Color my world...

And my tshirt and my face and my hair and... Ya see, I've been painting this afternoon. It's all part of my attempts to get my sb room organized and functional (not to mention put away ALL that stuff I bought in UT while attending CKU). DH cleared out the extra fridge from one wall and we'll add shelving and a table beneath it (for the kids to scrap and do arts/crafts/etc.). Before hanging the shelves, I figured it'd make sense to paint that wall first. Since this room isn't one that's visible/accessible to the "general public" (not that the general public often traipses through my home), I thought I'd go with a fun, lively color scheme.

So, I went through my SEI paper sets (since I love all their color combos) and narrowed down the selection to five I could live with. I tried to get a mix of "feelings" - some more intense, some more muted. The list included Granny's Kitchen, Serendipity, Beatnik Boy, Be Bop, and Hippy Chick. Everyone got to vote for their top 3. That narriowed the field to the top 2 (each with the same # of votes). The two that floated to the top were Serendipity and Be Bop. Both have a similar feel (bright and fun) so I could see that we were all on the same page. Well, since it is MY sb room and I AM the mom (and with that title comes veto power) I selected Be Bop.

Anyway, today we headed to Costco for the 4-ft folding table. And at Lowe's, DH went to get the shelving hardware....while the kids and I headed to the paint section. Armed with my "color swatch", I was trying to match colors. My "swatch" consisted of a sheet of SEI Be Bop patterned paper and one sheet of each of the solids (for more surface area). I didn't want to use all the colors in the room so went with just 4 of them - Retro Red (red has a slight rust undertone), Galaxy Green (little brighter than sage), Nifty Blue (like a pale, sky blue), and Peachy Cream (one of those "taupey" whites). Actually, the main reason I went with Be Bop over Serendipity was for the "retro red". You can see one of the walls of the sb room from our large family room (which is decorated "a la southwest"...walls are terra cotta). Retro red, with that rusty undertone, is reminiscent of cayenne pepper. I thought THAT would be the best color to put on the visible wall and works with both the southwest and sb rooms.

So, I spent the latter part of the day painting that one wall (green) in preparation of the shelves, and the visible walls from the southwest room (red). I'm beat and can't wait to get some shut-eye (after the kids are tucked in, of course). But I'm very happy with the results. Of course, now I'm anxious to finish the entire room! Which is too large to do in one weekend. Besides, I want to do the one main wall with some design elements (not just paint it a solid color). Maybe some geometrics or color blocking...a la SEI! Hey, they do it best. When it's done, it'll be bright and cheer and (hopefully) inspiring to the creative senses.

"Gotta Do It" challenge: Paints! They've made a huge comeback in the sbing world. Or did it ever really leave? What say you try creating a LO using a little bit o' paint. A little accent here or there. Or brushed on a metal accent. Just try to get more paint on your project and less on you (unlike me earlier today!).