Getting the Blues

"Fly A Kite." That's the name of the paint we chose for our bedroom. Darryl saw this color in an episode of "Modern Family" and he loved it so much that he decided right then it would end up somewhere in our house. At first we thought about repainting our living room, but once the remodel was in full swing we just couldn't bear the thought of working on another part of the house at the same time. So we decided to use the color in our bedroom instead. What you see in the photo is a taste of the color, but of course it looks different in person. Actually, I haven't seen exactly what it looks like yet, just with work lights shining on it unnaturally. But it doesn't matter. As soon as I walked into the room this afternoon I felt calm and comfortable and relaxed. The perfect sense for a bedroom. I could almost feel the tension washing away; now I can't wait to relax in a chair by the window in the delicious afternoon light, reading a book and occasionally glancing up at the walls. 

In fact, as I'm looking at this photo, I can visualize exactly how this room will look. It's incredible what just the right shade of color can do to your mood. When we first bought our house 15 years ago, Darryl wanted every room in various shades of white but I managed to convince him that adding color was a good thing. We painted our living room a sunny yellow, welcoming and warm. The dining room is forest green from the chair rail up and I'm convinced that the rich tone of the room is what pushed us both to become such good cooks - you can't serve bad meals in a room this color. We originally painted the hallway a beautiful ruby red, which was stunning but showed every scratch and speck of dirt. That wasn't a problem for the first couple of years, but once the girls came along and started putting their hands, mouths, toys all over that wall, it was time for a change. Now it's a simple off-white and it's a great backdrop for our row of family photos. The room that was the spare room when we first moved in (later to become the baby's room) had three walls of light blue and one of dark. I was trying to make it seem like the sky during the course of a day. Once Julia came along we added cloud-shaped pieces of foam. When the girls got a little older, we painted it pink; not original, I know, but they liked it. When we painted the kitchen, we started off with yellow, but after about half an hour we knew it wasn't going to work. So we switched to a pale leaf green that blends perfectly with the cabinets (and if you've seen our kitchen you'll know it wasn't easy to match those things!).

So color on the walls is really important to us. It sets a mood and works as a background note while setting the tone for the room, and even the whole house. Plus when I really want to annoy Darryl I can remind him that he's the one who chose a pale shade of "Dodger" blue!

Look how shiny the ceiling is!

P.S. The new - and hopefully undamaged - tub comes tomorrow. Cross fingers, toes, anything else you can think of. Thank you!