I need all kinds of professional help.

This entire house is painted Fuck It White.

The man who owns this house (who may or may not be reading this website) is a bachelor and he spent a lot of time and money fixing a lot of things which were wrong with the house.

Mainly the second floor which was inconveniently on the first floor. The house was empty, it was winter....something with pipes and water. I'm pretty sure the man who owns this house felt a little about this house like I felt about the old house. Defeated and maybe a little hostile.

So when he finished all the work replacing the floors, windows, roof, furnace, cabinets, counters.......I think he just said, "Fuck it. Paint it all white."

It's Pratt & Lambert I'm reasonably sure.

Painting a great number of rooms at the same time has proven beyond my capability. A neighbor, one of the many we often converse with and enjoy the company of (how novel!), brought us an entire color deck from a certain paint manufacturer. Paint manufacturers make a lot of different colors and it was a little overwhelming.

Logan and I often remark how silly it would be to travel to, say, New York City, and go to a Bennigans restaurant. Not just because Bennigan's is a place void of any local flavor at all, except the manufactured kind, but also because Bennigan's makes food which tastes like average. You go to Bennigans in New York City because you recognize the name and it narrows down your choices when you don't know where else to eat.

However, with paint, I admit it, I need a narrowed playing field. Looking at that color deck on the floor of my den made me briefly consider painting my back room neon yellow. That's not good for anyone.

So I called the same women, from Menagerie Redesign who came to my house before it went up for sale.

I did this after I spent just over $30 on quarts of the wrong paints. I thought I wanted a chocolate brown and I chose first something resembling someone's unpleasant poo and then something which was mostly gray and brought out the gray in the mortar on the exposed brick in the room. Which is like using makeup to bring out the dullest feature on your face.

You can see the colors I chose under the window on the left side of this image.

So Julie and Jane came over and narrowed in on a color. They had the big deck of colors which a month earlier perplexed me and flipped through with precision. They ended up debating 3 or 4 colors as I watched with my mouth hanging open.

They landed on one option with such certainty I was ready to paint every room in my house that color. Instead they recommended I go to the store and buy the little paint samples to try it out. Yesterday I finally put the color up on the wall.

It's true hiring someone to help you choose a paint color is an extra expense but I could have saved myself some money and effort by starting out with the help. We don't hire painters so if I change my mind about the color after it's on the wall, I'm repainting it all. I don't hate painting but I lose patience with it about halfway through. If I have to do it twice, I'm unhappy.

And, since it's my goal to not whine about anything house related for the next year, this just can't be.

Thankfully it worked out very well. It's a color (Benjamin Moore Shelburne Buff HC 28) I never would have chose on my own, but it is the perfect color for these walls.

Best of all it isn't white.

Comments

[jw]

Of all things that delurked me...paint - go figure. I did the same thing - picked a paint, my husband painted and it looked like a canary puked. I went to Benjamin Moore and ended up getting 9 samples before I found one I liked. Not that I wish it upon anyone else, but I am glad to know I am not the only paint-challenged person out there!!

[joanne]

We went through at least 6 different shades of burnish gold, before we finally settled on one for our living room. Then when we decided to sell, we went over every wall with one neutral color so no one would be imagination hindered while imagining themselves living in our house.

Right now I'm debating shades of blue for our powder room, while hubby is peeling 3 layers of wall paper. Which blue will brighten a tiny closet of a bathroom, and enhance the beige toilet and pedestal sink? May I borrow your color people?

[Pickles & Dimes]

We have that same color in our living room, courtesy of the color-savvy previous owners.

Like you, I never would've considered it, but it brings out the hardwood floors and reacts well to sunlight.

I love your hardwood floors!

[Molly]

My brother and sister-in-law recently bought a house and the den is painted a very similar color, and it is gorgeous. I would never in a million years have picked that color, but it turns out beautiful - so rich and warm. You've convinced me to higher color people when (if) we are finally able to move:)

[Peggasus]

Benjamin Moore paints are the best, and well worth the few extra bucks. It's what all the pros use, and the ones we exclusively used when I worked as a faux painter. I totally agree with you, it is well worth it to get an expert's opinion (as you did), as a trained eye can detect a yellow-y beige from a pinkish beige, or a grayish brown from a brownish gray from a greenish brown (because a greenish brown, used in the wrong space, just usually looks like puke).

I just painted my guest room with BenMoore 2108-50 Silver Fox, and I love it. It looks amazing with the black leather chair in the room, the warm furniture, and the red pillows (oh, what do you call those pillows made out of old rugs and stuff?). It's my new favorite paint color. Until my next new favorite, at least.

[deb]

This looks amazing. You guys have such an eye for color, and it's already giving me ideas for that one day in which we might actually--shudder--be allowed walls that are not Rental Standard Off-White.

[Rayne of Terror]

It's gorgeous, like suede.

[redheadmomma]

Another color that seems to go with everything and make it look better is Pale Earth a Martha color from Sherwin Williams , just don't use their paint it sucks, get it mixed on a Bejamin Moore base.

[Kate C.]

Great color! I've got my own "King of Color" here too. I picked our bedroom paint and it turned out well but that was pretty flukey.

Could I beg the name of your cabinet guy from you? I live in the area and am starting some kitchen remodeling of my own. I currently have the "lovely" doors you used to have at your old house. Ugh. Thanks!

[kate]

I hear ya!

I wanted to paint my living room (formerly a sickly cold yellow ((matched with semi-faded lime green carpet) terracotta. Which, if one was honest, is a shade of light red. I need to pound it into my head the light read equals pink. I found a paint chip, matched it off a terracotta pot, and then painted my living room with it. When it dried, it more resembled Miami coral pink. I painted the trim a medium chocolate brown and the ceiling the lightest shade of the terracotta.

