Fun With Paint

I'm currently working with a really fun client (and good friend of mine:) on redoing her main floor. She and her husband have a great sense of style and an adorable 2-year old. This project has been particularly exciting because she and her husband really value wanting their house to project who they are creatively and as a family, and so they are willing to take some "risks." I put " " around risk, because it's been an interesting process to see how different clients define that word. Let me give you some context.

We've decide to use the infamous Schumacher pattern Chiang Mai Dragon in the alabaster colorway as the jumping off point.

The pattern and colors definitely define this couple's bold, spunky flair. We have just finished painting the living/dining area, and lucky for me they decided to do a more unconventional paint job.

I pulled out the gray-blue color in one of the flowers in the pattern and used Benjamin Moore's Iced Slate in a high gloss finish for the crown molding, baseboards, doors and window trim. I used Benjamin Moore's Decorator's White on the walls. I couldn't be more excited about the finished product! My client's house is a row house that has an unusual floor plan that is long and narrow. She wanted to brighten, freshen and open up the space but also wanted to do something a bit different than the traditional white trim and this color scheme certainly does the trick.

In my own home, I wanted to do something a bit different with my paint scheme downstairs. I chose to paint the walls white, the ceiling a light blue and my window trim black. Trust me, my husband gave me a few dubious looks, but once the paint was applied he fell in love with it.

Paint is a great, inexpensive tool as it can mask, emphasize, obscure, widen or narrow a room. Farrow and Ball is one of my favorite paint companies, and they are a company that really understands the magic of paint.

As my client and I were deciding on our paint game plan, it was interesting to hear the feed back she got from many of her friends that came over. She said she got a lot of weird faces when explaining what we planned to do with the paint, which brings me back to my earlier point of how one defines "risk." I think most people default to the traditional paint scheme of white on the ceiling, color on the walls, and white on the trim. This isn't a bad look, but there are more options, ways to manipulate and apply paint to transform a room. However, if you aren't exposed to what those options are or have never seen it done, it most likely doesn't make sense in some one's head or they have trouble visualizing it. This is where an interior designer can be extremely helpful - especially if you are wanting to do something a bit off the beaten path - we are here to help create the overall vision and to give you confidence that it will work as I assured my client that I would never suggest an idea that I didn't think would look good.

My client was thrilled how it turned out, and at the end of the day the room looks and feels like she and her husband, and that is the most important thing.