[Paint] Color War

The day we closed on our house was the same day I painted our kitchen.  The kitchen was originally pinky lavender... and just terrible.   I had seen a blue kitchen with white cabinets in a Pottery Barn catalog and knew I had to have the same (even though our cabinets were honey oak at the time).

I found the PB Color in the catalog  - Benjamin Moore, New York State of Mind - at got to rolling.  (You can find all sorts of kitchen reno details here).  The color was a tad brighter than I had hoped, but I still got the look I was going for.

Husband on the other hand liked to refer to it as Painters Tape Blue (which I still defend it was not).  However, I did always agree I wish it was a tad more muted.

So last Sunday, before the snow storm hit, we ran to the paint store and decided to give it another go (only 2.5 years later).

 

This is swatch of my original color scheme.  I think online (or at least my monitor) the blue looks similar to what I wanted, not what I got.

Upper Left - Benjamin Moore, New York State of Mind

And an online photo of NYSoM.....

Photo Found Here

And a Photo from my own kitchen.... Maybe its the light we get, but it does photograph MUCH brighter than it looks I promise (Husband agrees)...

This view is a little more realistic....

We got inspiration for the new blue when I brought home this dish towel from Crate and Barrel last fall. It was the perfect grey'd out blue we originally wanted. 

Darjeeling Dishtowel - Crate and Barrel $1.95

So I took the dishtowel to Lowe's and swatched a bunch of colors that were similar, some more blue, some more grey and then we tested them against our current wall to see if it was more contrast than we wanted.  I found some old swatches in the junk drawer and that's where we found the perfect shade.  Ralph Lauren Canyon Blue.  The color was almost the same as the current, just a little more subdued. Perfect!

We went to Sherwin Williams and had them color match with their Duration paint.  We only needed a quart and since they were having an End of Year Sale, it only cost us $17.  We've learned over the years that the higher quality paints do really provide better coverage (ie, less coats and less time... and less sore muscles) and we definitely wanted that when working with a dark base to start. 

Canyon Blue

In progress (Canyon Blue at the bottom and edges)

All done!

 

Hysterical, it looks almost the same! 

In real life, I don't think anyone would notice a change, but the Husband and I definitely do.  I really wanted to keep the two blue walls because the rest of our house is so neutral.  I feel like if any room can have some vibrancy, it can be the kitchen.  I also love how crisp the white cabinets look against it.  These were my arguments to Husband on why we had to keep it blue and just find a less "bright" color.  I'm glad we were able to call truce on the "color war" and I'm stoked that he's happy with the new shade.

This was such a great project that we were able to complete together in a few hours.  It was nice to have something to do and I'm already making a list of new projects to tackle next year.