This past week I painted our living room again. AGAIN. And if you’ve known me for at least 20 minutes, this should come as no surprise to you. As I type this, I’ve now painted our living room five times since we moved in. In most households that would be grounds for divorce, but lucky for me my husband is the kind of person that wouldn’t notice a tractor parked inside our house if his life depended on it. I digress.
When we first moved in, I saw some girl do a super cute DIY sponge wall in her home. I thought to myself, I can totally do this. Spoiler alert, I made it look like trash. Absolute trash.
So then I tried to cover it up and make it all one color. Even worse trash. It felt like a cold gymnasium.
Then I landed on a black color. And honestly, I really liked it at first. It was beautiful. In retrospect though, I would’ve picked an eggshell finish (vs glossy) and a different shade of black for my north facing room.
A year passed and I learned a lot about paint shades and finishes. The room started to feel harsh and well, I painted it back to white. I know, I know.
And I loved it at first, it felt fresh! But it also felt cold. It needed some dimension. I started painting different samples on the wall and ultimately landed on the shades I felt matched the best with our leather couch.
I also made the decision to paint the wainscoting (vs. the wall), and let me tell you, it made a world of a difference. Before it felt very top heavy, and now it felt light and airy but with dimension.
I landed on Mopboard Black by Benjamin Moore (eggshell finish). It’s a true black, but definitely looks like a dark grey in direct sunlight. It also has some blue undertones, and in some lighting, can read navy like below.
Flipping the wall vs wainscoting paint was the best decision.
It really made the gallery wall pop on the other side of the room.
The black even looked great with our kitchen checkered floors.
Love this softer black color with the white contrast.
Just look at the difference between a painted wall here…
Vs. a softer black on the wainscoting…
I much prefer the latter. I also went with an eggshell finish, but my previous black wall was a glossy finish. All personal preference of course. I AM LOVING IT….for now. JK, JK.
Feedback? Comment below, or email me: (Deema Tabbara Lopez) at prettyonfridays@gmail.com
