Getting started on the painting

Although the contractor at the new house didn't officially start demo work until this morning (!!!), I've spent the last few weekends over there getting started on the painting.

We're hiring professional painters, because clearly I don't have enough time to paint the entire house on my own, but I'm pretty good at it, I enjoy it, and we're out to save as much money as possible.

I started in the master bedroom, which we're finishing just like our current bedroom. The color is Cos Cob Stonewall (1483) by Ben Moore, which I painted about halfway down, because we're installing the same board-and-batten wainscoting here that we have at home.

It looks deceptively dark here for several reasons. First, the ceiling is painted a horrible beige. HORREIGE. Second, what's left of the walls is a lighter shade of Horreige.

Third, I am completely incapable of taking well-lit photos of a room with a bazillion windows with an iPhone or any other kind of camera.

Here's a slightly more representative capture of it. If Ben Moore had asked ME when they named it, I would have said, "What the H is 'Cos Cob Stonewall? Name it 'Elephant.' " And the world would have thanked me. (That mantle is going. It's going to be one rough-cut cedar beam, and the marble is going to be swapped out for grey slate. We are a casual people.)

I've been searching Houzz and Pinterest for weeks for inspiration on how to minimize tray ceilings. I don't care for them, and I'd like for this one to visually disappear as much as possible. I'm not sure if that means painting everything above the crown white (I think it does) ... I'm still on the fence.

I also painted Amelia's room in the same color she has at home now (Sherwin-Williams' Repose Gray 7015).

I love this color so much because it's ALMOST silver. It almost has a glow to it that the other greys I use in my house don't have. The others are warmer, and this one is cooler ... but I just think it's beautiful. It shines, which is perfect for her.

Again, she'll have the board-and-batten on her walls, so I only painted halfway down.

Typical of this house in its current condition ... when I raised the blinds to open the windows for ventilation, the left-hand blinds yanked straight out of the window and bonked me on the head. HARD.

Last weekend I painted the kids' loft at the top of the steps, but my phone died before I finished so I couldn't take After shots. Something to look forward to. If you're into this sort of thing.