I bought a set of nifty carpet protectors on a whim at the hardware store and turns out they are one of my top 10 purchases of all time. They have made this whole endeavor wayyyy less of a headache. They are basically thin slightly concave/convex (depending on your perspective) pieces of plastic that slide between the skirting board and the carpet. Genius! Since the carpet is quite a contrast to the white paint, we really needed to have a clean edge there and these little things have made that possible. I tried to take a picture, but since the carpet protectors are also white it is hard to see what exactly is going on there.
The downside of all this lovely bright white trim is that the current CREAM wall color looks disgusting. I'm shuddering just thinking about it. They do not complement each other AT ALL. The white makes the cream look nauseatingly like custard and the cream makes the white look borderline clinical (which it isn't). The cream isn't staying obviously, but we're going to bring the pros in for that job. I've been putting off posting pictures of the trim because I think it looks terrible (next to the cream, I mean), but I'm a little over-sensitive about these things and I trust you won't judge too harshly.
Ha - I know. Radiators are uuugly. Did you know that you can paint them to match your wall though? That means I won't be stuck with creamy custard radiators. Anyway, I just picked this photo so you could see the baseboard and the windowsill at the same time. I'm not in love with the wood windows, but I'm leaving them as is because I have neither the skill nor the patience to deal with painting them. Plus, Martha (STEWART) and I were talking the other day and she says she never paints her window trim white anymore because it like.. umm... distracts too much from the view outside or something like that. The strange thing is, I actually think she's right about that. To be honest, if I had my way, I would probably choose to paint the window trim black instead of white, but I think that may be a little too avant-garde for future porridge-eating Dorridge dwellers. By the way, that blob of paint on the window trim was so not me - you can tell by the creamy nastiness of its hue.
The most pleasant surprise of the paint project so far is how badass the door handles look next to the white paint. This is what the doors used to look like. Some might not find it very offensive (you might actually like it, which is fine... for you...) but this is just way too country rustico for me.
I'm clearly waging a personal vendetta against wood. I know, from reading way too many decorating blogs, that this is kind of a "hot-button issue" in the design world so statistically I'm sure to offend some of you. Trust me, if these doors weren't from our Home Depot equivalent (I've checked, okay, and it's true) and if our trim was original to the house I might think twice. Luckily for me, they're crap so I can paint away without a guilty conscience.
Back to the badassitude of the black door handle/white door combo. How sharp does this look??
Eh? Anyone agree? Maybe it's just me.
Also on the list of small things that make me strangely happy: replacing the old gold door stop with a new silver one.
I know what you're thinking. Poor Jeff.
I've been trying for days without success to take a decent picture of the tester patch I painted for the grey bedroom wall. It looks practically black in photographs, but is really not in person. I thought I would show you some pictures from the manufacturer's website and then a couple I took. The color is Down Pipe by Farrow & Ball (admittedly rather fancy but it is only one wall!).
See?! It looks so dark. It is a bit darker than the pictures from the F&B website, but not quite that dark.
I think I'm going to go for it. I painted our Seattle bedroom grey and by the time I picked a color most of the walls were covered in test patches. I'm going to quit while I'm ahead this time.
By the way, let me tell you about that red quilt. It is from Urban Outfitters and it is awesome. I fell in love with it before I moved, bought it, and brought it all the way over here. That's LOVE, people. The price and quality are great and the color combinations are spot on. Check it out here. Other than the red/white combo I have, I particularly love the navy/coral quilt.
(Full Disclosure: I actually mailed the quilt here. You do not want to know how much that cost. I had to fill out so much paperwork at the FedEx store that by the time I actually got to the part where the FedEx person told me he wanted my first-born child as payment, it seemed too late to change my mind. Plus, I just HAD to have that quilt.)
(Full FULL Disclosure: I mailed the quilt along with a couple xbox controllers and a headset that Jeff requested, had to have, and just couldn't live without. I'm not the only crazy one around here. It was also his fault that I found myself going through airport security laden down with a laptop, an iPad, a Mac mini, two external hard drives, and an xbox hard drive.)
Painting continues. I'm making a little trip to my personal mecca (aka Ikea) tomorrow so I'll have to show you what I pick up.
