Monday, July 21, 2014

I'm In Paint Color Hell .... Again



Hi gang,

I'm sorry ...  don't hate me... I know i've been so absent.  I'm just seriously overwhelmed with the whole social media thing.
 There are just so many options out there now...  
I know I love Pinterest, and then there's Facebook... so I have a personal Facebook page, and a Cindysfracturedfairytales Facebook page... and i follow a bunch of people on both of those.  And THEN, i decided I would stop boycotting Instagram as just another form of social media... and tried it, and I really like Instagram, so there's that... and then the blog, which I've totally neglected because Instagram is instant gratification... and  there is summer and the garden and life and work and trying to paint ....so... Half the time i don't have any idea where to focus my energy with this stuff, and then i get behind on all of it.  I really need to find a rhythm and balance here...
(is rhythm the hardest word in the world to spell or what...)


Anyway, thanks to a lot of you talking about it, i finally caught on and watched a couple of episodes of "Fixer Upper" 
 it is totally home decor porn!

 The season finale almost make my head explode it was so cool

So of course now I've gone completely insane again and did intense online research good enough to qualify me to become part of the the CIA to find out the colors she used  -
 and as you can imagine decided to repaint my living room, dining room, and kitchen which has entailed buying 8 thousand paint samples to try, which look absolutely nothing, nothing at all like the gorgeous wall colors in the episodes.  What the heck is the deal with that!??? 
I mean, I know i know all about how lighting and the computer monitor can change the look of the paint and all that... 

but come on... surely my walls would look something..... even a teeny weeny bit like the walls she painted!!????

Nope

so here we go...

example 1
Sherwin Williams 
 2 parts Mindful Gray to 1 part some other lighter color
now that i see it here on the blog, i like it
but in person it looked so dark



 Example 2
Benjamin Moore
Revere Pewter

see the current wall color on the left and above

Whoa don't like this one - way too dark
and how is it so blue???

Example 3
Martha Stewart
Gray Pearl


Example 2039
my current wall color on top
Mindful Gray at 50% below that
some other color under that
Edgcombe gray at the very bottom

it's becoming pretty clear that at this point that i am starting to lose it right?

lord help me and all who have been around me this weekend

you can see a giclee print of Eulalie on the table, i am proofing it for a buyer - looks good!
 

In addition i then tried each one of these same colors in my living room and it looks like i painted cold gray steel on the walls!!!
 
how is it that Joanna from 'Fixer Upper' can take these exact colors and they are soooooooooo incredibly beautiful

what the heck!


 I need an intervention...

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What else has happened this summer?

Well i made this lemon meringue pie, twice in three weeks

I can't eat dairy products, so i found this recipe with no dairy and it was so darn good

 i literally ate this pie every day for one week
skipped a week
 then made it again
and ate most of that one


I mean Mr. Fractured ate some of it
but He has self control


*******************************


I finally started getting the urge to paint again after a 4 month dry spell, and painted this girl by the garden gate...  name suggestions?




I was lucky enough to end up with this insanely fabulous frenchy mirror


but i don't know,... it seems like it may be a little too big and fancy for my lowly little cottagy space

Below is the former mirror
What do ya'll think? 

I know the frenchy mirror is so amazing, but hmmmm...

Plus you can see my current wall color
seems so boring after seeing Fixer Upper... sigh


anyway, i'm gonna try to post more often and write less 
i realize i just blathered on about 4 different topics in this post

...as always, thanks for putting up with me... 
that's all for now

  ...the end...







16 comments:

  1. I like,the French mirror better...I was thinking gray too for a room but afraid of it...maybe go lavender with some gray. Love your blog..xoxo

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  3. Hi Cindy,
    I like both of your mirrors but the frenchy one catches my eye. Maybe you could change them out whenever the mood hits you. Also, I can't help you with the grays. I have trouble with them either being too blue, too dark or too charcoal. I had my garage walls painted a soft gray and my son's room. I can't remember the color name. Maybe I'll look on the can, if I can find it and send you the color. Glad to see you posting. I am really behind on my blogging but sometimes we just have other things going on in our lives.
    hugs,
    Sissie

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  4. hello friend! i am happy to see you blogging. i have a HUGE crush on chip and joanna. omg. thank God you are on the bandwagon so we can dish. natural light makes all the difference with grey pain colors methinks. i like martha stewart's sharkey gray. it's what i used to stencil my dressing room. i agree your living space could use a change of color--i think it'll lift yer spirits. but the mirror can stay! let it decide if other accessories need to go. i'm trying to get rid of mediocre pieces and let the superior ones shine. on a personal note, i am extremely weary, grieving, and devastated and cannot speak about it or write about it even on my personal FB. i hope to deal without getting sick. i know you understand. it's tough. esp when i no longer take meds for support. love to you.

