For some, this is an easy thing. For me, it is most definately not. In the 5 or so years that we have been renovating our home room by room I think I have chosen the "right" color the first time maaaaybe once or twice. Some of my mistakes are fixable; the guest bedroom that looked more "Welcome, Baby Boy!" than icy blue was rectified by the addition of a whole lotta white paint and a mixing stick. Voila! Perfect! A jungle cane green with a wee bit too much yellow oxide in the color mix that made the Mr's eyes bug out of his head was toned down with a little bit of urban grey-brown. All it took was a couple trips to the local Rona and some of my special mix blobbed on a paper for them to match and we were set!
This last room in our house, the recroom or games room - was *supposed* to have been a "fun" and lively color. The kids and I were really wanting something completely different than the muddy, earthy neutral type colors used throughout the rest of the house. A nice deep red, or bright electric blue. Granted, neither would really work that well with the rustic wide plank flooring we chose, or the prohibition era artwork I intend to hang, but they would be perfect for a room with old arcade and pinball machines. Sensibility and practicality usually wins out in the long run.I usually agonize over little 1 inch by 4" strips with tiny little squares of multiple shades, humming and hawing over them until my family is weary of hearing about it. Perhaps that is the problem? I might have a better result if I just close my eyes and point, or eeeny-meeny-miney-mo it.
Look at this house - it appears the owners couldn't decide on a color either! One thing I love about owning a home where we intend to stay a lifetime is that we have the freedom to paint a wall in our house any color we want to, really. We don't have to worry about resale value or market appeal, or color trends vs blah builder beige neutrals. We could paint each wall in our home a different color in everything from orange to purple to blue to sunshine yellow. Of course, I don't think I'd actually want to live in a house of rainbow colors, on the inside or the outside, but that's beside the point. ;p
So what did we choose? We mixed all of the half and quarter gallon cans of interior eggshell paint we had kickin' around into one big bucket and that's what we ended up with. Limey green, browns, a couple shades of blue, that jungle cane green, and some black. All went into the magic bucket as we held our breath and stirred away.
As could be expected, I am not sure I'm happy with the color. At times it looks like a nice enough grey that I can work with. I could splash a little color in the room with the artwork and throw cushions for the couch. Other times it reminds me of sickening seafoam green and I just want to hurl. Is it grey? Or green? It's gray. Whew! Um... no it's definately green. Seafoam green. Is there a more awful color? Not in my world. I am hoping the color grows on me, or changes dramatically as it ages a bit, or when the wood flooring is installed and the bright white trim goes on.
If I still *really* hate it, Mr. Redneck Hillbillies said we could paint it any color we wanted. Just not red. Or orange. Or anything remotely similar to pink or purple. And definately not blue, because that would be stupid. Or anything too bright, or too dark, or too.... TOO.So it looks like we're left with the usual selection of earthy, muddy greybrowns and greens. Can't win for losin'.
