The Colour of Magic....

The original walls curve up to flow into the ceiling, creating a challenge for painting a separate wall and ceiling colour.  The colours I chose for walls, I paint up to the pencilled, then taped line all around the room, a couple of inches below the top of window and door tops.  Then all the ceilings are a shade of greyish tinged cream.  I'll do this for every bed, bath, hall and mudroom.  I love the impression of higher ceilings that the lowered ceiling colour gives.... and an old-fashioned, Depression era style of wall painting. 

On the advice of my friend Peggums, one of the infamous GGs, I look into Depression era interior colours and decide to go with the greyish tones of blues and greens for the other bedrooms and baths.  The kitchen and mudroom will be some of the taupes and creams of our bedroom with other shades of that colour strip.

The sunroom turns out to be two shades of pale, pale grey green, with the baseboards and rads a much darker shade.  So flippin' close to each other are these pale greens, that one tired night I go to the same paint can, changing brushes and carefully paint the walls one shade, then the 6" boards that are spaced vertically over the walls every 2 feet, very carefully the same colour I've just painted the walls.  I tiredly hand the brush over to Kee......  I just could not go back to those particular walls again.

If I could tell self-painters everywhere just two things, the first would be this:  count the friggin' ceilings you'll paint the same shade and buy in bulk.  Jeez, the amount of cans I bought of that shade.  Also, Rona's top shelf/top price paint is, in my wearied opinion - crap - chips if you give it a harsh glance.  Behr and Valspar are great.  And, harsh, but true - selling you that can of $40/50 paint at Home Depot, Rona, etc, are, almost always, employees who are not career paint counsellors and gurus.  Word.

Secondly - the things you learn... eggshell is not eggshell is not eggshell - eggshell between brands has different sheens, an evil conspiracy to keep you brand-bound!  Paint finishes should be government regulated, with stiff penalties and jail time for ratfink bastards who try..... well, it does piss you off to spend $40, $50, give the exact numbers for the formula, say the magic words "Eggshell" and when it dries, find you've got "Buffed Eggshell" or "Waxed Eggshell" or "Slightly More Glowing Eggshell".

So I pick colours:  Ralph Lauren meets Canadian 21st century Lake Cottage with overtones of Nick & Nora Charles.... see?  Pale blue for our bedroom walls, the cream ceiling, a mid taupe for the baseboards and window sills and a darker cream for the window frame and wood between the panes.

The kitchen, one of the first projects, was originally layers of walpaper, pepto-pink underneath.  The ceiling was texture wall papered.  We ripped back to the walls and Kee began his apprenticeship on plastering.  The ceiling now, painted, is his masterwork, all the lighting shows a smooth, undisturbed flatscape.  Walls were replastered down to a certain height, to where beadboard would meet them.

 The atmosphere I want to creat for the cottage is a melange.... lake casual meets vintage 30s40s Craftsman Tudor Revival with modcons and casual, uncluttered, simple comfort. Starting with the paint, I let the house reveal itself... and us.