Let's Paint. . . . . . before the snow falls!

The choices are overwhelming!  
You have probably gone through it yourself. 

Choosing a new paint color for your walls.  

Visiting a paint store will start your head spinning. . . . . . . there are literally
 thousands of colored paint chips, cans of sample colors, and piles of 
brochures showing awesome photos of room settings in every colorway
 under the sun.

If you want grey, don't pick this one - it's very blue!

I needed three colors for bedroom walls, walk-in bedroom closet and

 the entry hallway.

Above was my first choice - below is what I ended up with.

This strip made all that searching and buying expensive sample cans 

(Benjamin Moore's are $7.99) much easier (though I did buy four and

 will have little pots of paint to use for other projects!). 

 Being able to run with a coordinated paint strip, once I set my sights

 on the Chelsea Gray for for the bedroom walls, was great.

Before - the greenish blue walls - quite pleasant for many

 years - with the much disliked popcorn ceiling (a hex on whoever invented

 that 80's dust-catching, impossible to re-paint, finish!).  All the ceilings

 of the cottage are now smooth thankfully.

Carpet will be going, hopefully tomorrow when the new floor is laid. 

Snow is forecast for tonight - our first of the season. 

This late in February is quite a surprise, and this being the south

 the city is already going crazy with early school closings, and

the run on the grocery stores began last night!

During - first coat. Chelsea Gray, described as "a sophisticated dark warm gray". . . and

 I'm in love with it!  

Note ceiling now scraped smooth and freshly painted, such a huge difference. 

New ceiling fan installed last evening.

Bruce, who has done most of my painting for many years, rolling the

 first coat, a second coat done later made the color richer and even.

Here's the finished paint. I realize some screens may not show the color
perfectly - but hopefully you get a close idea.

Will share more before and after shots another time. 

As mentioned, furniture is on its journey across country. . . . . . .

taking the scenic route I do believe!

This means plenty of time to do good spring clean. . . . . . . 

after what I'm hoping will be a white wonderland when I awake

tomorrow. I will pull on my boots and bobble hat and go outside

to photograph the birds.  Bob is filling the feeders as I write!

It's back and it's beautiful. . . . . .

Wallpaper. 
  
Remember the mess we used to get into hanging wallpaper? Was it one of those jobs you enjoyed? Recall being covered in smelly, sticky, thick paste, holding up your arms until you thought they were paralyzed, all while trying to match patterns so the joins didn't show, because if they did, you would always see them even if your visitors didn't! Or, did you really hate that part of interior decoration, and instead spent a lot of money to have someone come in and hang the darned stuff for you. We won't even discuss getting wallpaper off the walls - that's truly a horror story best left in the annals of interior decorating.

Or you just slapped paint everywhere!

Don't get me wrong, I love paint. I was always painting walls - and furniture - until the shoulders hurt, the knees got weak, and climbing a teetering ladder was best left to the young. . . . . .or professionals hopefully with insurance. Did you know that wallpaper is back? Apparently you don't even need to paper an entire room, the 'in' thing now is to just cover one wall in a room, and it's called a feature wall. This requires different patterns than those tiny rose sprigs, mini checks, or narrow stripes of years back, instead you have to choose a BOLD design - a statement wallpaper which stops you in your tracks with its WOW factor!

Here are some that caught my eye online at Graham & Brown, a wallpaper company established in 1946. Their inventory is impressive and there are many really beautiful designs. Am I considering a feature wall in a main room? Doubtful because the cottage rooms are really too small, but I may consider a wall in my entrance hallway where I already have very dark paint. . . . . . this first one I really like.

The following designs, a mix of classic, funky, contemporary, nature inspired, would each look gorgeous in the right room. 

So what are your thoughts on wallpaper? Is it a product you already use in your home, or are all your walls painted? I still have wallpaper in my master bath, and kitchen, but neither are stunning, more a light natural faux painted look which I must admit works for me in those areas. 

BTW - they say there is better paste now - you can roll it directly on the walls making it easier and less messy to hang the wallpaper - and it's easier to strip it off later. Do you know if that's correct? It would make doing that one feature wall a breeze - maybe a soon to be Spring project!