color advice from myself (hello, self!), so of course I selected one of mine. I chose my neutral bedroom Glidden palette of Silver Birch, Wild Truffle, Shaded Ice, Ground Nutmeg, and Driftwood Gray, but decided to try them in a kitchen. Because I’m still stuck on a color for the kitchen.
I chose one of their gallery photos instead of my own because it was the easier, faster option, and it was a good match for my white trim, cabinets, and tile. Let’s be honest — it was also a much prettier picture than mine. I like the lightness of Silver Birch, but Wild Truffle and Driftwood Gray are appealing too. I’m leaning toward a neutral paint color? What is this world coming to?
I have been sponsored by Glidden® brand paint to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
The room does look ages better than it did when we first moved in; I’ll give it that. Behold the before shot.
Right. So then Brandon and I redid the whole thing, and it looked like this.
And it still looks like that today, except with white trim. So now that I have new fabric in mind for the curtains, I’m trying to choose a new wall color.
I (like you, I’m guessing) love before and after shots. Over at My Colortopia, there’s a new Show Your Colors section featuring tons of them from their readers. I like seeing what real people have done to their homes (and imagining what I would do if I was the person that lived there).
If you have any painting projects that you’re proud of, you can share your before and after photos too. You can get a feel for how it works with the widget in this post.
Now, as for my kitchen? I’m thinking green. But that could change tomorrow.
I have been sponsored by Glidden® brand paint to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
I write for Glidden over at MyColortopia, and a while back I was discussing a few ideas with them that I had for projects. I was already answering advice column questions and recommending paint colors, and I wanted to take it a step further and actually help someone with a makeover. I had no idea that my little idea would lead to me flying to New York and spending three crazy long days painting three different apartments while being filmed! Remember this sneak peek of what I was up to last month? Well, the videos are ready and I can finally share them with you.
I had a very small budget for each of the makeovers, a five-minute phone conversation with each of the renters beforehand, and only three photos to go off of before choosing paint colors and accessories for each of them. First up is Lisa. She loved hot pink, so I was excited about helping her find a good shade of it for her entryway. She went with Very Berry, and I brought in some red-orange to liven it up a little further with a ceramic lamp and a bar stool. I also gave her a black and white hook to bring in all of the black and white accents, but it didn’t make it into the video.
Here’s Lisa’s makeover.
So fun, right? I love that she picked such a vibrant color, and the entryway was the perfect place to do something so bold. Her black and white art looked great against the new color, and I love the hits of orange in the space. Lisa loved it too, and I think it really suited her!
The next video features Cassandra. She wanted to repaint her bedroom because she was tired of the yellow that had been on the walls since she moved in. She had red curtains (that she’d made herself), vintage dressers, and brown, white, and teal bedding with an overscale graphic pattern. She mentioned that she liked gray in our phone conversation, so I selected three shades for her to choose from and she went with Dolphin Gray. I also chose a giant multi-colored wall art piece, a small glass lamp, and a pillow with subtle red dots.
I don’t think she realized that the gray she chose had some purple in it, but I thought it looked great! She hated that art though, yo. She was a good sport about it and she tried to live with it, but I knew she wasn’t going to keep it. Even though the scale of it was perfect, and it tied all of the colors in the room together, it just wasn’t her taste (I thought she’d go for it, based on her bedding and fabric choices, but no). I also grabbed that fantastic yellow lamp from her living room, and she has since moved it back. She wrote all about her side of the story on her blog.
The last video features Eliza. Her living room walls and trim were all the same shade of white. Eliza hates clutter and wanted to keep an open, airy feeling, but she was having a really hard time choosing a color for the room. I helped her select Sea Spray, a blue/green/gray hue. I gave her a new nesting coffee table (I fought hard to get that in the room, by the way), a beautiful new pillow on the couch, and an adjustable floor lamp.
This is Eliza’s makeover.
I don’t normally do accent walls, but it works in her apartment because we did the two long walls opposite each other and the architecture had recessed areas that lent themselves to the look. The white wall of windows feels like a wall of molding now, and the other white wall had a large doorway in it and a bookshelf. I did want to hang larger art over the sofa (Eliza had a great collection of art, just sitting in boxes), but we didn’t have the proper hardware. Still, I think the new color added so much to the space, and the blue is gorgeous and changes depending on the light.
My short New York trip was a whirlwind, but it was a great experience. The Newfangled video crew, Apartment Therapy team, Glidden people, and renters were all fantastic to work with, and I’m proud of the work we did! I hope Lisa, Cassandra, and Eliza will enjoy their rooms, and I hope you all enjoyed following along.
Hot pink, actually. And bluish gray. And a third, to be decided upon color.
I’m in New York to help a few people with apartment makeovers for one of the sites I write for. It’s exciting stuff! I’ll be painting three rooms in three apartments in as many days, and I expect I’ll be exhausted by the end of it. You can see what I’m up to by following me on Instagram or Twitter — I’m makingitlovely on both. (Heck, while we’re at it, I’m makingitlovely on Facebook and Pinterest too.)
Did I mention that there will be a film crew? I had to go out and buy some painting-friendly but cute clothes, and I now own several inexpensive pairs of cropped pants. Woohoo? (They’re not bad, really, even if I do feel like a total ‘mom’ in them.)
I’m going to be spending some time in Brooklyn and Queens, so I’m glad to be venturing out past Manhattan for the first time. Here’s to you, New York!
How do you find color schemes for your home? I think it happens somewhat intuitively for me at this point, but I know I used to have to see all of the colors together before moving forward. I do still pull from fabrics, like from a really awesome throw pillow, or wallpaper. Even if I’m not actually using wallpaper in the space, it could be a good jumping off point. What about you?
I write for My Colortopia, and they’ve just put out a fun color quiz. I took it and my results were pretty accurate! No pink, but they’re probably not recommending that to anyone (because I’m the only adult that wants pink walls, ha). I’ve embedded the quiz below in case you want to give it a try. Let me know if it was accurate for you too (I’m curious!).
I have partnered with Glidden/ Akzo Nobel Paints to participate in the My Colortopia program but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
