common ground : greige

Showing posts with label greige. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

A little "greige" for the coffee table....

or, how to make the elephant in the room

not so "noticeable".

This is a project I could see coming a long time ago...

The Living Room at the old house was a little more formal than this one at the new house is turning out. The big difference is that I sold my two massive damask twin sofas to my sister (where they look fabulous), and we purchased the Chesterfield Sofa and Love seat in a gray-griege lineny fabric when we moved to the lease house. I loved my sofas, but I knew that wherever we moved they probably would not fit and that was certainly the case at the smaller lease house.

Antique white French-y coffee table and end table.

AKA Momma and baby Dumbo...

Living Room at the old house with the twin Damask Sofas

Living Room at the lease house with the new Chesterfield set.

The Chesterfield sofas are a little more "masculine" in their lines and appearance, than something French-y. I had to choose wall colors and the rugs based on the color of those sofa fabrics. So now to my predicament. I want to use my antique white French-y coffee table and end tables again, which by the way are massive. We had a huge space to fill at the other house, so it swollowed up any and all furniture that came in there. But the new house Living Room, even though it's larger, still has it's issues with traffic flow and TV viewing. So I want these massive things to "blend in" to the room and seating area; not stand out. They look like small white elephants right now, I'm hoping a coat or two of a gray-taupe ASCP mix will work.

I painted this little accent table (below) when we moved to the lease house, just to have a place to set a lamp. I'm hoping to come close to this color finish on the coffee table and end tables. (more taupe and less green) I'm using Coco and Paris Gray, maybe with a little Old White. I'm not sure of the ratios, but I'm getting started this afternoon. The little table is in Benjamin Moore with a coating of liquid poly on top, but latex paints just don't hold up on a tabletop. I love this kind of project, just not a few days before we move. We're planning on the big move this Friday...Trick or Treaters beware!

(see how this little table just melts into the background)

I'll check back in with you a little later on this project.

Keep a good thought for me,

I'm hoping Greige is their color!

joining in on these parties:

The Scoop at Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Show and Share at Coastal Charm

Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

xoxo,

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Paint on the Brain

OK, I'm just going to come right out with it...I'm not a fan of the interior wall color in the new house. I'm just going to admit...up front...that I don't love those flesh colored walls. About 10 years ago that was one of the "it" wall colors, and I had it all over my other house. It took me 10 years to get it changed out and I don't want to go back. Please don't think I'm ungrateful...I'm super grateful for this wonderful house, but I'm still in love with all things "Greige".

(yes, I know the stairway downstairs looks like a big honkin' thing in the middle of the room. Well, it kinda is, but with furniture in the rooms, I know it will be balanced out.)

If you look closely you can see a pillow on the floor next to the front door. It's one of the pillows that came with my new linen-y Chesterfield Sofa, and honestly it looks "not so great" with this wall color. Hubbs and I had been making lists of all the things that we needed to take care of next month before we moved in and I was a little apprehensive to broach the subject. It's not like I can just say "Hey, let's paint the living room", since all the areas are open to each other. It's more like "Hey, let's paint the whole dang huge upstairs, we have nothing else to do or spend money on." I knew that if we didn't plan to do it now, it just wouldn't get done. He had a "moment", and then he said, "OK, what do you want to do?" I heaved a sigh of relief and ran for my Benjamin Moore paint color fan decks.

I just naturally head to Benjamin Moore for paint, as we've used it for most of our walls in our other houses. I've never had a problem with it, and they always have a huge selection of colors...down to the teensiest variations of Greige. I know what I'm up against since a couple of years ago when we painted the master bedroom and bath. At that point I wanted something darker and cozier. Now I want something lighter that's a combination of warm gray and beige. I gravitate toward "warmer" colors in decorating, and I find that a color that has elements of both can go a long way toward matching most anything.

These are photos of my old master bedroom with Stone Hearth at 125%. They look pretty washed out. Sorry, these aren't professional, just my attempt to photograph a dark room.

