One Room Challenge Week 4: Choosing the right neutral

Categories: DIY, Paint - Tags: , , , , , ,

It’s week 4 of our One Room Challlenge and we’re very behind on our progress. If you read our last post you know all about our devastatingly huge little setback. Sadly we still don’t have an update on that front but we’re hoping to find a solution this weekend. Trying not to be discouraged though we’re attempting to move forward and this week we’re talking paint.

As members of the 2014 PARA Blog Crew, we’re fortunate to have all of the paint for this project (along with every other paint project in the last year seen here) provided to us by PARA Paints. One of the many perks of being PARA Blog Crew members, aside from the year’s worth of free paint obviously, is that they also provided each of us with an awesome Designer Kit complete with the entire PARA swatch palette.

The upside of having that many paint swatches at our disposal is never having to be those people in the paint department of the hardware store. You know the ones…who spend an eternity hovering in front of the swatch boards trying to make a decision, blocking anyone else from accessing the paint colours, and who will inevitably ALWAYS be standing directly in front of the swatch you’re looking for… Yea, thankfully we don’t have to be them anymore.

Of course who I am now is the crazy lady who at any given time can be found with a full swatch deck (or two) in my purse.

Swatch decks in my purse…yea I have a problem…

I’m the one who will keep a fan of grey swatches on her dining room table for a week going back and forth on 23 different shades of grey that any normal person might think all look the same.

Too many paint choices

So how do you choose???

For us it’s really about knowing the space you’re working with. It’s important to factor in how much natural light vs artificial light will be present. Take into account what the overall feeling is that you’re going for – whether you you prefer warmer or cooler tones. Also look at what other colors are present in the space; in the flooring, furniture, etc. Once all of those factors have been considered you’ll be well on your way to choosing the right wall colour.

Because we’re dealing with such an open floor plan, we knew that whatever colour we chose for the entryway would end up being the anchor colour for our entire main floor, as well as the 2nd floor hallway. It’s a pretty big decision. We’re working with a space with a ton of natural light so we wanted to capture that light and airy feel in the wall colour. Also, as I’m sure you’ve been able to gather from our design, we’re going for a modern/contemporary look.

So for the entryway which leads into the main living space & connects to the upstairs hallway, we chose PARA Moonwalker (P5211-24). What we love about this colour is that it’s a light and fresh grey. It’s sort of a nod to that very modern “all white gallery” look, but provides just the right amount of colour & life to keep it from feeling too stark.

We’ve also decided to do a colour block feature to match the Fardal hi-gloss turquoise doors that we bought for 2 of our PAX wardrobes. For that we chose PARA Deep Sea Fishing (P5014-85).

Matching PARA Deep Sea Fishing (P5014-85) to our IKEA Fardal turquoise door

It’s a pretty near perfect match don’t you think?  I’m actually excited to see what we have in mind up on the walls. We’ve submitted our paint order & hope to have it all arrive early next week.

We also spent some time this week getting our IKEA wardrobes assembled and ready to be installed.

Hopefully by next week we’ll be able to get things back on track. Just 2 weeks to go. It’s crunch time!!


Missed the first few weeks of progress?? You can get caught up on Week 1, Week 2 and Week 3. Oh – and don’t forget to head over to Calling it Home and check out all the progress the other awesome bloggers have made. You can check back in with us next Thursday for more on #OperationOrganizedEntryway! And and for more behind the scenes pics & progress be sure to follow us on instragram and facebook!

8 Responses to One Room Challenge Week 4: Choosing the right neutral

  1. Reply Thalita @ The Learner Observer says:

    Wooooo your paint colours look fantastic and talk about a perfect match with the doors! Fingers crossed that the tle issue is fixed soon. You guys are doing amazing!

  2. Reply Brenda A. says:

    Deep Sea Fishing – great name for a great color. Can’t wait to see it all done!

  3. Reply Sabrina S says:

    My colour picking ritual sounds a bit like yours. lol dinning room table, kitchen floor. . . whatever works right! I’m sure once you get the tile back in, things will be a breeze afterwards. I can’t wait to see the doors up on the PAX wardrobes. Great colour

  4. Reply Michelle @ Eamonn & Jack says:

    Ah paint – currently the bane of my existence. i painted my room and then decided i didn’t like the colour. I’ve got a wallpaperer coming on Thursday so I’ve now bought two gallons of paint. At this point I’m just going to learn to love the colour I’ve now got.

  5. Reply sdowd39 says:

    Ha! I resemble that remark about “those people” picking out paint! I love the colors that you’ve chosen!!!
    Shelia @ House of Highlands

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