Friday, November 27, 2009

Crayola Crayons

  When I was young I loved the box of 64 Crayola crayons. At the beginning of the school year I would get a new box. It was yet another thing that I loved to smell. Opening that box and inhaling deeply of the new fresh crayon fragrance I always chose my favorite colors first. My favorite colors were Burnt Sienna, Magenta, Midnight Blue, and Forest Green. Then there were the second place colors, and third place colors. The metals were fun too and mix it all up with black. I loved to make a squiggly scribble  all over a piece of paper with black and then color it in; a junior Picasso.


  So now that I am an "adult" (ah-hem) I find that I am navigating back to that color crayon box. I really like color. I like color on my walls! Not scribbling on the walls, color on the walls. I also like warm colors and rich tones- forget the pastel stuff.

So here it is.

  This hallway is ready for painting. It is not a small job. It requires scaffolding. Not a place to chose a color and then change your mind. I am so sick of this sage green I could rename it puke green. I had thought about painting it the same color as the living room which I do like. There is a big BUT here though; the hall has poor lighting. I have thought of a solar light but the roof is too steep for the honey to navigate, the pitch would pitch him to his untimely demise.   Having a two story hallway limits options for adding electrical lighting. The color choice is moo-ie importanto! I'm thinking about the honey butter color because it is lighter than the front room but in the same color family, but I am not crazy in love with the color. The dilemma is--I hang pictures in this hall, a lot of them, a virtual gallery of them. Pictures look better against a strong color, it makes them just pop. So what do I do? Ignore the bad lighting and paint with a strong color? Midnight blue? (just teasin)  The same as the living room? And to make it all worse my camera did not reproduce the color swatches accurately.

What do you do when you are making big decisons? Eat pie? Drink more coffee? Sleep on it again? The time has come the walrus said," to paint it!"

11 comments:

Rosie_Kate said...

Oh, you know I'm terrible about choosing paint colors. I LOVE the colors I have in my house now, but that was after much agonizing.

One piece of advice: get sample cans. Colors look so much different from the swatch when you get them on the wall. Some paint stores will sell you little half-pint cans so you can paint a test-patch. I'm telling you, it's worth it' weight in gold.

Tricia said...

A couple of ideas.
Go with a lighter color on the walls, say golden mushroom and then get a really poppin color like japanese koi and paint the frames.
Also, if you hang mirrors, they will pick up some of the light already there and make it appear brighter.
One more thing, if you pick a darker color and then paint one wall with that and mix the rest with white, it brightens the dark wall up a bit. I did that in the girls room.
I hope you figure out what you want. Enjoy the process. :) God bless.

Chris H said...

Make sure it's a light colour.. and a warm colour.
Don't go dark!
And think about it HEAPS then just go for it.

Jeanie said...

When I have to make these kinds of decisions I procrastinate. That is why I have a few walls that need new paint right now. Sounds like Tricia above has her act together with these kinds of decisions. I may need to have her come by my house.

English Cottage in Georgia said...

I certainly identify with the problem of choosing paint colors. What makes paint so difficult is the same color in a different room with different lighting looks so DIFFERENT! With less hallway lighting as a factor, you might want to consider going up the paint color chart one or two shades lighter than the living room with more light.

Michelle said...

Currently, I have a color close to that Japanese Koi on the kitchen, family room and hallway walls in my old home. I love it. I enjoy color in my house very much. I always "sleep on it" when I have a decision to make. Things always look different in the morning.

Twisted Fencepost said...

I sleep on it and sleep on it until I come up with something I like.
You could paint the main picture wall a deep warm color and then the walls around it a coordinating lighter color.
Can't wait to see what you decide.

Mental P Mama said...

I just painted my front hall! The color is called Light Silver Sage from Restoration Hardware. It is a gorgeous blue-silver and it goes with everything. Everything! Go for it!

LDF said...

I have to "live with" new colour choices for a while to see if we fit together. However, I live in an apartment and can't change wall colours so I'm limited to changing accessories. Right now I'm really into RED ! Good luck!

farmlady said...

I like the Honey Butter color because it goes with the livingroom but it's not going to make the stair well small and gloomy. You don't want to paint this space with a dark color because you going to cover the walls with pictures anyway and you want it to be a good "background" color for all of them.
Hang those colors on the stairs and look at it day and night. Colors can look very different at night than they do during the day.

The only dark color I would even consider would be red. It can almost be a neutral color on a wall and everything looks great against it.
Ultimately it's your decision. Just drink some coffee and go for it.

Unknown said...

You always make me smile. I am a bad decider about things like that. Very bad.