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  5. Gosh, so much to read and absorb but every little bit so refreshing Cindy, I love how you write, you should actually write a book.

    First, I have finally received an update from your feedburner....how exciting, it must be self cured now as I have not had any of your updates for such a long time.

    Re the greys, I don't know the TV program but know about it and can't wait till it comes to NZ's shores. I painted my study a very pale grey (colour not available in the USA :()...anyway I for one know the difficulty of choosing a grey that is not too dark or too cold, grey is an extremely difficult colour to use because apparently it can drag one down after living in it for a while. I have found my study to be a little cold although my colour is very light and only a hint of grey.

    Those colours you are using look to be very dark, are you thinking about this colour for your living room walls? Lighting makes a HUGE difference to the colour and this will be probably why you are not seeing it in the same light....excuse the pun. The other house may have had more windows or skylight or simply different coloured lighting as you have mentioned.

    What I do know is that you need a warm grey, one that maybe has umber in the mix, To be honest, I wouldn't paint your living room gray cindy, I think you might end up disappointed. I was going to use a grey in my bedroom French Grey by Porters but now I am thinking it is going to be too dark and so I am going with 1/4 Bison Hide by Resene which to me is a mix of grey and beige. In the sunlight it looks light grey, at night it has warm glow but it is light enough not to make the walls draw in. Sometimes colour can look fabulous in another persons home but not our own, there are so many factors. If you really want grey, why don't you contact one of the big paint companies and get their designers advice. They do it for free in NZ or you can get a colourist to come to your home for around $100 and I think it is worth it for the time it takes to get it right. I did that for the main colour in my house, had advice. I chose myself in the end but their advice was really helpful.

    Your giclee looks amazing....I am staring at a white gessoed canvas...thats as far as I have got but it is a step in the right direction. I bought it a few weeks ago and have ended up with 8 coats of gesso as I didn't like my first drawing and painted over it, then decided on another subject and painted over that too. Now still undecided on the exact subject.

    Your new cow is gorgeous and I know it is obvious to suggest this name, however, I am looking at her gorgeous pink nose that matches the rose so I would say.....Rose or Rosemary??

    I think I have rambled enough....Oh...ps...can you please email me your pie recipe as I am lactose intolerant and it looks divine! Or can you post it on your blog for your next post maybe??

    Lee :)

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  6. I blog the exact same way...long winded and all over the place. In fact... I do lots of things the way you do. First I do it, then I second guess it...
    Don't even get me started on paint colors. I'm the worst! I CAN NOT CHOOSE! There I said it.
    My favorite color of paint ...is marked down in the paint dept. It's called "Ooops! Paint"
    Yes... it's already picked out and might as well have my name on it-- especially if it's under $15 !!!!
    Love the mirror.
    Love the painting. Her nose is the same color as the Rose Petals...so my suggestion
    "Rose Petal"
    or "Nosey Rosey" ... I'm ok with either one. You choose. email me and I can send you my address and you can send my prize! hahahaha!
    just kidding...
    have a great week. glad to see you pop up in my feed.
    I'm a chronic Instagramer too. I'm a terrible FaceBookian. I'm off to find you on IG
    Pat (patriciagram65 on Instagram)

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  7. I'm always looking forward to your posts!! Keep writing too...It's great.

    Kathy

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  8. I know how you feel about all these media options? ?? Makes me crazy. I don't know where to start. Why not name the cow spot. She sure is pretty. I love the old mirror because I like the color. Painting the French one white may help. JMHO

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  9. Cindy, you crack me up. I love reading your blog posts. They are "real" and refreshing. I still need to check out that show. I need to find it first - LOL!

    I have one of your cow paintings - Claire Belle and I love this new one. How about naming her Blossum or Maggie!

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  10. Oh Lord - I am going through the same with paint colors. Chose SW Sea Salt for diningroom and SW Worldly Gray for entryway and hallway They are so beautiful and fresh. Not too dark. Seems like the colors that are shown in all the little pamphlets are too dark.

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  11. I'd love to paint but we need to have pros come in and do it with with vaulted ceilings and very high walls. I'm hoping this fall to get a couple of rooms done. Love your new cow; how about Belle? Although, I'm sure you've had a "Belle" already. Love the new mirror. I think both look very nice in your living room. I do like the new one because it is bigger than the picture that is off to the right in your pictures above. The original mirror you had looks like it is the same size so I like that my eye moves up to the height of the new mirror.

