I never thought I would have white walls, but there you go. Not only do I have white walls, I paid someone to paint the walls white on purpose. I could tell my painter thought I was cuckoo to pick white, but also didn’t really care. Money is green, even when the client asks you to paint the walls the color of trim.
We went with Benjamin Moore’s Moonlight White but color matched it to Behr’s paint and primer. I did the same with the trim, Simply White. The poo-poo brown of the walls would have required a googol of coats without primer, and even with the more expensive paint it took 3 coats.
Here’s how the room looks now, STILL IN PROGRESS.
It looked amazing when the room was empty. Light, bright, and clean. When the furniture came back in, I started to panic just a teeny bit. It didn’t look as great, but I refuse to make a final decision until everything is in place. Still missing are window treatments (do you like our horizontal curtain faux Roman shade held by alligator clips?), artwork, lighting, rugs, some sort of Lego storage (any suggestions?), and of course, the cheater quilts.
I worked on the cheater quilts last weekend with my friend, Larissa. By work I mean she did everything while I handed her scissors, ironed, bought lunch, held the quilts together while she sewed, talked to her 12 year-old son, made googly eyes at her 9 month old, and cleaned up–but only a little. I was supposed to do everything, but Larissa hasn’t sewn in a while. Who am I to deny an old junkie her fix? Also, she may not appreciate my uptight and undeniable need for patterns, lists, calculators, rulers, triple checking, and agonizing over things I know nothing about, like batting weight.
“Oh my gosh, it’s just a cheater quilt! Move over.”
She makes fun of me, but when she was casually unfolding all the fabric and the gentle scent of white lavender and sandalwood wafted up and dusted the air, who was the one who mentioned how wonderful my ticking smelled? Not I, because I already know my ticking smells great. A little White Lavender and Sandalwood Exhilarations followed by spritzes of Mary Ellen’s Best Press in lavender ironed obsessively into the fabric to remove even the most stubborn nonexistent wrinkle and you have great smelling ticking. It’s called scent layering, my friend. Sure, now it smells like the inside of the Michael Levine plastic bag and the floor of my closet, but for twenty minutes we had lavender.
I laid the quilts out on the beds the other day to check for size (perfect, no thanks to me) and to see if they made the paint look better. I believe they do. Once they were out on the bed, the colors in the room made more sense. Now everything is soft and faded, comfortable and welcoming. No one color stands out just yet, but from all the accessories I have picked out, I think watery blue-green is the front runner. I’m feeling much better about everything and can’t wait to see how it all comes together.
(Please God, let it all come together.)
Time to link up to projects or posts that reflect your desire to create an intentional home.
*Apparently there is a bug with the latest version of WordPress that fails to recognize embeded codes for videos, link-ups, etc. So, if you do not see the WMP link up option in this post, just know that I will reinsert it first thing in the morning. Website cursed, I tell you!
This post was part of The William Morris Project, a weekly series that details the steps I am taking to create an intentional home. You can see more of my goals and completed projects here. To learn more about this project, start here.
Now it�s your turn! Feel free to share how you have lived according to the William Morris quote, �Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.� Made a plan? Cleaned a drawer? Bought a sofa? Tell us about it with a link or comment. A few guidelines:
- Please link to a specific post, not a general blog address.
- Your post must relate to your efforts to create an intentional home. I have a delete button, and I�m not afraid to use it.
- No links to giveaways, please.
- Let�s use this weekly link up as an opportunity to gather inspiration and motivation. Click links. Discover new people. Say hi and good job. I know I will.
Check out http://littleliberty1.blogspot.co.nz/, interior design blog – lots of white walls, very modern and minimalist but some older posts good storage ideas. The white is looking great – look forward to seeing the finished room.
Oh, wow. Everything is so bright and clean!
The white definitely looks more open and fresh. Definitely an improvement.
Since the linky evaporated (I think you have to do it from the HTML tab thanks to their recent update) here’s a link to my post this week and I’ll come back by later: http://www.noordinaryhomestead.com/laundry-room-ideas/
Tiffany, that’s what I don’t understand. I only work from html and have for months! I’m going to have to contact my designer. Blargh.
They may not have your style, but YHL has a post that talks about how “the middle makes no sense” when pulling together a room.
Trust your vision and see it through. It’ll all come together.
I know that post! I actually thought of it last week when I could see my husband and the boys were not grasping my vision. ;)
I like the white. And I’m really looking forward to seeing your quilts and all the rest. It will come together. It might not all work quite right the first time. (Um, yeah. My link this week is testament to that!) But you’ll make it work.
Yes, the white opens and lightens the space for sure. And I have to say how I love the world map, not simply because it’s beautiful to look at but because it will let your boys know that there is a whole world out there to explore.
I am so curious. Have never heard of a cheater quilt, but it sounds like it might fall within my skill level!
I wrote about it last Thursday. I was talking about making quilts for the boys a while back, and Larissa recommended a cheater quilt. Turns out lots of readers have experience with them and recommend making them!
The white is fresh and airy, I love it (but then you knew I would love it). The dresser and bed frames look really good against the white, it compliments them well. Once pulled together, the lovely pop of colour from the cheater quilts, and that great map, it is just going to look really, really great.
Lego storage, argh, yes. We have one of the ‘sorter’ heads, it is working really well. For Christmas, the kids also got a large lego shaped box each, and we have a utensil holder for some of the long skinny pieces, and a magazine box for all of the instructions. It is a work in progress.
