And by full force, I mean that my husband keeps finding me standing in rooms that are yet to be done, staring into space and muttering about storage.
So it would seem that the whole "self improvement" drive that January usually inspires has passed me by. I have not the slightest inclination to go for a run or purchase a nutri-bullet. Home improvement though, that's keeping me awake at night. I have so many ideas, I can't wait to get to them all...blast my lack of time and money!
But last Friday was one of those rare days where the planets aligned and I actually had a few hours to spare. Gavin was off work, it was raining so we couldn't go anywhere, the kids from next door came in to play with Em and Max, keeping them entertained for hours, it was a perfect storm of events that combined to leave me standing in the shed, perusing my paint collection (ya know, cos we just paid for Christmas so any paint used was gonna have to already be in my possession), and it led to me painting the downstairs toilet and getting started on the playroom!
I'll be sharing the results with you just as soon as I get them completely finished, but today I want to talk about doors, and colour. You see in the course of my impromptu bathroom makeover I decided I was going to paint the inside of the door with some leftover chalkboard paint that I had (I thought it would be funny to have a bathroom door that guests could "grafitti" on)...and then I liked the black so much that I painted the whole door and the skirting....and then the playroom door....and the inside of the back door!
So yeah, I went a bit crazy with the black paint, but when I had the first one done it just looked so good that I had to keep going! The upshot is that my whole utility area now has matching black doors, and I LOVE them, but the doors in other parts of the house are white, and there's still a bare wood one in the sitting room that I've been threatening to paint white but never got around to. So it got me thinking about the different schools of thought around the colour scheme in a home, namely, "it should all match/complement" v "do what the hell you like".
I'm in favour of a burst of colour here and there, and years of living in apartments that were full-on magnolia has left me with an urge to put a SERIOUS stamp on this little house of mine, but at the same time I can totally appreciate that a cohesive, neutral pallet makes for a very relaxing, classy home.
So I was dithering, wondering whether I made a big mistake with the black doors. Should I paint them white instead? Should I paint all doors (at least downstairs) black? Should I give up the whole thing because I have no idea what I want?!!!!!!
So I did what I always do, searched Pinterest for examples, and I found.....this!!!!!
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| Just LOOK at it! It's so beautiful!! |
This Swedish house has the most amazingly striking hallway (complete with crazy painted doors) that I've ever seen...
....but off that hallway is an equally beautiful, but very neutral home!
Some of the colours from the hall are pulled in to the bathroom. I WANT that bath, and the painted ceiling is something I've been dying to try and will definitely be attempting in the playroom. And the tiles. The TILES!
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| I can't even.... |
You can see from the floor plan that the hall runs right through the middle of the home, with the neutral rooms opening off it, which is maybe part of the reason why it feels so.....not crazy!
I absolutely love the whole thing, and I wanted to share it with you as a bit of inspiration and reassurance if you feel like what you want to do in your home is "wrong" according to the design powers that be. I say if it makes you happy go for it, and when it's all said and done, if it doesn't work paint is easily changed ;)
*Note: I found the original image on Pinterest and it led me to this blog post:
http://clairebrodydesigns.com/consistent-color-throughout-the-home/
And the images are originally from this Swedish auctioneers site (only strengthening my feeling that auctioneers in this country really take the p*ss-I mean THIS is how you sell a house!):
http://objekt.fastighetsbyran.se/Objekt/?ObjektGID=OBJ6100_1330121931&p=P3qwrf
So what do you think? Would you go for such strong colour in your home? Should all the doors match or is it ok to have different colours in different areas? I want to know what you think dammit!
I'll be finishing up the bathroom this week hopefully so I'll share the whole thing with you then ;)
