Gray Days

Gray? Grey? I'm not sure but for this post, I'm going with gray since that is what all my Benjamin Moore paint chips say.

I want to paint our living room and upstairs hallway a nice shade of gray. Not too light, not too dark, not silvery, not lavender tinted, not blue but with a blue tint to it, and not gray that looks like I slapped concrete on the wall. And yes, I went into the paint store and asked for exactly *that* gray. They must get nuts like me in there a lot because he was so helpful and didn't even look at me like I was crazy...which I'm sure I sounded. Many many many paint chips and a few samples later and this is what my living room wall looks like.

Gosh, who knew this would be so hard?! My couch is blue so I wanted something to compliment it but that didn't look blue. The sofa also has tan in it but the kitchen is tan and I want to break away from having the whole house looking beige. I think I have it narrowed down to that middle color up there. It's called Coventry Gray. It has an ever so slight tan undertone to it and seems to blend well with the kitchen.


In my search for the perfect gray, I headed off to Google and found a lot of talk on paint colors!

Finding the perfect gray was easy for Kasey. Look at how great her kitchen looks!
You can see more here:
Lola B's

House Beautiful did a great feature on gray colors. You can see the slide show and get ideas on their website.
http://www.housebeautiful.com/decorating/colors/26-shades-of-gray


I love the serene look of this space:

Photo: Better Homes and Gardens

You can't go wrong pairing gray with touches of black:

https://www.decorpad.com/relatedPhotos.htm?photoId=7924&currentPage=1



Apartment Therapy had this gorgeous living room:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/blogging/blogging-elle-decor-faceted-stool-039992

Nantucket Gray by Benjamin Moore seems to be popular in all the searches I did online. Would you believe that is a paint chip I don't have? I need to go back for it and take a look before I commit to Coventry Gray. Here are two images I found using the Nantucket Gray search.

Photo: flickr.com/photos/jgsearls/2851245164/

This color looks amazing on the exterior of a home:

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48752005@N00/219526097

I also looked around this great website by Lesley David Design. She has a passion for paint colors and even offers consultations if you need helping deciding. Here is a list of some favorites:

http://paintyourspace.com/tag/favorite-color/

I also want to say thank you for all the well wishes for my daughter. She is feeling much better and was able to run around on Easter and eat massive amounts of candy with her brother and sister. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday. Between spring break and Hailey being sick, I haven't had much time to keep up with my blogging. I'm ready for them to head back to school and get back to normal around here.....for a little while anyway. Summer vacation is looming.

Ack!!

Next up on my google search list: Activities to keep the kids busy this summer!

Look What Landed At My Door Today!!

Today a wonderful package arrived on my doorstep! It was from Martha at Mid-Atlantic Martha! She participated in "Paying it Forward." You can read about it here: http://mid-atlanticmartha.blogspot.com/2009/04/paying-it-forward-passing-it-on.html


I'm so excited to participate in this and could not be more thrilled with what came to me. I took pictures so I could share it with you all.

Such a pretty card....

The first thing I took out was this 18th Century Spoon Bread Mix. Mmmmmm.... I'll read to you what it says on the back: "The tradition of Byrd Mill began in 1740. Young Patrick Henry visited the mill often, bringing corn, wheat and buckwheat from his father's nearby plantation. Byrd Mill continued in operation at its original site until 1968 when an untimely fire brought an end to production in the original building. Byrd Mill now located in Ashland, Virginia manufactures some of the finest gourmet mixes available while still offering many of those old tyme products." Well, if the recipe has been around that long, it has to be good!

Look at all these goodies! Blackberry Preserves, mmmmmm...... And a sweet silver basket and spoon. It's a good thing no one was recording me when I opened this package because I sounded a little like, "Oh *gasp* how beautiful, oh this is so pretty *more gasps*." I am absolutely taken with this little basket. As Martha pointed out in her card, I can use it for so many things, sugar, lemon slices, a special cupcake or even a small floral arrangement. I know I will find some wonderful things to use it for and when not in use, it will be on display.

