Master Bedroom Part #1: New Paint

Busy weekend here! As soon as the sun is out Mark is out in the garden or field tearing something up and I am inside doing the same.

Not a picture of this weekend :) This is early in the bedroom-building stages.

For months I have been gathering inspiration for our master bedroom. When we moved in, color choices were based on Mark's love for all things green and all of the rooms are just that, with the exception of a few brown ones. So, because he worked so hard to make this house possible with his blood and sweat, I went with the one he liked; Army Green. At first I thought "This is a bold color. I shall accessorize and make it work" But I was never inspired by it and collected the things with colors and textures I loved instead.

I love gingkoes and picked this little dish up at Lone Crow Bungalow in Bend OR. It's our favorite shop when we visit (you can shop there online now as well) The lamp shades are really cool and made out of some sort of thin rope but they are getting tattered and old so this will soon be replaces. The dear is Buck. For some of you this might freak you out but he is really quite beautiful not at all creepy in person.

The chair came from a private residence called Soho, on Silcox Island in the middle of the American Lake and was been passed down through the family to Mark. It is so lovely and old. He uses it for his clothes. The center pic of the fabric on a chair (my clothes chair) in the room we did a trade for. Love the lines but some day it would be nice to redo it in a linen. Then there are the vintage suitcases with an awesome red tone to the leather and our laundry basket. I admit I have an obsession with well made, large baskets. I have several but they are all from thrifting so that makes it OK…right?

A set of cloud paintings I found for $7 ea at St Vin! 

As you can see, we dont' have a bedroom , or a singe room for that matter, that has a "set" of furniture. We collect things we love and go from there. It may take longer to complete our home this way but there isn't really any fun in being done :) I should also say that I am not allowed to buy any furniture made of wood. Mark builds everything you see here.

I didn't start this post with decor in mind though. I wanted to show that the oppressive green is now gone but I thought you might want to see what I'm working with so future posts make sense. 

My one PB luxury for this room

But first you must know how much I love Pottery Barn. This is important. My inspiration is found all over the place and my taste can be described the same, but every time the PB catalogue comes I giggle to myself then plan a time we can run away together so I can enjoy every single page while sipping a cup of tea. Most of the time the things I love/want are just the props and not even for sale. 

Image courtesy of Pottery Barn 2013 Holiday Catalogue 

I really wanted a dark paint again because it is a pretty light filled room and even if the green was a bit dreary, at least it was soothing at night. I also wanted to go with a blue grey. I tried a few but when I saw this picture in pottery barn I had to get something close to it. So I mixed away in my laboratory (kitchen) and concocted the perfect blend. I call it "Stealhead" 

So here is the before….

Oh the green-ness of it all! 

The tape was to see what shape the wall paneling would take but in the end I decided that it would shrink the room. Because of the vaulted ceilings it seems bigger then it is. Covering the walls in wood would ruin the illusion. Instead we are going to make faux beams on the ceiling to add more texture and bring the eye up!

And the after….

It is so much better and looks different on every wall, at every hour of the day. I LOVE IT!

I started with a couple blue/grey colors that didn't quite work and after mixing them along with the original green color this is what I cam up with. In tis picture it looks really light but when holding the PB pic up to it they seem to be almost an identical match. 

I love me a dynamic paint color! See how rich it looks in the photo below. It's about 4pm here and it is a lovely jewel tone when above (around 2pm) it is light and fun. 

I learned a couple of things during the process.

1. Picking out swatches and taping them up on your wall is all well and good for a space you won't be "living in" like a hallway but taking the time to buy samples and painting LARGE pieces of wall is well worth it. Even if it drives your husband crazy.

2. Mixing colors is the way to go. It is a bit time intensive but worth it if you have a specific one in mind.

    I took two colors I bought in sample size that didn't do it for me. One was too grey, one was too blue so I  covered small dessert bowls in clear wrap and mixed away. After about 4 different swatches I mixed a new bowl with the existing green from the room and messed with the ratio for a while. Each time I made a new color, I lifted the remaining paint covered clear wrap out of the bowl to let dry as well. 

   After about a week of living with the colors I chose one and was able to bring in my little swatch of clear wrap and toss the rest. Pretty clean and easy!

Mark will be building a few pieces to finish out the room and I'm pretty excited to have things wrapping up and to show you all as we move along. 

Up next: Painting the bathroom of course!