As we all know I am in the process of renovating our entire house. It's crazy, but true.
I don't usually question my love affair with white. White and I are soul mates. It makes me happy and satisfied every time. I always say "when in doubt, paint it out." In white, that is. I fearlessly painted out all the oak cabinets in my kitchen. Pretty much nothing escapes my roller and brush and I've no regrets. Until now.
Recently I was left to wonder: Is my commitment to white a real commitment at all? Or is it that when it comes to other colours, I just can't bear to go steady? Do I have colour commitment phobia?
Case in point: My daughter's bath. Well, it is a bathroom shared by my daughter and son, but my daughter is older and much more design savvy than many women in their mid-forties, so guess who has the upper hand in the design of this little loo for two? Hint: not the one wearing dinosaur underwear and a Ferrari ball cap while squirting Spiderman bubble bath all over the place.
Anyway, after being inspired by the movie Mama Mia, Sofia (of the dreamy lavender oasis bedroom) chose a stunning Mediterranean glass accent tile for her tub surround and backsplash. I was open to this at first, then when it came time to actually order it I panicked and got the same product in the white blend. Blue, green and turquoise tiles, however sparkly and beach glassy seemed like too much. I had cold feet.
Sofia was devastated by the white tiles. You see, I crushed her vision. As I mentioned before, she has very sophisticated taste for a seven year old. She has watched Design Inc. and Sarah's House religiously since she was two. So now I have been back-pedaling trying to come up with a brilliant Mama Mia-esque design scheme worthy of a Greek Villa that exists only in the imagination of my star struck child. Great.
I have come up with a few ideas, but am open to suggestions. The top third of the walls will be painted in brilliant Mama Mia blue (otherwise known as deep turquoise). I will search the ends of the earth for nautical striped towels to be hung on some sort of rustic Greek-ish bath hardware. I have not seen anything inspiring in the way of shower curtains or bath accessories for ages, so keeping an eye out. Finally, my little collector will love shiny glass apothecary jars filled with sea shells, beach glass and other earthly delights. Even though her tiles will be white, hopefully she will overcome her bathroom blues.
PS: I was recently redeemed as head decorator of the house when, on a recent episode of Sarah's House, Sarah herself tried to do a blue accent tile in a bathroom and ended up retreating to the safe, fresh and beautiful confines of white. Imagine me, a grown woman in her mid-thirties pointing at the flatscreen and saying "See? Sarah said white tile IS better! Ha!" while my daughter raised one perfectly arched eyebrow at me. After thinking it over for a moment she said, "Maybe white tile is better... for resale." That's my girl!
Showing posts with label paint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paint. Show all posts
Friday, June 11, 2010
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Lavender dreams
It has been about a month and I am embroiled in a love-hate relationship with our new-old house. I look around and am intoxicated by the airiness and space all around me. Then I am overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work ahead of us and I want to get intoxicated.
It seems in both life and renovations certain things must happen in a certain order before one can actually proceed with the project of desire. I call it the can of worms effect. Let me give you an example. We would like nothing more than to replace the mish-mash of worn, outdated flooring throughout the main. But, we were warned, don't bother putting down a beautiful new floor until you fix that ceiling, which would mean new drywall and don't forget the potlights, which would mean we might as well get the plumbing sorted out for the master bath located above said ceiling, which could potentially mean gutting our bathroom to start fresh, which could mean doing the kids bath since we'll already have the plumber handy.... and so on.
So, in an effort to stay positive, upbeat and sane I decided to start small and work on rooms that require no modification to the structural, electrical or plumbing. This is how my daughter's room was elected to be the first finished room in the new house. Besides, she is the one adjusting to a new school, new friends, new surroundings and it would be nice for her to have a little sanctuary to retreat to when she gets home. It seemed paint was a logical place to start. Initially she wanted her same paint colour, a pale lavender, then it was light blue and hot pink polka dots, then back to lavender. This was much to our relief. Turns out neither my hubby nor I were quite prepared for our little girl to have a blue room, however girly the shade. I showed Sofia all the tear sheets I had collected from design mags before she was born and shortly after. Everything was lavender, lilac, pink and white. She seemed impressed that I had collected all these images with her in mind. The next day she tapped my arm and said, "Mum, I think I still want a lavender room."
I found myself at the paint store buying what I thought was the same paint as her old room. It was not. It was more akin to grape hubba bubba than lilac or lavender. I added more and more white, mixed and mixed and mixed and finally matched the paint to the original swatch from her old room. I will not disclose exactly how much white paint we used, but if anyone is in need of purple paint, let me know, I have gallons! Another tricky paint discovery: her new room, though larger, has a smaller window and different directional exposure. This means the identical paint looks darker. It's crazy. But with crisp, white bookshelves, crown moulding and baseboards and white painted antique furniture with sparkly glass knobs, let's face facts- it's going to be adorable. Her vintage crystal chandelier is already up and sparkling and her Eiffel Tower collection is just waiting to be displayed.
Confession: I have a feeling Sofia won't be the only one enjoying the restful lavender tones and the prismatic glow of the chandelier after a long, hard reno-filled day. But only one of us will be sipping a chilled bubbly rose.
It seems in both life and renovations certain things must happen in a certain order before one can actually proceed with the project of desire. I call it the can of worms effect. Let me give you an example. We would like nothing more than to replace the mish-mash of worn, outdated flooring throughout the main. But, we were warned, don't bother putting down a beautiful new floor until you fix that ceiling, which would mean new drywall and don't forget the potlights, which would mean we might as well get the plumbing sorted out for the master bath located above said ceiling, which could potentially mean gutting our bathroom to start fresh, which could mean doing the kids bath since we'll already have the plumber handy.... and so on.
So, in an effort to stay positive, upbeat and sane I decided to start small and work on rooms that require no modification to the structural, electrical or plumbing. This is how my daughter's room was elected to be the first finished room in the new house. Besides, she is the one adjusting to a new school, new friends, new surroundings and it would be nice for her to have a little sanctuary to retreat to when she gets home. It seemed paint was a logical place to start. Initially she wanted her same paint colour, a pale lavender, then it was light blue and hot pink polka dots, then back to lavender. This was much to our relief. Turns out neither my hubby nor I were quite prepared for our little girl to have a blue room, however girly the shade. I showed Sofia all the tear sheets I had collected from design mags before she was born and shortly after. Everything was lavender, lilac, pink and white. She seemed impressed that I had collected all these images with her in mind. The next day she tapped my arm and said, "Mum, I think I still want a lavender room."
I found myself at the paint store buying what I thought was the same paint as her old room. It was not. It was more akin to grape hubba bubba than lilac or lavender. I added more and more white, mixed and mixed and mixed and finally matched the paint to the original swatch from her old room. I will not disclose exactly how much white paint we used, but if anyone is in need of purple paint, let me know, I have gallons! Another tricky paint discovery: her new room, though larger, has a smaller window and different directional exposure. This means the identical paint looks darker. It's crazy. But with crisp, white bookshelves, crown moulding and baseboards and white painted antique furniture with sparkly glass knobs, let's face facts- it's going to be adorable. Her vintage crystal chandelier is already up and sparkling and her Eiffel Tower collection is just waiting to be displayed.
Confession: I have a feeling Sofia won't be the only one enjoying the restful lavender tones and the prismatic glow of the chandelier after a long, hard reno-filled day. But only one of us will be sipping a chilled bubbly rose.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
