Tuesday 7 March 2017

Lost in a confusion of colours


Guys, I feel like I have been stuck in a bizarre purgatory, and I just emerged today, gasping for air, blinking in the sudden light of day. 
For the past four days, I've been all-consumed by the frustrating search for the right colour. 

I stopped doing yoga. 
I stopped showering.  
I stopped social media. (Kinda.)
I stopped writing. 
I stopped eating. (Bahahaha, just messing with ya - it takes way more than that to make me stop eating!)
It was all about the colour - I needed to find the right COLOUR*!

*For our bedroom/my office.


Let's start at the beginning. 
On the last day of February, I made a little list of things I want to accomplish in March. I'm partial to lists, because they make me at least 67% more successful in accomplishing my goals. 
Be it because I get an unreasonable amount of satisfaction from crossing items off the list, or be it that I'm so scatterbrained, I lose track of my goals if I don't write them down - I made the list, and I was motivated

First item: To paint our home. I've wanted to paint the walls of our new(ish) (is it still considered "new" after 3+ months? To me, it is) home since the day we moved in, but I procrastinated for three important reasons:
1. I'm lazy. 
2. I know how much work it is, and how much cursing painting will involve (which is sort of an extenuation of the above point I already made - but more eloquently, no?). 
3. I didn't know what colour to paint it in. 

Now, I've been heavily influenced by the ladies from A Beautiful Mess, and I partially blame them for my indecisiveness. You see, they are all about white walls. And white walls look so pretty on Instagram!

So, when we moved in, I secretly planned on painting it all white, put lots of "pops of colour" into random places, and become Instagram-famous. (#followme

Well. 

The longer we lived there, the less enthusiastic I grew about that idea. 
We have lots of white trim everywhere, and when I was younger, I thought that the white trim/coloured walls look was the height of sophistication. 

Please note the white trim around the windows. I love it. 

I have no idea if it is or it isn't, but the fact remains, I like it. And I was very reluctant to sacrifice my pretty white trim in the name of Instagram-stardom. (Again: #followme)

I considered painting the walls white and the trim a different colour, but felt that it would look like a teenager who tries eyeliner for the first time: Clumsy and like I'm trying too hard.

What to do? I knew I had to make a decision now: I have a couple of weeks off, I have my list, I needed to get started on this project asap. 

Luckily, our local Home Depot offers this nifty service of "paint samples", which are small, 8-ounce cans of paint for 5 bucks. I went back, day after day, getting another sample to try and make up my mind. 

I had a weak moment and took something home that was dangerously close to beige. (Bleh.)
Fortunately, I came to my senses shortly after, and disregarded the beige sample. 
(The day I start to regard beige as "sensible" and "nice", is the day you may shoot me.)

I tried my old faithfuls: orange and yellow (neutrals in my book).


It was - okay. 
But it didn't make my heart sing with joy. 

Also, in real life the colour of the wall looked so much like the colour of the furniture that it gave it a weird camouflage effect - and not in a good way. The walls basically swallowed the bed and the nightstand, and I was not happy about it. 

So, after an exhausting day of taping, prepping, moving furniture, removing all the nails and screws, priming the walls not once, but twice (that olive green had a strong presence), and painting two coats of orange me happy (and doing some glazing afterwards that was a big FAIL) - I went back to the paint store the next day. 
They all know me by now, we've become good buddies!

I decided to go with my deepest, most secret desire - the one I thought I could never live out as long as I was married to, well, a guy. (A guy's guy. One of those manly ones.)

I wanted pink. 

I looked at coral, salmon, cherry, and all the other pretty names, but I knew what shade of pink I wanted: 
The shade that reminds you of the first cone of raspberry ice cream at the beginning of summer. 
The shade that makes boys want to kiss you when they look at your lips. 
The sort of pink that that makes you feel happy, optimistic, and pretty. 

I knew exactly what it looked like. 
Before, I had been standing in front of the hundreds of different paint colours at the store for what seemed like hours, staring at them, trying to make a decision, but failing miserably - always walking away feeling defeated. 

This time, I marched right up to the wall, and chose the colour without a moment's hesitation. 

This colour:


I'm over the moon about it! I've had this huge, silly grin on my face all day today whenever I laid eyes on my new walls. 
So.damn.excited. 

"What about your husband?" I hear you ask.

I gave him cows, people. It's only fair that he's giving me pink walls.

It's all about compromise.



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10 comments

  1. Cows for pink walls sounds like a totally fair trade to me. We had a pink bedroom when we were first married and I loved it. It just made me happy. The people who moved in after us (friends of ours) painted it beige. That should be against the law, shouldn't it?

    We have lived in our house for seven years and our bedroom is still white. I keep saying I will paint it after I buy new bedding but I can't find just the right bedding. Subconscious procrastination, maybe?

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    1. Oh gosh, I know that feeling so well. In our last house it took me over 10 years before I had painted all the rooms the way I liked it. Painting is a pain, and seems a big commitment, even though it isn't really.
      I always admire all the white rooms on Instagram and Pinterest, it looks so serene and is easy to decorate. Maybe you're meant to keep the walls white?

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  2. I feel that "I gave him cows" is destined to become a fantastic catchphrase for this site :)
    I'm glad you came to a compromise as being inspired/happy in a space that you spend so much time is so important. I hope it brings you many smiles in the future.

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    Replies
    1. Ooohhh, you're so right about the catchphrase! Such a great idea 💜
      My walls still make me smile, and I found a use for the orange - it's now adorning our guest bedroom. It goes so well with the dark furniture and white trim, I like it in there much better!

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  3. The pink is pretty! It reminds me of raspberry push up pops that I loved as a kid. I can't imagine that Rich minds it too much. Do guys really care about paint, pink or otherwise?

    And you did give him cows. So heck yeah - pink it is.

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    1. Exactly. The other day in a moment of weakness/enlightenment?, he admitted that it goes well with the decor of the room. Success!

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  4. Cows forpink walls is a totally fair trade! I LOVE THE PINK!

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    1. Hehe, I told him that for every cow he buys, I'll paint another wall pink 😂

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  5. I love colorful walls! I've almost always had white walls and I find them so boring.

    BTW, funny story. All this time I thought I was following you on Instagram. But it turns out what I thought was your account was actually the account of a friend's mom. A friend's mom that I've never met and don't know anything about. And now I'm following you too. :-)

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    Replies
    1. Hahaha, really? That IS funny! What does she post? Lots of animal pictures? Do we look alike? Too awesome. I just found you, too!

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