Apr 19, 2011

Paint: 1; Mindy: 0

Excuse my crankiness today. I spent all of yesterday painting my office purple.

Um, what...?? Weren't you painting it gray?

Why, yes, yes I was. I was hoping for something like this...


or maybe this...


or even this.


What did I get? This.


No -- you do not need to adjust your monitor. It's purple.

And to be fair, it doesn't actually look TOO bad in these pictures. But it has a very distinct purple tint in person. It's soooo close to the color I wanted. I loved how it looked while I was cutting in, and even on the first two walls. Then, the light changed, and suddenly BAM. It was purple. 

The hubs thought a second coat would help. It didn't.


It's not a bad color -- actually, it's kind of pretty. I could totally see it in a French country-inspired guest bedroom. But it's not what we were going for. 

The color we picked was Gentle Rain by Behr. We even bought a sample and put it on the wall, and I swear it didn't look purple to us, not even a little.  It's on the bottom.


But I think the pink kept it from looking so purple. And now, the other two colors we liked are starting to look purple too.


I feel like we did everything right, too. We bought samples, put them on the wall in three places, studied them in all lights. Really, we weighed the decision for like three weeks. Where did we go wrong??

Sigh. I guess we're back to square one. It really irritates me to waste $30+ and a whole day of my time, but at least paint isn't too hard to change. Our weekends are pretty booked up or the next few weeks, so I don't know when we'll get around to this. We may have to live with the purple walls for a little while...

Anyone have any gray paint suggestions that aren't actually lavender? We pretty much tried all the swatches from Behr, so we'll have to branch out. Maybe we'll need more of a greige to offset the light in there and keep the grays from looking too...what's that word? Lilacy. (Okay, that's not really a word, but you get what I'm saying.)

I'm actually kind of missing the pink! Who would have thought?? :)


In happier news, my new map decor was featured on Christina's Adventures! I'm so flattered!! Every week, Christina hosts a link party to feature projects that are $20 or less. She has done tons of awesome thrifty DIY projects, but my favorite is her pretty stenciled desk. Someday maybe I'll be brave enough to stencil something like this. You have to check it out! 

Thank you, Christina! It really cheers me up after the purple-wall fiasco...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Try Sherwin William Popular Gray. I color matched it with Lowes Olympic since it's cheaper and no VOC. I painted both my living room and kitchen and love it. It's mostly gray but does have tint of beige in it. Good luck with choosing your next color.

Unknown said...

It's really not that purple!! And I saw it in person, so I know :)

for the love of a house said...

hi Mindy!!
I spotted a cute face on my new followers and wanted to come by say hello!! And look, you're a "neighbor"!! I LOVE Maine!
Don't feel bad, colors are difficult. Might I suggest you go to a Benjamin Moore/Sherwin Williams store and look at grays that you like... then look at the darkest color on the color strip and it will help to see what "base colors" are in the gray... blue, green, purple. Seeing the undertones might help you pick a color that once it's on the wall you will be happy with. You can then take the color strip to HD/Lowes and have it color matched.

Also, I use a lot of grays in the farmhouse, and have them listed on my sidebar under "my paint colors." They might be a helpful "jumping off" point.

good luck!!
joan

kerri - mcrenovators said...

i actually kind of like the teeny hint of purple undertones. i LOVE gray. but i don't like straight gray. i think it can start to look too dingy and be too dreary. so a little undertone of color is never bad!

but..

benjamin moore has some really great grays...
covington gray
stonington gray

we just painted our bedroom cobblestone by martha stewart - using behr ultra paint - it's a darker gray... it's kinda sexy :)

Ramblingsofgeo said...

I had this problem, had insurance work done and when they were painting my new 'light blue' room, i suddenly realsied it looked lilac-y...
i was like 'errm, does it look lilac to you' decorator: 'you dont like it do you'
he knew instantly my thoughts! haha

Thing is, now i love it, its so re-freshing and different :)
try and go with it, get some nice fresh white and chrome accessories and it will look more grey! x

Christina said...

OK...you'll see the SAME problem on my blog very shortly...gray paint is SO hard!! from the pictures...it doesn't really look purple to me though. Maybe just give it a few days...put some things in the room, and see if it still gives off the purple vibe...?

THANKS for the shout-out too...you're awesome!! :)

Mindy @ Heart Maine Home said...

Thanks all! We tried to like it, but even though it's not terribly purple, it became all we could see. We have a zillion samples on the wall now and still. no. decision. The light in there, or the current wall color, gives almost every gray color a hint of lavender...or maybe we're just crazy! (Okay, I know we're crazy :) )

Since we're not loving any of the straight grays, we'll probably end up with something a little more blue or green.