With the current lighting situation outside, it's hard to really tell the difference in paint colors in these pictures. You'll have to take my word for it -- the new paint looks amazing. When it came to paint selection, the designer sent me an email with six options: Edgecomb Gray, Egret White, White Duck, French Canvas, Pale Oak, and Stonington Gray. The idea was to narrow it down to a few choices that I couldn't go wrong with. But sitting down to write this post, I had to verify in my email that it was only six choices; in my memory it was 10 to 15 choices, and it was completely overwhelming. I think I still had steam coming out my ears from the paint decision, by the time the lightbulb fiasco happened, and maybe my decision fatigue will make more sense in light of that.
Pale Oak was always the frontrunner because our realtor had mentioned that that's what she had in her house, and from what I've seen of her Instagram, I like her taste. I should have just left it at that, but instead I tried to find everything I could read online about it and all the others. Almost all the pictures and reviews of Pale Oak made me feel like it was the perfect choice: it's a warm greige with a high LRV that looks good in spaces with limited natural light (our house is south-facing). But one source said that depending on the lighting or floor color, it could look "fleshy." I wondered how it would look against our red floors. One writer pointed out that there is no perfect neutral, and you must sample the color in any and every space you planned to use it. That wasn't going to happen. I was able to eliminate a couple of the options outright, because I didn't like the pictures I found on the Internet. In the end it came down to Pale Oak and Edgecomb Gray. I picked Pale Oak and just prayed that it wouldn't end up looking weird anywhere.
Well, I couldn't have been more pleased with the result. Pale Oak is kind of a magical color in my opinion, because it changes throughout the day, and from one room to another. I love all the iterations I've seen in my house so far. When it's a little darker I see more of the gray, and sometimes when it's brighter it's a soft off-white. I fell in love with it and wanted it in every room. Tim got sick of it rather quickly, but I couldn't understand why, because it's NOT the same thing everywhere you use it. In fact, he painted the kids' bathroom with it, and it was such a delightful surprise the way it ended up looking in there. I'll show you another day. I think he just got tired of going back to the counter at Lowe's and asking for the same thing multiple days in a row because he kept underestimating how much he'd need.
After choosing a color for the majority of the house, the dining room color was an easy decision. Again, I was given a handful of options, but I think those other options were a formality, because Hale Navy was the only one that stood out to us. We loved how it turned out, and you'll be seeing it in a couple other rooms of this house.
Besides new paint, we replaced all the old "bug catcher" light fixtures with new ones in the kitchen, dining room and entry. The process was the same, being given a handful of options and either choosing one or asking for more. I think I/we asked for more options for the kitchen. When the eat-in kitchen fixture arrived, I was taken aback by the size of the box. The image I'd seen had not prepared me for the size of the thing. I do not think I would have chosen something that big if I'd seen it in person, like in a store; but I love what a statement it makes in there. It casts such pretty shadows on the wall too.
The kitchen will get extensive updating in the future, but for now we just removed the big pendant lights and put in new recessed lighting. It was very dim and dark before, so we are happy with how the changes have brightened it up.
More to come!
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