I tried about 6 colors of paint on the wall behind the bed. Greige can be tricky because you can run into undertones...pink, blues, greens, browns, even purple. I had one paint picked out that looked wonderful during the daytime, but became purple at night...no thanks. I know you've probably read this on many blogs, but the way to be sure of the undertones is to be mindful of the darkest color on your paint swatch/card. That darkest color will be your base color and undertone. I just hadn't considered this easy method. Glad I know now, it will save a lot of time, money, and a bunch of frustration.

I know paint changes once it goes up on a wall, and there are so many reasons; size of the room, amount of light, other colors, such as rugs and furniture that may reflect off of it, time of day etc., but for now I'm looking at these colors and hoping one of them will work. Love how they're such a wonderful combination of both warm grays and tans. We have high ceilings and wide open spaces, so I think it can handle a slightly deeper hue of color. Plus I think this color will make the white woodwork and mouldings really stand out.

Revere Pewter:

This is a good example of a Greige paired with "warm" furnishings.

and this photo shows it with lighter colored hardwoods.

Stone Hearth

(looks darker here)

I couldn't find room photos, but they are close, maybe just a little lighter.

Apparition

Shale

You can find all this info, sources, and more about Greige

on my Pinterest Board Wall Colors.

source

Grays and Greige are the trend in wall colors now, but not one that I think will be going away soon. Any neutral that works well with all shades of woods and fabrics is definitely a mainstay in home decorating. I'm having fun making plans. Can't wait to get my hands on this place!

Joining in at these great parties:
The Scoop at Cedar Hill Farmhouse
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
Show and Share at Coastal Charm
WOW at Savvy Southern Style

xoxo,

P.S. I finally was able to see "Fixer Upper" on HGTV, gosh so addictive.
LOVE their style!
P.P.S. Benjamin Moore did not sponsor this post, just love their paint.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Finding the perfect Greige...

You all are probably like me, and have this little memo board in your brain where you file away ideas and inspiration for projects... ideas that won't go away...but that you're just not yet ready to take on. Thoughts and plans for bringing something to life; it's just that we know it's not the time yet.

Sort of like little Pinterest Boards in your head...

Let me share some inspiration for that...

(remember you can click on any pic to make it BIG)

Last week I ran over to one of my favorite stores, Robin's Vintage Suitcase, here in Springfield. I know most of you have seen the posts I do on Robin's store. She doesn't sell on-line, but I like to share her displays and ideas for decor because there is always something to "take away" from just seeing the pics. I try to convey the atmosphere of her shop even though you might not ever be able to get there in person.

She keeps her displays fresh and current, so you never know what you'll see when you first walk in the door. That day I was smitten with her wonderful "gray" furniture and "whites" tablescape.

So, back to the deep recesses of my psyche where my Dining Room furniture lives. I've wanted to paint those pieces for. ever. But couldn't "get there" with the idea of just white. I've been thinking about the "stripped and weathered bare wood" look alot. Like this pic from Restoration Hardware.

...but, the gray, greige, idea has been vying for my attention. Some of you may remember that I painted my perfectly wonderful "gray" console a couple of years ago. (I'm not going to revisit that, some of you wanted to string me up) But I have to tell ya...that color of gray (with the blue undertones) just doesn't look good in my current surroundings where there's a lot of cream and tan. I need a paint color that has some gray, but with warm undertones. But, this wonderful gray paint patina on this old table just knocked me up the side of my head...

It's authentic, not recent...

see the green underneath peeking through?

As a companion piece,

Robin had painted this fabulous buffet in her homemade paint concoction.

(here are a couple more store pics)

(and for all you locals,

Robin's having a big sale that you might want to check out)

I scoured Pinterest looking for other wonderful gray, greige, beige,
"almost white with a little gray in it", furniture pieces...so take a look at these.

A couple of beautiful pieces from
Kelli Wright at Restore Interiors