Last night I dreamed I asked Paul if anything was wrong, and it turned into a dream conversation about our obvious impending divorce. To my appalled and heartbroken reaction, Dream Paul said, “Don’t worry, it’s not like we have to do it right this second. Think of us as being engaged to divorce.”
In what I’m sure is completely unrelated news, the discussion about paint color continues. All the cheery bright/kindergarten/bus yellows and moderate sunshiney/nursery yellows made me feel nothing but despair, so I suggested green:
(screen shot from behr.com)
“Ugh, that’s terrible,” Paul said. “That is the same color as my coat,” I said. “All these years you have hated my coat, and you NEVER SAID.” “I don’t hate your coat,” said Paul. “But the fact that you would suggest that color for the bathroom makes me reconsider everything you have ever said to me.” “Maybe back to the vintage aqua concept?,” I suggested.
(screen shot from behr.com)
“Yes,” said Paul. So…yay! We agree again! But then, all the vintage-aqua-type colors I tried seemed vaguely FAMILIAR somehow. And I realized all of them were shades of the blue I use on this blog. And I don’t think I want the blog in my bathroom, not that I don’t think of you all as sisters. I wouldn’t want my sister in the bathroom with me, either. Unless we were just doing our hair/make-up, that would be okay.
Now we are looking at shades of gold, which is the kind of yellow I wanted to begin with but Paul said it looked like we wanted yellow but chickened out. To which I say: “How long do you want this project to take?”
(screen shot from behr.com)
In what I’m sure is completely unrelated news,… Ha! Have I ever mentioned that the worst fight Husband and I have had in 30 years of marriage was over the color to paint the living room? Yes. It was. I don’t know if that is terrible or wonderful.
Obvious question is obvious, but… what about getting a shower curtain or towels or something that you both like for the bathroom and then picking out a color that matches/coordinates with it?
I’m afraid to add more confusion to the confusion, but this post does make me think about how in a bathroom, you might think to paint it a color that you (and Paul) like to wear. Everybody want to feel like they “look good” when they look in the mirror. So, if you wouldn’t wear the color that you paint the walls (because it’s unflattering when you wear it) it might be disturbing on the walls.
What about mint? It has the same feel as the vintage-aqua color (one of my favorite colors ever, by the way), but you might feel a little less like your entire blog just followed you into the bathroom. (I don’t have a blog but I can imagine that would be a rather uncomfortable feeling.)
Not o complicate things, but can I suggest Sherwin Williams Silvermist? It’s this fantastic light-blue-but-slightly-aqua-and-a-touch-of-silver-but-still-coordinates-with-brown color that is nothing I would have ever picked out on my own but walked into a bathroom at a party and LOVED the color so much that I asked the host what color it was. And painted my bathroom the same color immediately. I love it so much.
Yes! I second this. I convinced my sister to paint her bedroom Silvermist. She’s moved from that house but is planning to paint her new house bedroom it too. I have it in my kitchen as well and I LOVE it.
I’ve been looking at Silvermist for my daughter’s room! This convinces me. Awesome.
we just finish remodeling our house in October (remodeled as is did ALL the work including refinishing floors and making our countertops and painting) –I ALWAYS go with this thought “it’s just paint and you always buy more” to make it EASIER we picked a pallet provided by Olympic so there was no “does this match that??” stuff it ALL went together and it looks great–we like it enough to not want to paint for 4 more years anyway : )
Does the bathroom have a window? That will also affect the color via daylight v. light fixtures. When I was picking a paint for my daughter’s room (pink), I got a ton of different pink samples and taped them to the wall. Some looked dingy and some looked too much like the girl’s toy aisle. So I started to pull down the ones I really disliked. Then, with the few remaining, I moved them around (you could also get extra copies of favorites so you don’t have to move them) to see what they looked like in different lighting/times of day. This may be starting to sound a little too “Beautiful Mind” but you can decide over the course of a few days and you’ve “lived” with the color without actually painting little swatches on your wall. That is where my kitchen is at right now. I like the color I picked but now the walls look crazy and I don’t know when I will actually get to paint. Paint chips are free and removable! Good luck, I used to work with interior designers and they always said the hardest part is picking the right paint color.
I love the vintage aqua color and the golden yellow, both work well together actually. You could do the yellow on the walls and then aqua accents. Then again I am totally biased as this is the exact color scheme of my kitchen – Behr’s “Watermark” is the wall paint color and the tile (original from 1939) is a buttery yellow.
My husband and I have a terrible time agreeing on paint colors because we do not see colors the same way! I always thought that this was just a matter of opinion until we bought a truck some years back. The truck was light purple. After we bought it I expressed surprise to Husband that he had picked a purple truck. Husband was surprised that I saw it as purple; he swore up and down that the truck was blue. He was totally wrong, however. Everyone we knew referred to his truck as the “purple truck”. Except his dad who also thought the truck was blue. I am convinced that Husband (and his dad) have some sort of genetic weirdness when it comes to seeing color. We’re about to have the exterior of our house painted and we cannot agree on a color. It’s maddening!
My husband is red-green colorblind, but he’s been tested and although he doesn’t see red as most people do, he actually sees more shades of green than most people. It has to do with wavelengths of light and the cones in his eyes, or something. Anyway, the purple/blue confusion could be something similar. I think it’s genetic–that is, the wavelengths of light that our eyes respond to the most is genetic.
And I would suggest April Thicket by Valspar. It’s kind of a green/blue/gray and I would paint my whole house this color if I could.
Aren’t all marriages “engagements to get divorced”??
Have you read Shirley Jackson’s two memoirs about her family life, Raising Demons and Life Among the Savages? If you haven’t, I think you would love them, and this post reminds me strongly of them.
My favourite green is Sherwin Williams’ “Wheatgrass”. I had a powder room that colour in my old house but sadly have not found a good room for it in my new one.
Vintage Aqua. Oh, I like that one.
I like them all, actually.
Angus’s room is painted that same green, I think, and I love it. He has navy and red Boston Red Sox comforter and curtains and throw rug and they go really well. But it’s true, if it’s a colour surrounding a mirror, maybe it’s different. Gah, picking paint colours is SO HARD.