So along with my love of all things design, and being a massage therapist, I also nanny. Cause who wants only one job? Pshh. Rookies.

My nanny family had a slight bathroom emergency over Christmas-which we discovered by water leaking through the ceiling into the dining room. It all got figured out but it lead to a HUGE bathroom remodel, and they hired my mom (Yep! My mom!) to design. The dining room needed some patching (obviously) which then necessitated repainting the walls.

My mom and I saw this as an opportunity to visit the idea of a new color in general. Because here it was:

OH SO RED.

I know, some people LOVE red. But…GAH. It is SUCH a hard color to do right.* And it just feels so freaking aggressive in most rooms. Plus this room was severely underlit, with TONS of wood,  so the room just felt dark, gloomy, angry, and totally disrupted the flow of the first floor. (Where the other rooms are yellow, sage green, and blue.) So after some subtle (and not so subtle) hints, then suggestions, options and talking, we all agreed on a new color scheme. Here are a couple of “before/during shots”:

You can see the colors we chose as samples on the wall above: green. A soft sage on top, and a slightly deeper olive on bottom. Since this was one of the final things of a long, and exhausting, and expensive bathroom remodel, I *severely* underbid them on the repainting. I really, *really* wanted this red gone. So here’s me! Painting in the corner!:

 

As you can see, no, I don’t tape. Tape is for suckers. Lemme tell you: the guy who did the red? He used tape. And red still got EVERYWHERE on the wood. And there was still tape in a couple of places! Cutting in seems scary. I understand. But a little bit of practice goes a LONG way, and you don’t waste time taping. In this room? I think it probably saved me three hours. Yes. Of taping.

And yes, that ladder is hiding what may or may not be my ass crack. When in Rome…

So, seven not-so-bad hours later (broken up in two blocks, and with the company of my friend Mere, and then Nanny Mom Sarah), it was done! And LOOK:

So bright and happy!

Doesn’t the wood pop out SO much more?

Here is a better shot of the two tones:

*Le sigh*. So much better.

*Pro Tip: Picking colors is HARD yo. Colors play differently in every room, on every wall, in every light. Because they have undertones. Red is rarely just RED it’s red, with an undertone of blue, or orange or brown. Tan is rarely TAN. It’s tan, with an undertone of green or pink. Your best bet: Look at different shades of the same color. On your wall. And if you have a hard time seeing undertones: SAMPLE POTS. They sell tiny pots of color at Home Depot now to help choose. It’s better to take your time picking a color than painting the whole room and then asking yourself “Why does this room look like baby poop?”  and having to do it over anyway.