Lopsided Living Room: My Yellow Phase

Week five of the One Room Challenge in the lopsided living room involved a lot of painting, and yet, I still have nothing to show for it. However, unlike week four, when I was feeling discouraged, now I can only laugh.

Speaking of week four, thank you for all of the encouraging comments and suggestions on last week’s post. Normally, I like to answer every comment, but I couldn’t make it happen. I am back on track now, so comment away if you like.

Painting Over and Over and Over

Saturday and Sunday, I decided that I would finish the bench alcove, setting the stage for the rest of the room. I put another coat of black on the sashes and cleaned the glass. Then, I painted the walls Woodmont Cream to match the trim.

I was super happy with the black sashes, but my son kept telling me the living room looked like a panda. I also received loads of messages on Instagram about how I was not moving in the right direction–Take an interior design course. Learn color theory. Take a look at ______’s room. They know what they are doing. By Sunday night, I shut down completely. Again, keep in mind that I am laughing now. My coping methods are healthy, and in no way am I saving lives. This is just a recap of how things went down during week five.

So Monday, I got out of bed, determined to crack the code for our living room, and put this project behind me. I swatched many different white shades from my basement stash, but none went with the cream. My favorite beige looked like lavender. I ran to the paint store for more samples. The pinks were too peach. The whites were too cool. So, I got the brilliant idea to choose a darker shade from the Woodmont Cream paint chip. My idea was foolproof! I knew that the undertones would definitely play well together, and I love warm colors. Inspired, I bought a quart of Vellum and got to work.

One-third into it, I was thinking, I am freaking brilliant. This is gorgeous. Halfway through, my thoughts were, It’s…good–warm. I like it. By two-thirds, I was in a second-guessing kind of mood, but I also thought, I’ve come this far. I’ll see it through. I finished the wall, stood back, and thought, What have I done?

Yellow. I painted it yellow.

Calling in the Reinforcements

Me: Um, Andy, can you come look at this?

Andy: (sees it) Oh.

Me: What do you think?

Andy: (not wanting to hurt my feelings) Well…

Me: You don’t like it?

Andy: Uh…

Me: (to my son) Can you come down here and look at this?

Son: Sure. (sees the wall) Oh.

Me: What do you think?

Son: Well…

Me: You can tell the truth.

Son: Well, it’s not really a good color. It doesn’t match anything anywhere.

Me: Sigh…

And that is where I stopped for the week. I am leaving the photo evidence of this nightmare color scenario to remind myself that yellow is bad–very, very bad.

Cracking the Code

This is a crummy place to leave you hanging, so I’ll offer up a little nugget of something to make this post worth your time. I have finally decided to paint the walls my old friend: Agreeable Grey. With all of the light bouncing around throughout the day, Agreeable Grey makes the lopsided living room look warm and cozy, no matter the weather or the season.

I painted above the mantel to show you. (Is it just me, or is this three-color room starting to look like a circa-1980s church basement nursery? All I need is a wallpaper border, and we’re good to go!)

Currently, I am scrounging up all of my colorful artwork to bring the room to life. Believe it or not, I do see the rest of this room in my mind. Now, to make it happen.

There won’t be a reveal next week, but we have all been given an extension until the end of the month. So, we’ll see where we are over the weekend, and I’ll know more by Monday.

Until then, please do check out the other projects on the One Room Challenge blog. The featured designers are describing their design plans, and the other guest participants are elbow-deep into their own delightful dreams and disasters.