Decorating Diaries: Early Results

I hope Blair likes orange...Blair is in Fayetteville, so I came home from today's run and started painting. It's easier to just jump in and start the process versus waiting for him and having the discussions on whether we ought to wait until we have a clear schedule to tackle such a project (Him- yes, Me-no) and if taping is necessary to protect the trim (Him-yes, Me-no) and if the cats should be locked up while we paint (Him-yes, Me-no -- see a trend?).

I've got one coat up on half the hall but so far I'm liking it. It's a little more orange than I expected. Lowe's was WAY off on so many of the sample colors they gave me that I went to Sherwin Williams where they did a color match on the sample and it's dead on. The Lowe's sample I'd brought home had a tad more yellow to it, but not much. I'm still pleased. It looks like a fiesta in the hall. 

Once the hall is painted, it's time to take down the tacky 70's chandeliers and maybe think about getting a rug and some artwork in there. But one thing at a time. Dinner, and then I have another half of a hall to paint. What remains to be painted of the beige hall

Decorating Diaries: The Hall

We're long overdue for a Decorating Diaries post. So in an effort to entertain readers and drive Blair to the edge of madness, I've decided it's time to paint the hall.

This is no small task. Our hall runs the length of our home and I get cold chills at the amount of cut-in work that's going to be required to get this puppy painted. Still, I'm desperate. Years ago a designer convinced me that the hall should be beige. Every instinct I had fought against it, but she rationalized it by saying that since we wanted color in all our rooms, the hall should remain a neutral so that the colors could be off-shoots and not clash.

We painted the hall beige and it's been a dead zone ever since. No life. No light. So clash-smash. I'm throwing some color up on those ten-foot walls and not looking back. 

Unfortunately, as long time readers of this blog and anyone who has ever seen me dressed in public knows, I am not the most color-coordinated individual. Hence the rainbow hall that you see here. Blair said I could use this part of the hall for testing. I quickly outgrew my testing space though, and moved on to the wall opposite. 

I can not be blamed for the ugly colors you see here. THAT IS NOT WHAT THE PAINT CARDS LOOKED LIKE. There is some sort of Lowe's conspiracy where the paint in the can never, ever matches the card sample. Hence the neon yellow, baby-turd gold, and bright pink you see above. 

But I think we've found our color. I'm digging this "Pumpkin Harvest" color on the top in the photo to the left. I'm going back today and getting a sample a shade or two lighter, but this is pretty close to it. I have visions of our hall feeling year round like a fall harvest on a bright sunny day. Or else it's going to look like someone threw mustard on our walls and we were too lazy to wipe it off. Either way, I'm only painting this hallway once. 

First my hair, now the hall. What else can I destroy with color?