Primed and Ready!!!

Good Monday morning to you all! I hope that you had a great weekend. It was HOT this weekend in Houston (109 degrees on Saturday); however, the sun was shining, so I was a happy gal! But what is crazy, Houston's 109 was nothing compared to Vegas, which recorded 127 degrees with sidewalks clocking in at 150 degrees. Yowzers!!! That's-a-one-spicy-meat-a-ball! Things are also heating up at Casa de Mosley - the painters arrived last week and started priming and prepping all the walls and woodwork.  I have been so excited about this major step towards completing our project that I have been running around like a crazy person (a la Paul Revere style) shouting to the rafters and anyone that will listen that "The Painters are Coming! The Painters are Coming!  The Painters Are Coming!!!"





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Last week I showed you the wainscoting that we added throughout the house. And here's the dining room wainscoting all primed and ready to go!

 

I absolutely LOVE how the wainscoting looks primed and how it is all coming together! The painters still have to put a skim coat over the middle panels on the wainscoting to make it them super smooth, but we are definitely heading in the right direction! Here is a closer view of the dining room wainscoting.

And here is a view taken from the front corner of the dining room looking back towards the living room.  As you can see, they also have the crown and baseboards all primed in there too!

Since the primer is up, it was time for Mattey and me to buckle down and make our final decisions on paint colors for the walls and trim throughout the house. And here is what we have come up with so far:

 

The two middle colors are what we are using for the walls downstairs. The second sample board from the right is Ralph Lauren Suede Plaza Blanca, which we are using on the living room, the foyer and the stairwell walls. It is a deep rich cream color, which will give a lot of warmth to the rooms. We chose Ralph Lauren's suede finish (instead of regular flat paint) because the suede paint gives a subtle texture and added depth. I am all about layering textures when decorating, and using a suede paint is a super easy way to add a layer texture to the whole room in one fair swoop.  Our dining room walls will be the second color from the left, which is Ralph Lauren Suede Cordova Cream. Like the walls in the living room, foyer, and stairwell, we also are using a suede finish in the dining room; however, this color is just a bit darker than the Plaza Blanca and will help set-off the dining room from the rest of the downstairs space without screaming "Hey look at me!!! I'm different!!!!!"  Since tans and creams can become a bit boring, we are adding interest by going DARK with the trim (instead of your typical white). We have picked Benjamin Moore's Bronzetone 60 (the far left color on the trim sample board).  It isn't on Benjamin Moore's website, but you can get a sample made at any of their stores.  This is because Bronzetone 60 is actually a commercial color that they sell to manufacturers and is typically used to paint machinery. That might sound a bit strange; however, the color is FABULOUS!  It it super rich with a ton of depth.  We love the look of light walls with dark trim, and previously had this look out in our game room, which you can see below.

 

 

 

The walls in the game room were Ralph Lauren Suede Silver City and the trim was Ralph Lauren Turret Stair.  Although I love this look (and we are using the same color combo in the new game room), I thought it was a bit too dark and too tan for downstairs (I feel like we will be locked into a distinctly tan color pallet if we go this dark).  Instead, I wanted a lighter feel for the downstairs and more flexible pallet. The back room in the picture below is a good example of the look I am going for:

 



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 And here is a good example of how the dining room will look with the dark wainscoting and light walls.



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I think that house is so dreamy and am praying to the paint gods that our house will look as good when we are finished! Like the picture above, we will are using a light cream for the wainscoting on the stairwell.  Although all the other trim downstairs will be dark, I decided not to carry the dark trim up the stairwell. This is because we are painting the walls upstairs in the study and the hallway a greige color (so that it will blend with the Plaza Blanca) and painting the trim a bright crisp white, and I thought that dark wainscoting on the stairwell would be too much contrast with the white wainscoting and woodwork in the upstairs study and hallway, which you can see in the picture below.

 

 

The far left color board is Sherwin Williams Fleur De Sel and is the color that we chose for the walls in the upstairs hallway and the study. I wanted upstairs to be a grey and white pallet, but needed to choose a grey that would blend well with the Plaza Blanca since you will see the stairwell walls and the hallway/study walls when you are upstairs. This turned out to be a far more difficult task than I originally anticipated because the Plaza Blanca is a warm color and most greys out there are cool.  So in order for the two not to clash, I had to find a grey with some tan undertones. After trying about 15 different greys (greys are so freak'n difficult), I lucked upon Fleur De Sel. It is a pretty light grey with a hint of beige undertones and blends great with the Plaza Blanca. SCORE!!! For the trim and wainscoting, we are using Benjamin Moore's Chantilly Lace, which is the middle white on the trim sample board.  This is a super bright white and pops like crazy against the Fleur De Sel. I love it because it will make the upstairs hallway bright and airy (and this is super important to me since there are no windows in the hallway and the space could easily turn into a cave if the paint is too dark).  The color on the far right of trim sample board is Sherwin Williams Snowbound and is what we have picked for the ceiling color.  We chose this color because we needed something that will blend with both the Plaza Blanca and the Fleur De Sel...and Snowbound is a rock star chameleon that looks great with both colors.  And finally, the color block on the far right is Benjamin Moors Pure White.  We are using this color on the walls in the upstairs guest bathroom and the Laundry Room.  Although it is called Pure White, it is a lovely cool grey and works really well with the Carrara Marble counter tops that we have in the laundry room and guest bathroom. For the trim in those rooms, we are going with Chantilly Lace again to Keep Pop'n you proud Popper!  I am counting down the days till the paint is up so I can see how it all comes together!  I hope that you have enjoyed seeing some of our paint choices!!!  I'll keep you posted as the progress continues.  Have a wonderful week everyone, and if we don't talk before, have a very HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!  Thanks for stopping by!