And last but not least, look at this apron! I have been slowly collecting them and this one is a perfect addition.

Just look at the detail on the bottom:

I think it looks great hanging with the others, don't you? I can hang it like this....

Or like this since it is reversible. Hmmm....I seem to be out of pegs now. Time to stop collecting? Of course not, I just need another peg rack!

Martha, thank you so much for this wonderful package. It was so much more than I was expecting and I love everything. I can't tell you how much this made my day. My oldest daughter is sick with a bad Strep infection and then had some terrible side effects from her medicine. It was a long night and this package was just the pick me up I needed today! :)

Now it's my turn to "Pay it forward." Look for an upcoming post on how you can be next and receive a package from me. I think it's wonderful how this thing we call blogging brings people together and creates friendships. Hope you all are having a wonderful week.

Bedroom Progress

I had to take pictures of my daughter in the outfit she came down with yesterday. A white summer dress and suede winter boots. Oh and there are also capris under there too that you can't see. She didn't want to be cold of course! She certainly has her own sense of style and isn't afraid to mix and match!

We are making progress painting the bedroom. The whole room brightened up after my husband primed over the crazy blue paint and we gave the wood mouldings a coat of white. Although he isn't much happier with my color choice. He started edging my "pea soup" as he calls it and I think it's a fun, happy color and besides, it matches the bedding. We'll see what he says when it is all done.

I moved the island over to the window in the kitchen. I realize this is weird because it's an island and should be surrounded by nothingness. But I needed a place to pull up a chair and plug the laptop in without tripping over the cord. 1. I can gaze out the sunny kitchen window with my morning coffee. 2. I can blog and listen to my playlist while I make dinner. Does it get any better?

I've been thinking of painting the dishwasher green to match the cabinets. I bugs me how the silver sticks out like a sore thumb surrounded by green. Would that be weird?

I also took some black paint to the windows. I liked how it looked in the bathroom.....

So the kitchen windows received the same treatment.....

The kitchen has been coming along piece by piece. Still a few things I'd like in there....a new faucet, new doorknobs and most importantly ripping the floor out to see what kind of shape the wood is in underneath. There is a teeny tiny piece of vinyl coming up on a corner.....it would be soooo easy to just.....rip.......but I shall refrain for now. Only so many projects we can tackle at once!

I hope you all are having a wonderful day!

The Bathroom and a Laugh!

(I know a lot of you have seen this post already but Susan mentioned I should put it in for Met Monday....and she's the boss! Can't wait to see what you all have today! Be sure to click the butterfly in my sidebar to get to Between Naps On The Porch for more transformations!)

The bathroom is all done and on a budget. I kept track of what I spent and the total came to $144. Not bad for a whole new look. Since I was just painting and redecorating, it was cheap and quick! First I'll show you the pics, and then we'll have a nice laugh at my expense. Sound fun?

So remember what we started with? I kept all the ugly features as planned, pink sink and all! BEFORE:

I dug deep into the dusty corners of my basement for this project. My husband was using this bookshelf for his chargers and misc. stuff. I'm taking it....sorry hun!

And my inspiration pic, my DREAM bathroom:

And here is the AFTER:

Now that you've seen the room, time for a laugh! You know how they say, "Measure twice, cut once?" Well, turns out that goes for wood AND fabric. Like my sink skirt that I made?

This is what happens when you don't plan properly! Isn't it lovely? The fabric didn't reach perfectly around so I figured no problem, I'll put the short end on the side that goes right to the wall. Well, when I made the pleat, I forgot about that tidbit and put it centered on the fabric. So if I put it on the right way, the pleat is off center on the sink. *sigh* I need to figure out a way to fix it.

It's okay to laugh. I sure did when I realized it!

I really appreciate all your emails and comments asking about the bathroom. It makes me happy to know that you are interested in my projects! :)