Monday, January 28, 2008

When Decorating Goes Awry

MENTAL STATUS: "Stressed". Beating myself up over my decision to paint the bathroom. (See below) Yes, I'm sweating the small stuff.

I had big plans. Great plans. Great decorating plans, that is. My master bath would be warm, yet colorful. Pretty, yet not too feminine. "Spa-like". People would want to take up residency in that small little room.

To achieve all that, I painstakingly went through each and every paint sample I'd picked up at the paint store. Debated them in my mind. Went through and tried to match a color that would go with the designs in the sink and tile.

Then I finally decided on a color: Folksy Gold.

So I began to paint and my first reaction was: "Oh. This is different. I'm not sure I like this". Yet, I kept painting. Why? I don't know. (I'm still trying to figure that one out.)



Now I have this:



This color looks more terracotta--orange even--so much so that I had to remove that color in my blog because I cannot look at any kind of orange color anymore. I actually wanted a "caramel" color in there. But, no. I have orange. It's like the second sun in my bathroom.

Normally, this "mistake" would be no big deal, but I have NO IDEA what color to paint the bathroom now. It's small, so I don't want to go too dark, yet I wanted to pick up the brown/gold tinges in the sink without going feces brown--if you know what I mean.

So I called in the big guns...AKA my mom. I desperately need reinforcements since my hubby thinks it looks fine and I know it does not. She's coming Thursday.

In the meantime I have to sit tight--and continue having my retinas burned.

What bathroom colors do you like?

7 comments:

Stephanie said...

I'm still trying to figure out how you got your blog to show up a day early (unless you're a time traveller...but that still doesn't make sense since it's still Sunday...wait, it is Sunday, right?!) Anyway, I don't think the bathroom looks bad at all. Obviously it's not what you want so you want to change it, but it's not bad. At least it's not the so-pale-it-looks-pink lavender I had in our condo. My hubby was a sweety and repainted it later to a light eggplant and it looked much better. However, we're about to move so my wheels are turning. I've always like the caramel colors, too. I think you just missed the brown hue. It seems like it's the right shade from what you're describing, just needs more brown. What about a brown sponge or texture paint over it?

Chicki Brown said...

I was going to suggest what Stephanie said above. My office is rag rolled and it looks like a fabulous wallpaper. Since you have the darkest color as the base coat, you can select two lighter colors with the brown/gold hues you wanted over it.

Last year we painted the largest wall in our living room a deep terracotta, but it was hard to find a color that wouldn't glow orange when the sun comes through the skylights.

Keep your shades on while you decide ...

Unknown said...

Oh yeah - I feel your pain. Cheer up, at least paint is cheap and the room isn't that big - you'll have your problem fixed in no time :) (Oh, and I see I've been tagged - good gives me something to fill the blank space of my blog tomorrow!)

Marianne Arkins said...

OMG, I totally feel for you. Recently, I chose a color that looked gray/blue (it was called "naturally calm"). It was LAVENDER. This did not make my manly-man DH happy.

My potty room is pale pink. No, I do not share it with DH. His potty room is blue.

Man... I didn't realize how much of a stereotype we were until just this moment.

Good luck -- I hope Mom makes it all better!

Annie Doyle said...

I'm with Chicki as I was going to say sponge some lighter color over it. My neighbor had yucky yellow colored walls then she sponged off white. I really liked the effect. Lovely. So why don't you try a flat sheet board(not sure what you call it over there) it's plasterboard here, paint it with your base and try a few sample pot colors and effects.
I had a similar problem once and added off white to the actual paint. By the time I finished the job I ended up with the color I wanted in the first place - in the potty room!! Nice room that.
Annie

Kristen Painter said...

I like pale green, pale blue and tans - like seashore colors. To me that's calming.

What do I actually have in my bathroom? Cranberry. My husband likes brighter colors since he's color blind and the softer ones don't look like much to him.

Anonymous said...

I recommend painting white over the top of what you already have using a texturing paint utensil. I say utensil instead of brush because mostly they come in rollers. I'm talking about the ones that look like a twisted up rag or a big sponge. Just roll or dab the white over the top as evenly as you can. You'll get the benefit of the color co-ordination, which looks real good BTW, but cut the strength of the color to something less than retina burning and add a feeling of depth to a small room at the same time.