Love Color but Moving Towards Neutral Experiment

I love LOVE color, bright saturated colors, all together.  For awhile I have been making over our living room to Radiant Orchid, combining the teal and blues and greens, very analogous color scheme. 

As I was pinning one day and looking at trends, I was startled into the "duh" moment of moves towards neutrality.  Why neutral?  Why blah/boring/subtle?  Is it really more calming, serene, relaxing?  Experiment motivation, and I just had to see what it would look like, try it on.

I painted.  Kept the same lines, just neutralized everything.

Bleached a few things.  I laughed at all the things that are decidedly NOT neutral in our home.  On purpose.  No wonder people seeing it for the first time are overwhelmed, hit in the face with so much to look at...

I rearranged art and looked for less bright things, hung up a feed sack on stretcher bars.

Made burlap header for gray curtains, painted out the blue/green faux bois, even painted out the black stripes in hallway...Everything toned down...How long will it last?  Trying to find my permanent forever home style.  Using what we have.

Posed Pictures & Optical Illusion Ceiling Mural

Stewart was released from his mission Saturday morning at our Stake President's home.

Sunday family lunch with the Landbeck men.

And 92 year old Great Grandma Billie, wearing her favorite color (which matches newest version of living room ceiling.  Simple geometry making ceiling look peaked, taller than it really is.  I have been wanting to try this for awhile, couldn't stop thinking about what it could look like.  Better in person...)

I should have taken more pictures of everyone.  Cousin Charlene came with her family, my brother, John, and his family.  Newest cousin:

From Barney to Warp/Weft

Creative licsence is scary/wonderful thing. To have the trust of client to just do whatever, with a few parameters: keep it light, please.

Before:

During (first I had to prime and get rid of purple. I felt the room height needed the ceiling color pulled down to the top 1/8 of the wall to make walls look taller, so I started with an ombre mix of ceiling and wall primer, then it turned into rick-rac! AND TEXTURE, something I have always wanted to try, create a woven fabric-appearance, perfect for future sewing room!):

Almost After (red polka dots on floor & at least 2 coats of poly WHEN IT ISN'T RAINING, or it takes too long to dry!):

Note to self: buy hairnets before I paint floor again. And ones for the cats in the house.

Ceilings

2,000 Words

Painting Soothes Me

We are trying really hard to not spend any money on dates. Lunch together with stuff we already have at home is our usual plan. Some weeks feel like one big long date with just a few interruptions. If the kids come home and find us sitting on the couch they ask what we have been doing all day...ummm, good thing we are married!

John was a good sport about moving the living room furniture out again so I could re-do the ceiling. The bright blue sky and clouds were competing with the enlarged damask in the dinning room. I have trouble with too many focal points. It is my decorating weakness. And limiting my palette is tough, too. I love so many colors! And I can't decide what style I really like--although I lean towards modern stuff. It just doesn't show yet in my thrift-store purchases and curb-inherited furniture. Just my dream notebooks.


Downstairs in the seminary room. I muted out some of the color in this version.

Kissing in the Dining Room

Copy Cat

Awww. (Sam is our photographer this morning. Background is our newly painted living room ceiling.)
I am looking at other blogs for couple photo ideas. This was one of my favorites, although I am looking for some great empty fields around here (did you Utahans know there are lavender fields 22 miles south of Provo?!)

Stupor of Thought Day

We took this picture 5 minutes before I got the call with a job offer and training starting 9 am this Sunday morning. Which would be during stake conference. I asked if I could call her back in 10 minutes. John and I talked about my concerns of how far away it is, the pricey parking problem, and how I put down on my application that Sunday morning I could not work. Conflict. I've been feeling stupified all morning (since the 2nd interview, which went great, but I felt terrible). Sad. Depressed. Tried to paint to cheer me up. Not feeling united with John, anxious. Tears. Trying to pray for clarity and help. I called the company back (still on my knees), thanked them for the offer, and turned them down, and felt instantly better. More tears, but it is okay. Horrible leap of faith here.

We got a sweet anonymous card in the mail with a movie pass and generous date money. No signature. No return address. The card says,

On the highway of life, there are bound to be some bumps in the road...
along with crater-sized potholes, backed-up construction traffic, and that one jerk who always cuts you off. (But anyway, you'll get through it.)

Thank you, our friends!

It's going to be okay.

Raspberry Room at Gma Sandy's

My mother-by-marriage has hired me to do some domestic painting. First job: the guest bedroom. Blue walls are gone. Now there is an intense raspberry color on the back wall. "Anonymous" Behr grey on rest of walls--and the ceiling. She let me do it. I sort of begged.

I love LOVE the look of painted ceilings. I think it was Christopher Lowell a decade ago that explained a white ceiling in a color painted room looks like your slip is showing. It stands out.

I have experimented with our home and on clients and have enjoyed the color bouncing fun 5th wall=ceiling. Another place to decorate!

Using the same paint as the walls erases corners, rounds out the room, turns it into a big hug of color experience!

Plus it is so much easier to cut in, one stroke on wall and ceiling is very fast. I highly recommend it.

(shiny wet paint-Don't Touch the Walls!)

This is before, with dirty cream ceiling and disappearing blue wall and primer on raspberry wall.


After. Look at how the ceiling/wall line blends/disappears! I went back with raspberry and crisped up the edge--looks terrible in this picture...