Before I get into my next post I wanted to take a minute to say thank you to all of you who asked about the blog and missed my posts! The feedback was encouraging and has motivated me to open up my laptop and dive into Building the Bennett’s again. I don’t know what the future has in store for Building the Bennett’s but I know that it is something I enjoy doing. So thank you again for your support!
The next few posts are going to show how our house being completed over a period of about 4-weeks. We learned a lot during this process but it was really amazing to see what can get done in the last 4-6 weeks of your build. You have to know there are going to be delays, hiccups to the process and sometimes sacrifices but at the end you have a wonderful home.
When the interior paint was completed I had a few days of panic. Your house goes from all white to color in a matter of 2-days and if you use any bold colors (as we did) it can feel overwhelming. We were close to even re-painting two of the rooms as we doubted our selection. But we waited, and our “vision” came to life once the rooms were complete and furniture was delivered.
I learned a lot from this process and would have done a few things the same and a few things differently. Based on my learnings I think everyone should have these three tips when selecting a paint color:
1) Test the paint color(s)! Go to your local paint store and buy test paint. There are less brands that actually sell the small test jars so you have to invest a little more $ to buy the small paint jar but it is worth it. Next, test the paint on a piece of white board and bring it to your house and the room you are painting. Hold it up to the wall in different lights so you can get a sense of what it will really look like. And make sure you have enough of the paint (use two coats when testing) on the cardboard to really see the color.
2) Narrow down your color choices buy using a color fan deck and looking at it against fabrics or furniture you have in the room. One of the first things I purchased during the building process was the color wheel from Benjamin Moore Paints– you can get it at your paint store, hardware store or online. I brought the fan deck everywhere! Having the paint swatches allowed me to narrow down thousands of colors to around 20 to make our final choices.
3) Remember that your paint will always be brighter than a paint swatch- always! This might seem like a simple tip but one you should not forget!
With our painting experience both our Master Bedroom and Bath paint selections had us second guessing our choices when we first saw them. I was ready to change the bathroom, but felt like we would live with the bedroom. We decided to keep both as is and now we love both colors. Looking back, I would have paid more attention to tip #3 and happy that we followed tip #1 and #2. Good news is for anyone painting you can always change it- but why not make sure you love your first choice!
From Plaster to Paint-
btb Style and Design 