Changing Colors

We have been very lucky to have found a wonderful painter.  It has been a great recommendation from a friend.

W is a fantastic painter.  I guess that shouldn't be a surprise.  He's been painting for 36 years.

Hubby does not enjoy painting.  At all.  Obviously, he has done it in the past.  But he usually grumbles through it.

W painted our family room about 4 years ago.  We have a cathedral ceiling, so Hubby was definitely not liking the idea of painting that room himself.

After W finished the painting the entire room(including ceiling) in 2 days, Hubby said it was the best money he's ever spent on a house project.

Of course, I think he forgot that when we painted the kitchen 2 years ago.  Because he decided to do it himself and it took forever.  And he grumbled through the entire job.

Fast forward to now.

We have decided to get some painting done in the house and Hubby is happy to get W to do it for him.

The dining room is first up.

W came today to get started.  He's being very patient with me.

It has taken me forever to pick colors.  I have been thinking about colors since the fall.  I only got really serious in the last 3 weeks knowing that W would be starting this week.

Drop cloths in place.  The girls were so funny when they came home from school. They were playing the piano through the drop cloth.  And playing well.  E cracked me up when she muttered to herself, "ok, there's middle c".

My gut has told me to try a dark brown.  Hubby has been game.  My gut has also told me that a dark brown in the whole room would be way too dark.

So, my thinking became do a dark brown on top and a lighter one on the bottom. Again, Hubby was game.

Then thoughts turned to which browns.  Let me tell you there are a lot of browns. Benjamin Moore has some great colors.  Lots of colors.

The Benjamin Moore website is fun to look at when picking colors.  I spent so much time on the website and going to my local paint store to look at paint cards, my mind was dizzy with paint color choices.

Finally, last week we decided on doing Hasbrouck Brown for the top and Jackson Tan on the bottom.  The trim and the chair rail will be Calming Cream.

Calming cream is the color we chose for the kitchen.  We used it to paint the cabinets and for all the trim and doors.  It's a really nice creamy color.

So after running some errands this morning, I stopped at the house before picking D&E up from school.

Because I was a little nervous about the Hasbrouck Brown, W told me he would do one of the walls with both colors and the trim color.  To give me an idea of what it will look like, so that I am happy with my choice before he finishes the whole room.

Thank you W.  That was a great idea.

When I walked in the house to see how it looked, my first look almost gave me a heart attack.  "What am I doing?" went through my head.

He had painted the dark up top, the trim, but had not yet painted the lighter brown on the bottom.

The paint was wet and very shiny.  Blinding shiny.  W must have seen the look on my face because he reminded me that the paint was wet.  "Don't worry about the shine.  It will go away," he reassured me.

I still gulped a few times.

Then I left.

To get the girls.  And think.  A lot of what I  thought was "Oh shoot!  If I don't like the brown, what the heck color am I going to paint the dining room!?!?"

Then I got home again.  And W had left for the day.  Hopefully I didn't scare him by looking so shocked.

Now, he had both colors painted on the wall.  And it wasn't the awful that I thought it was before.

View into the kitchen.

I think the hardest thing to get past is that it is such a change from the bright yellow/gold that we have had for the last 5 years.

I stood in the room for at least 5 minutes.  Just soaking it in.  Picturing the room finished, with artwork on the walls, and a new rug.

And I decided that I really did like it.  It's a change.  And sometimes change is hard. But, I think this change is going to be good.

The best thing is, it's just paint.  If I decide in 6-12 months that I really don't like it, then we can paint it again.  Of course, I may let W pick the color if that happens!

E(all dressed for lacrosse) posing in front of the painted wall.  Love silly E.

W should be finished by Friday with the room.  Because it was warm and a bit humid today, the paint wasn't drying as quick as he was hoping it would dry. 

I am sure he is hoping it will dry quicker tomorrow and Friday.  

I can't wait to see the finished product.  

potd #79.  Big change in the dining room.