Happy April! I hope you had an awesome Easter weekend!
Kevin played guitar at our church’s Pike Road location, and we had a really great lunch with his family yesterday afternoon. His mom sent us home with a whole tub of Watergate salad, so I will be enjoying more of that this week, too. #ICouldEatItEveryDay
Last Thursday, we went over to Fireman Keith’s place to check out the sample paint colors we gave him to try out and I think the winner is going to be Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore.
But before we purchase a couple of gallons of it, Keith wants to try out a 50% darkened version of it to make see if he’d like it that way even more. I’ll show you which one we go with after our paint party on Saturday, April 20th!
Right now, his living room is painted bright yellow…
…so while I was researching gray paint color’s online, I was pretty pumped to see this picture over at Sarah’s blog, Cozy. Cottage. Cute. She went from bright yellow to a 50% lighter version of Gray Owl at her place…
…and boy does that look sharp, doesn’t it?
We got some good news in the fireplace department last week, too. AirStone is generously going to hook Keith up with some of their faux stone product, and Southern Accents is going to donate a mantel beam, so it looks like we’ll be tackling that project after we get the walls painted in there!
In around-the-fireplace news, Keith dug the look of the old, blue gray-stained wood above the mantel so much, he’s thinking he may want to extend it into the back of the bookcases, too.
He’s out pallet-hunting right now, so we’re excited to see what he finds. We’ve never worked with pallets and blue-gray stain before- but I think with a little sanding (to clean ’em up) before we stain, it could turn out to be a pretty neat project!
Have you ever worked with pallets before? If so, do you have any tips you could share with us about them?
I have Gray Owl in my bedroom, and I’m still crazy in love with it after two years. I’m upstairs so I get plenty of light, and it really bounces it around without being too bright, and makes the white trim look good. It definitely changes with the light but not too much to affect my white balance. 😉 So depending on how much light the room gets naturally, going 50% one way or the other is probably a good bet!
I am needing to repaint our kitchen/living room/dining room/play area. It is a space that will be hard to change colors in, so it is all one color currently. Yes it is all one big room with one dividing wall that doesn’t go all the way to the ceiling. It is currenly a light gray with plush gray carpet. Our cabinets are a honey oak. Do you think gray owl would work or go 50% darker? Would love some feedback!
I made this for my little sis’s bridal shower from a pallet…
http://pinterest.com/pin/183943966000990708/
And I loved doing it, although I will say it was TOUGH to get that darn pallet apart. Haha everyone says things like “then I simply disassembled the pallet” and I was all like “CMON YOU beepity beeping thing!”
BUT ANYWAY – I think pallets can make cool accents. The end.
Great tips for all you ever wanted to know about re-using pallets. Types, what they carried, tips of how to disassemble, possible toxicity.. etc. Scroll down past project ideas to the nitty gritty! http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/2011/04/all-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about.html Good luck!
I LOVE Gray Owl! We used it in our open concept family room and kitchen to replace a golden-yellow the previous owners had used. It makes the room so bright and cheery! It looks great with virtually any wood tone as well as cool and warm colors. I was afraid it’d be too dark at full strength but it’s very light and airy and all around a beautiful gray.
Our house was also bought as a foreclosure, and we used pallets ALL OVER. We have our entire bedroom floor made out of pallet wood. We had a lot of luck running the pallet wood through a planer (or a sander if that’s what you have) to clean the wood up first. Then miter the edges to make a clean cut. We love working with pallet wood and plan on using even more if it in other areas of our house (we have a ton of it because we go pallet hunting all the time and happen to live in an old industrial city [Buffalo, NY] that also loves pallets).
Our next door neighbor set us up with some pallets from the local Volvo dealer, and they are such high quality….there is actually a difference from one “brand” to another!
Hi Layla,
I just recently discovered your fabulous site through the world of Pinterest and I’ve spent the past week or so reading every blog entry from the beginning til now. It’s been so much fun catching up and for the first time in my life, I actually feel excited and inspired to decorate my home. I’m moving in September so I’ll just be spending the next few months gathering ideas and getting my townhome ready to rent. This leads me to a question about paint. Do you paint all your rooms in the same finish? I’m really just at a complete loss when it comes to choosing between finishes. Currently, the kitchen and bathrooms are eggshell and the rest of the house is flat paint which is a nightmare to keep clean.
Also, I’m considering taking the online photography classes and was wondering if the classes taught will also help with action shots? My daughter races mountain bikes so I’m really looking to learn how to improve my photos using manual mode. Thanks so much!