Welcome back for week 5 of another iteration of the One Room Challenge. An amazing event that happens twice a year that anyone can join with the goal to finish one space in their home :-)! Please hop over and check out the featured designers and the other guests like myself. To get caught up on my vestibule vivication plans check out post 1 , post 2 and post 4 here. Don't get distracted looking for post 3, it just didn't happen :-).
Colour is my thing, I love, love to choose colours, I have a pretty good colour memory, particularly for greens and blues and I generally never second guess a colour. I have only once repainted a room. My husband still talks about the time we got ⅔ of the way through the living room in our second home in Upstate NY before I told him we needed to stop. The kicker of course was I knew it wouldn’t work within the first 5 minutes of rolling. My colour instincts are strong and I know to trust them.
Fast forward 10 years, 3 more homes and 3 more children and I was stumped. Ok not stumped but certainly stymied. I knew the basic colour story I wanted in this home. I knew that I wanted the vestibule to look as though it was lacquered and I knew I wanted blue. I even pretty much knew what blue.
The difficulty proved in finding a colour that worked with the gorgeous Turkish carpets of my mother’s in the living room and the colours that I wanted based on beautiful Iznik tiles, also Turkish I might add.
Turkish colours, patterns, food, language and carpets were part of the background of my childhood. My parents had spent 4 years living on the asian side of Istanbul before I was born. I was named after a very close family friend from that time. They loved their time in Turkey and visited many times after I was born, bringing me twice. They also were able to pack part of a container with items to bring home. I’m sure it was the unspoken positive effects of their time overseas that motivated me & my husband to seek out a similar experience early in our marriage.
But back to THAT blue! I just couldn’t get it, in fact we lived with swatches in the vestibule for over a year!!! I have never, ever been indecisive like that. I even resorted to having Sherwin Williams mix a custom colour when I thought I almost had it. It was lovely but still not what I wanted. Finally I went back to one of the first 2 colours that I chose, Beacon Blue, my biggest concern had been how dark it was, I had it mixed at 50% (meaning it is the same colour but they add 50% less pigment) and was smitten. This is a great choice in a small space or any space you plan to paint all the same colour as the walls reflect one another and intensify the tone.
I chose Behr Premium Hi-gloss partly because I wanted to get as close to a lacquered effect as I could and partially because the more shine in a paint finish the more durable. Durability was paramount in a vestibule used by 4 growing boys, my mom, husband and myself! So far I am absolutely loving the finish, it is the most durable paint I have used and was beautiful to apply! The only thing it lacks is the self-leveling effect so it does hold some brush strokes.
As for the colour I am smitten, the kids are enchanted except the teen who is reserving judgement until it is done ;-). My husband found it a little dark but I had a plan for that as well and added 2 magnetic rechargeable pot lights, spoiler I intend to order 2 more. There is still so much to do but in the meantime I grabbed a couple of completely unstyled photos for you. This is how we use the space, I’ll get prettier shots for the reveal, I promise! Also please admire the fake blood on the door for Halloween!
Also this is the shoe cubbies with all the shoes we are currently using, I have 5 pairs in mine including some ankle booties, the twins have 3 pairs each.
I still have some touch ups to do and the door on the other end to paint, which I will NOT be doing until I get some more tinted primer! You can see in this photo of the ceiling the difference that tinted primer makes :-). Tinted primer forever!!!
This week was a big jump towards the finish line for sure and so, so gratifying!
Still to do????
Prime and paint glass door
Wallpaper
Install floor
Finalize shelves and install
Install hooks
Finalize boy stuff containment ;-)
Buy mirror and more hooks?
Style and Photograph