Disaster..
So here’s the thing: This weekend I finally started to paint the kitchen..
I pulled out the big drums and polyrhythms and went with what my heart said..dark. On the sample it looked grey – in my tin – grey. On the wall – brown. In pictures – black. My mother (who saw it) is still convinced it was green. To be honest..once it was on, it just looked promisingly awful. Not at all what I had imagined.
If you’re an uber cool couple with no children..then it certainly makes a statement. Sadly our space is less flickering candlelight more spilt tea and homework. I even unwrapped the mirror to see if stuff on the walls made a difference – and like the skidmarks of a bad crash, that’s when I discovered the next tragedy – the mirror had woodworm…great with a brand new oak parquet floor..
I know I’m not the only one to be suffering colour sample polymorphing..the truth is – the only way to know if you really like a colour is to paint a whole wall..or if you’re mad like me, a whole room. Sigh. And then be prepared to stand back and admit you’ve made a mistake: I like to believe I have adventurous taste but to have kept this just to prove a point would’ve made it the worst fake since…well, Madonna. So whilst I lament that it’s the wrong story…and it breaks my heart – the salient fact is it’s only paint and we all make mistakes: Nobody has died. It’s just my very own, very sad bad….that will be paid for in blood and sweat..
There was no time to faff with new samples – it needed to be finished by this morning (Monday) as the kitchen was due to arrive back for fitting. The only option was to go big and go white..
Have you ever painted over black before?
I gave up at one o’clock this morning..
The whole design now needs a new re-think…and I’m suspecting that only way to make this work is to embrace everything Scandi.
Never thought I’d write that..
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 
Oooo Kate I feel your pain!!! I can’t even “like” this post as its too frivolous. Good luck and I guess sometimes it’s just not meant to be….xx
I know!! damn, damn, damn, damn…
Oh bugger! Why is it always darker than it says?! So deceitful. You’ll fix it up perfect though. It wouldn’t be right if it was all smooth sailing. What does ‘go Scandi” mean? X
About 5 shades darker…and I still can’t tell you what colour it is! My mother saw it and thought it was green!! Scandi – as in light, white walls and natural wood – because of the dark winters Scandinavians like to lighten everything up and reflect what light there is. I wanted Victorian dark and cosy. Sob. Think that’s all going to have to be concentrated on in the cellar underworld…. xxx
Yikes… I can imagine that that was really, really oppressive. What a bummer 😦
That was it..pictures = cool. Reality = life sucking… xxx
I do like the “brown/black”, but also understand that it’s not practical with a family. I have also made such a blunders! Was a mission to change the color back to good old white, i had to go two layers of yellow then three layers of white!
If it was a stand alone dining room..very, very wow. But as the heart of the home..intense..too intense xxx
I’ve definitely painted a whole room and then had to admit that I made a mistake. It was supposed to be a nice antique white color, but the room wasn’t super bright so it just looked…yellow. Yuck. It took three coats of white to cover it up. I can’t even imagine how many coats you had to paint! I love the idea of a Cosy Victorian room as well. So I’m sorry your color idea didn’t work out! 🙁
Victorian cosy shouldn’t be hard…but it just was! And why is paint so not straight forward?? Antique white sounds so right! Arggghhhhh! xxx
Ohmmm…
The “ohmm…” is from me. Don’t think back, enjoy your newly painted -and hopefully already mounted- kitchen.
Thank you..it’s not here yet..more time for extra coats of paint! Pray it’s going to work out… xxx
Buggeration! I feel your pain so much. I too am the kind of person that will paint the whole room rather than just one wall 😉 On the plus side you’ve done an amazing job at going over such a dark colour! Why do colours never look the same on a test patch as on a whole wall?!?! Grrrrr
Hairy dogs B*llocks..it shouldn’t this hard. I kept thinking..it’s going to pull together..it’s going to pull together…oh.no.it’s.not…. xxx
I’ve had a few paint blunders in my life, and now I’m obsessive about painting little square patches on each wall of the room I’m going to paint. In 4-6 different variations of the color I want. Basically, I paint the whole room in swatches first haha 😉 But after painting a bathroom Pepto-Bismol pink (ICK!!), when I was going for a soft dusty rose, I take no chances!! Good luck! xx
There are three of us going through renovations..I think we could open a paint shop with the amount of samples between us..lots of swapping in the playground…and it still goes wrong!! Yee Gods.. xxx
Poor you!
It had to happen..was going to smoothly.. xxx
The dark was beautiful in the pic but if it’s not what you expected, I understand. I once was going for a peach room, yet got lavender?!
Hehe! Glad I’m not the only one!! xxx
Oh noooooo! I, too, liked the dark in the photo, but you know when something just isn’t right so good for you for taking that decision on the chin and getting on with the re-paint…..in the plus side, it makes me feel better as I’ve been lamenting my decision for a scandi white house since you’ve been posting such lush dark images, but perhaps mine would look crap in black!! (I hope so as there isn’t a chance in hell of me re-painting it now!!). Bxx