    I became so overwhelmed with the different social media options that I wound up just withdrawing from many of them. Basically my blog was the only thing I kept on with.

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  12. I'm Hopeless when it comes to Paint Color Shades... which is why, when I was doing the Studio Makeover, I opted for most of the walls to be painted Black... that comes in only ONE SHADE so easy peasy... otherwise it would be some shade of Gray, right?! *winks* The Mirror is lovely, but so is the other one, so I'll be no Help with that either... sorry... I know, what Good am I then? *winks* I can only handle my one Blog and FB... that's it... otherwise I'm be on Social Media overload and have some kind of breakdown, which wouldn't be pretty. Your Painting, as always, is Fab and I'd call her Rose.

    Blessings from the Arizona Desert... Dawn... The Bohemian

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  13. It's so good to see you post again, Cindy. I feel like I've been missing out on so many of my friends' lives this summer - and you always know how to bring a smile to my face with your witty writing. :) I really do love the MS Grey Pearl. It's light and fresh and not too grey. As far as your sweet cow --- she looks like a Cecelia to me for some reason. :) Oh, and your mirror? I adore the new one! It looks absolutely perfect up there!

    xoxo laurie

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  14. Cindy, such a late night for me! Here I am visiting one of my most craziest of blog friends. :)
    Ok I do love that you ramble and that's what we all love about you so much, know one does it as well as you :)
    Now as for grey's? I love a few myself working with this tone, and grey is a difficult tone to express in ones personal home, it's all about the direction the lights is coming in at, and the light of the room. I think a good primer first on the wall to enhance the true tone of your new grey, what ever grey you chose will be that much more truer to its tone without the old paint on the wall altering the new paint colour.

    Plus it's never a great idea to look at section of paints here and there, the whole room takes on a colour balance when it's all painted and the beauty takes shape when the furnishings are all in place.

    Now for the sofa wall, with the mirrors, love the gold mirror best! But remove everything on the wall but the mirror you could them place perhaps some wall sconces a little distance from the mirror. I think you will achieve that Rachel Ashwell look. The wall sconces could be vintage and not to over powering but that hauntingly beautiful feeling of oh yah! This is what im talking about ones.
    I am sure you could place the art in areas that compliment the space and art. I love the mix of elegance with rustic, it adds to the rooms conversation.
    The pillows I would add some rustic, and some messy linen ones giving it a relaxed feel.
    You will know it when you see it, it will be that awwwww! moment!!

    Cindy, the room does need a paint pick-me-up!
    Are you against a standard white, a mellow ironstone kind of white, like an old white T-shirt? Still white but worn down with mellow age, like white iron stone pottery?
    I think that room would look grrrrreat (great) white, not just because I love white, but because the appeal of your things could look really cottage cute with that twist in white. I think a nice fresh start can have you standing back living with it for awhile with a fresh out look! I have and amazing white from Sherwin Williams Paints I will pass it on to you. Really you could do a white living room and still pull of dinning and kitchen area with a cool grey tone, it would open up the room and make it less distracting to the pieces you design around, it's a perfect back drop pulling all your pieces together allowing each piece to fit in and not stand out.

    I hope I did not add more stress and confusion to your paint delima ?
    You could even paint the floor and then throw down the area rugs pulling the floor up to the wall widening and expanding the height of the room. A fresh start with white walls would rest your soul on a bit of calm with the white sofa and the great gold mirror :)

    Cindy visit my blog, see the couple of post before my French basket post, you will see a French mirror I painted white and distressed it so it would stand out but melt into the white walls with the reflection of the white sofa in it, along with the white painted floors, formal yet rustic at the same time. Let me know what you think. Plus I have an old grey door next to my sofa behind and end table, you could do much the same with your old door next to your sofa :)

    Well my dear, I am off...consider white, it may take all the guess work out of a type A personality he, he, like mine, I so need to control the feeling of what works and doesn't work in my small cottage front room, and you can take back control of how your room makes you feel :)
    Plus Nate Burkas loves to design rooms around white walls, there you go great designs even with white.

    Love yah girl! Keep the posting coming.

    Xoxo
    Dore

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  15. I love your cow paintings. I really like cows and the smell of milk cows in a barn. Used to live in Silk Hope NC and my favorite part of my work day was driving down a dirt road past a dairy farm, driving really slow, stopping and looking in the depth of their eyes. So soulful, so beautiful. Jessamine is the name that comes to me for your newest addition.

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  16. You would hate my walls Cindy....boring white LOL! But the neutral back ground makes it easy to add different colors since I can't keep anything the same for long!

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