Are You Ready For Some Mushroom?

As I mentioned previously,

G.O. has been busily replacing all of our original woodwork upstairs.

Before:

During:

More during:

Yet more during:

And, in conclusion, even more during:

My goal for all this beautiful woodwork?

I want to paint it gray with warm white walls.

This time I’m choosing a gray

which skews a bit more beige than plain Jane gray.

Something just like this,

which (my personal favorite), Country Living magazine,

is calling Mushroom:

A Pinterest search for Mushroom yielded this yummy photo:

I have a Pittsburgh Paint fan deck upstairs this morning,

hoping to find the most perfect Mushroom.

The good news is that I found 3 contenders!

The lightest — Swirling Smoke:

Or perhaps something in the medium range, Ghost Writer:

Or the darkest Mushroom, Stonehenge Greige:

(Greige is another word for Mushroom, by the way.)

Here’s my inspiration photo again:

My 2 top contenders are the medium, Ghost Writer,

or, if I am brave enough, the dark, Stonehenge Greige.

Stay tuned!

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Has Gray Finally Had Its Day?

G.O. has been busy with the woodwork upstairs,

so it’s now or never for me to select a paint color for said woodwork.

I’m thinking a medium to dark color with white walls.

G.O. wasn’t on board at first, as he often isn’t.

The last time I had darker woodwork with white walls was in 1985,

when I chose a pretty gray

from the Benjamin Moore Historical Colors Collection.

How 80’s of me!

Fun fact:  Benjamin Moore still has their Historic Colors Collection!

Back to my dark woodwork with white walls aspirations.

This:

Yum!  Notice the wainscoting,

which is painted with the same color as the woodwork.

Upstairs, we happen to have a pretty embossed wainscot of our own:

Sad!

I can’t wait to see that original feature shine,

once it’s painted something darker, with white walls.

My first thought was gray, which had me asking:

Isn’t there enough gray downstairs?

Is gray going to fall out of fashion soon?

Aren’t brown +/or beige making big comebacks?

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!

Anyway, within moments, I began my search

for a neutral that’s more beige than gray,

or, as the popular kids call it: “GREIGE”.

Speaking of which, check out these beautiful greige rooms,

in a charming Charleston, SC home:

 

It’s not just me —  you love it, too, right?

Meanwhile, I’m now back on the prowl for a greige paint that I love!

Stay tuned!

 

A Couple Of Big Projects

Announcement:

G.O. has decided to strip the beautiful woodwork

of our Dutch colonial!

While this means that we’ll never, ever move in (just kidding!),

it also means we’ll have the prettiest woodwork on the block!

Feast your eyes on one of the 2 pocket doors

between our living + dining rooms:

Beautiful!

My plans are to leave the wood as natural as possible,

but I’m hoping we can somehow tone down that orange a bit.

Stay tuned for that.

* * *

Meanwhile, here’s another look-see at our beautiful woodwork.

This particular type of molding is called egg and dart:

I recently observed said-same

on the exterior of an old building in our town:

I think this illustrates very clearly why it’s called egg and dart.

Check out our molding in this before photo:

Yikes!  All those pesky coats of paint almost obscure the gorgeous details!

 * * *

SO.  While — again — we may never, ever actually reside in our house . . .

. . . G.O. did share with me, just this a.m.,

 that a huge project should get underway this week, at long last!

T I L E !

These 2″ hexagon marble tiles will be the floor of our powder room.

Here’s my grout chart, strategically placed next to the tile samples:

I shall choose a medium-to-dark gray,

which is easier to maintain, will pop against + accentuate the light tiles,

+ I also think that dark grout looks more old-fashioned.

* * *

I’ve also got a few paint charts in the powder room.

At this point (meaning I might change my mind!),

I want to paint the walls a medium-to-dark gray.

Since the floor’s so light + the room is so small,

I think I’ll be brave + go with something quite dark.

Maybe not this dark:

apartmenttherapy.com

. . . but maybe a bit more dark than this:

apartmenttherapy.com

Here’s what I have in mind:

Source unknown

Definitely stay tuned for that, because I dunno if I have the courage!

Whatever shade I do pick for our powder room,

I want to install picture-frame molding on the walls, like here:

apartmenttherapy.com

I KNOW — YUM, right?

Oops!  I’ve not yet shared these fun factoids with G.O.

I’m not sure which he’ll dislike more — the dark walls or the paneling.

Please.  Stay tuned!

 

Gray Woodwork, The Sequel

I pinned this photo today

+ commented that it might be time to bring back gray woodwork.

You see, way back in 19 + 85,

I painted my kitchen cabs + woodwork a luscious gray

from Benjamin Moore’s historical color chart.

See for yourself in this spectacular Polaroid snapshot:

I’m really rocking my 80’s perm + sweater,

+ I’m pretty sure those are acid washed jeans with pleats.

Va va va voom!

* * * *

But back to TO-day, people.

Here’s what I’ve been trying (but failing)

to persuade myself to do in our Dutch colonial:

Dark gray walls!  Yesh!

You see, our new home is blessed with 1 south + 1 west-facing bay,

both sporting nice, big windows . . .

. . . the woodwork of which some interloper chose to paint, years ago:

Tragic or no?

When we first toured our house, both our (very nice) realtor + G.O.

immediately agreed that we’d have to strip it all

+ return it to its natural glory.

Thankfully, there’s plenty of natural gloriousness remaining:

.

Meanwhile, I said nothing

(at the TIME — I mean, who wants to quarrel in front of the real estate lady?)

You see, images of dark gray walls with luscious white woodwork

were already dashing through my head!

Since then, I’ve given it my best college try, people,

but I just can’t pull the trigger on the dark gray walls.

White walls make me happy . . .

. . . +, after all these years,

I guess I’m still carrying a torch for gray woodwork!

So that’s why, when I came across this photo,  I was thrilled!

Immediately, I set out to find more images of said-same:

Loving the relaxed Roman shades!

Now I’ve got my it’s-great-when-a-plan-comes-together buzz!

I’ll share said-same with G.O. — LATER.

I mean, who wants to quarrel

on such a beautiful summer morning?