Paint (to me) is like hair, you can always change it! It’s also the least expensive way to make an impact to a space.
The paint colors for Rocky Bay Home were inspired by a client as well as Pinterest ideas. The current house had off-white walls and painted trim a beige color. It was in reactively good shape but there were enough nail holes and ceiling stains that Painter got added to the list of sub-contractors.
As much as I love color, I do believe that staying neutral opens the door for color to enter the picture with fun accents keeping the expense of paint to neutrals. The entire first floor walls will basically be Benjamin Moore (BM) OC 23 – Classic Grey in eggshell with OC 66 – Snow White trim in semi-gloss finish.
The kitchen cabinet bases will be BM, HC144 – Newburport Blue with the Snow White walls and trim. My thought is that if I like these painted deep blue cabinets, I can always replace them with blue cabinets in the future. The new pantry doors are painted C2, Dorian Grey (of my all-time favorite colors).
The Dining Room accent wall will be (BM) HC 154 – Hale Navy, visible from the kitchen, the Dining accent wall will be a bit darker than the Newburyport Blue. On this wall I’m hoping to do an accent logo decal or something fun. I’m also having the painter paint the ugly baseboard heaters the same color.
The Living Room will be the Classic Grey with C2, Pavement woodwork around the fireplace in a semi-gloss finish and the background of BM 1666 – In the Midnight Hour. I also painted the Family Room Bar the Pavement color with black hardware to relate the two rooms and eliminate the ugly brown color that it was.
The first floor Guest Bath also gets BM, 1666, In the Midnight Hour. One wall will be white 4”x4” tiles floor to ceiling with white penny ground tiles to juxtapose black and white. The plumbing fixtures are also black bouncing the black & white from wall to wall. My plan is to use a piece of artwork that I bought at a fair in Paris is primarily white on the black wall.
All the bedrooms are painted BM, HC-170, Stonington Grey with Snow White trim. It’s a nice subtle grey color. The Master Bath is painted BM, HC-169 Coventry Grey with the Snow White trim and the Apartment Bath is BM, 2180-30, Evening Dove that looks great with the nickel gap wall and Malene B cement tile backsplash.
The one thing that I pulled out of the painters list is the stairs and railing. I want to paint it black but I figure I can do that on my own and can chip away at it through time.
I’m also struggling a bit with the exterior. I am going to paint the doors BM, Black Beauty to give it a sharp punch of lines. But I’m not sure what to do about the swaths of baby blue. I’m thinking about a light grey color to blend with the shingles? And I’m definitely eliminating the baby blue shutters – especially since more than half of them were broken.
Overall, paint labor is expensive but since the house is big, I knew I would never be able to do everything, so we hired out. I figure I can always go back in and paint some walls through the years, but it’s nice to have all the trim and ceilings the same color with a plan for the walls.