Oh Jules, I love, love, love the white! It looks so bright and calming at the same time! I love saturated wall colors (we just painted our guest room a fairly deep blue-green), but in our next house, I’m painting everything white! It will all look amazing when you are done, I’m sure of it. And I know what you mean – before the vision is complete it always looks crazy. When I have a vision, my husband kindly supports my every color whim, etc. because of the light fixture in the guest room (soon to be replaced). When we re-did the room in 2007, I wanted a trendy Moravian Star fixture I had seen at Pottery Barn. It was perfect since the kids spent a lot of time in there and it wasn’t too bright, but fun and quirky. Anyway, my husband hated it and convinced me to get another fixture (that I thought was ugly and still do). And for years he kept saying, well you were right – that’s the last time I question your vision! So now whenever something doesn’t look right yet, I point to that light fixture! :D
I am dying for that Moravian Star light for my upstairs hallway! Why do I love it so much???
It looks lovely! I like the softness of that white paint. My nephew is one of those Lego collectors extraordinaire, and my sister always used the plastic carts with drawers that come out. The carts are on wheels and that was handy, and can be stacked. With the drawers that come out all the way, he could take the whole drawer of, say, large red pieces, and sit down with that. Pieces to a kit can go all in one drawer. I don’t know if you have the space for that or not.
I really like the white! Soooo much better than the brown. :) Once you get all the other elements in the room, it will all come together. The boys will soon put their own personalities into it, too. I like giving kids some kind of display shelf where they can put all their treasures: Lego models, artwork, weird found objects, trophies… It’s always colorful and the white backdrop won’t fight with their stuff. (My 10-yr-old recently agreed to have his room repainted a neutral color…he can see his teen years coming up already and is ready for his room to reflect that. Yay! and also YIKES!)
A display shelf is a great idea, thanks!
p.s. Anything would have been better than that brown.
I love the way it’s coming together and that map! Would love enough wall space to do something like that. I am in the beginning stages of working on my boys room. We are just waiting on the money for some bunk beds, the room is to small for anything else. As for Lego’s here is my solution or I should say my son’s. The boys wanted them separated by color so this is what I came up with. We have used it now for two years and they still sort and put away, so it is working well. I even did my girls friends Lego’s this way also. http://littleredhen4.blogspot.com/2011/11/legos-legos-legos.html
Don’t be so sure on the map. I’m not. :/ I think it’s huge and takes up a lot of wall space to hang cool stuff. The boys and my husband loved it, though, so I was outnumbered.
White is wonderful, but tricksy. I think you have a nice amount of it in the quilts to help balance the vibe. Keep to lots of white–but work in the brown of the wood if you can with the curtains. That old poop brown kept all the furniture quiet for you–now it’s so dark it’s demanding attention.
I already have that in the works. It was supposed to be part of this post, but Nico has been sick all week and we didn’t get to it. :)
Another YES vote on the white. Can’t wait to see it all come together. Bottom line, I just love that you can bunk your boys in the same room together. What great memories for them.
I LOVE the white with the map that really looks nice. and that is a room they can grow up in.
I thought the walls and the map looked good together, too.
White looks SO good! Here’s a picture of my dream lego storage (last shot on the post):
http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2011/10/organizing-legos-part-3-creating.html
I saw that post when it first came out, and I thought it would never work in our room because that shelving unit comes in white or pine. Now that the walls or white, it will work perfectly. Another tick in the Pro column for white walls.
We already had several Trofast units, and my 10-yr-old uses part of one for Lego storage. It works great, though he doesn’t have nearly as many to store and doesn’t bother to sort them. Those Trofasts have been so flexible–we used to store baby clothes and diapers in them, then toddler toys, and now Legos/Nintendo games/origami/desk supplies/books (I bought the shelves that fit in the slots and two of them are sturdy adjustable bookcases now). They have migrated from one kid’s room to another, both in and outside closets.
My boys have nowhere nowhere that much, either. I’ve toyed with getting a pretty glass cabinet. I could also display all their sport trophies in there.
The room is looking great! I had the same moment with a similar light colored paint color (Ballet White, Benjamin Moore) in our Master Bedroom. For a long time – months – I couldn’t decide if I liked it. Added some linen drapes, and the paint color looks so much better! With a color that light, it picks up all the other color hues in the room – so the final details can really sway it one way or another. I personally love how much it brightens up the room!
Banish the word cheater!! You’re making quilts for your boys. They don’t need to hear or know “all that it isn’t” in your mind. They just need to know you made them especially for them.
I use the Ikea Trofast system for my sons Legos. It is not really very expensive and it looks really neat and is very easy to keep organized. Plus, the top makes a nice place to display finished projects.
I think the room looks great white and it will only be greater when it’s finished. :) Coming from northern Europe I think it’s hilarious that your painter thought you were crazy painting the room white, I like colour but not too much.
Love your blog. As for Legos- our two boys share a room and have an insane amount of Legos (Lucky hand me down from a big cousin!!!!) We have always had them in an under bed rolling bin. Its the only thing under their bed so its easy to access. We’ve had this system for about seven years and it stores nicely when they need a Lego break and stays out nicely when they are Lego obsessed. They love how the legos are contained but they can still see what they’ve got. Keep up the good work!
It looks freaking awesome.
The end.
Paint is so hard to choose! Well done.
I really LOVE the William Morris Project! It is really inspiring me to think about what I’m holding on to and ugliness I’m living with that I don’t need to. Thank you!
Sorry my link is called “Maria” not “Mailbox Makeover” or something. I was have a blonde moment. :) I’m working on some more projects that I’m excited to link up soon too!