My husband was out of town at the time. I dreaded what he would say when he got home, and to my shock he LOVES it. Won't let me repaint the room something more neutral. Every color I've put up against the living room walls looks good. Once day I was sitting on the couch wondering why I'm always hungry in this room, and it hit me. I was sitting inside a giant neopolitan icream sandwich - the strawberry walls, vanilla ceiling (the pink is so light it looks warm white), and the chocolate trim.

[jkopftwins]

It's lovely! We have a similar shade -- a little less gold, I think Benjamin Moore Sesame Seed -- in our living room, and the house seems to be about the same vintage as yours, so the moulding and the wood floors. Love it.

I was once told by someone in a paint shop that yellows are the trickiest shades to get right. I believe it -- I tried over and over with the kitchen in our old house and always ended up with a color that I could not face in the morning.

[serafina pekkala]

Like buttah! Great color, makes you want to bite into it like a caramel apple. :)

[Tarin]

Ben Moore and Pottery Barn teamed up on season fan decks. Get thee one and save yourself some casharoo with the Menagerie people. All the colors flow and it be effortless. I have a similar color in me kitchen -- Chestertown Buff -- and all the surrounding rooms flow off of it (reds, chocolates, green/grays).

[Tarin]

The palette.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7df36b3127cce810b6f7b40f400000026108AcsnLJozatU

[Tarin]

More Chestertown Buff in the living room and see the green/gray in the dining room?

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d903b3127cceb82b4d001b3a00000026108AcsnLJozatU

All one fan deck.

[Tarin]

And Merlot Red from the same fan deck:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7df36b3127cce810b6f6740e800000016108AcsnLJozatU

[jnocutenames]

Love that color. Behr.com also has a new feature called "Paint Your Place" where you pay 4.95 per year and you can download your digital photos of a room and "paint" it various colors to see how it would look. I know reality may differ, but it's a thought.

[Tommy from Michigan]

Nice.

[Zookins]

Eggshell is about as far as I deviate from Fuck It White.

We just bought a house that was emerald green in the kitchen, UTI Infection Yellow in the master, and Blood Bath Burgundy in one bedroom. 3 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint on each wall later, Fuck It White looked pretty good to me!

[Zookins]

Oh yeah - yours did turn out really nice. It looks like a very warm, cozy space.

[Heather]

So true - we did the same thing. Painted the WHOLE HOUSE the wrong colors. Well, a few rooms were right, but some were so horribly wrong (my daughter's room for one) that it was repainted FOUR times). We finally hired a color consultant to come in. She found us some amazing colors and prevented me from making another drastic mistake. Now we're constantly getting comments on our great paint colors - phew! If I would have made my husband repaint yet AGAIN, I don't think I would be here right now.

[Suebob Davis]

I am contractually banned from painting my rental house. Sigh. Of course, knowing me, I would probably never paint, but still.

[UndoneLady]

It's wonderful! It's the same color I have on my walls.

[MelissaS]

Tarin: The poo and the Mortar color I attempted were from the Pottery Barn deck. Nope. Didn't work.

[Susan]

We spent six weeks trying to buy a sofa and choose some paint. At the end, we were considering just getting a divorce because honest to pete, in thirteen years of marriage, we have NEVER fought this much. About paint and upholstery, for god's sake.

I have an interior decorator coming on Monday. But I've also got the name of a good divorce lawyer, just in case.

(Kidding! Sort of!)

[Cadbury]

I love the look of color with white trim and wood floors. That photo looks like it should be in a magazine.

[Beth]

When we built our home we had to choose one color for the whole house (or pay them both of our arms and one leg, too, to paint some of the rooms other colors!) and I was totally overwhelmed. We payed someone to come over and look at all of our cabinets, light fixtures, counter tops, etc, and pick a color. Best $100 we ever spent! And it's a Benjamin Moore color very similar to what you have. I never would have come up with it on my own, but I love it!

[Maddy]

We used Benjamin Moore Powell Buff on our first floor and we really like it. It's a little different from your color, but in a similar vein. Colors are very tricky, so it pays to choose carefully.

Glad you are liking it!

[Ashley.B]

De-lurking to say my best friend's mom is an interior decorator, and it really IS scary how fast she can narrow down a color from that huge stack to two or three choices. We always invite her over for lunch when we need decorating advice. :)

I'm a poor college student though, so I'm living vicariously through your decorating adventures.

[Jessica]

Thank you so much for posting the name and number of that color. That is sort of what I've had in my head for my bedroom and now I have a starting point!

[Sumo]

We were considering a siding stain in the color palette you've shown by your fireplace. When we applied a sample on one of the boards, my cousin described it as "baby puke". As it dried and darkened, he changed his description to "baby poo". It is really difficult to find the color you think you want... the shades of color all look very similar on little color charts, but they vary from perfect to hideous when applied to the wall.

It looks like you found perfect.

[Sumo]

We were considering a siding stain in the color palette you've shown by your fireplace. When we applied a sample on one of the boards, my cousin described it as "baby puke". As it dried and darkened, he changed his description to "baby poo". It is really difficult to find the color you think you want... the shades of color all look very similar on little color charts, but they vary from perfect to hideous when applied to the wall.

It looks like you found perfect.

[Sumo]

OK, typepad told me it couldn't post my comment, so I posted it again and now there are two. Sorry.

[BOSSY]

Bossy is an interior painter and she's used Shelburne Buff many times. But really what Bossy wants to be is the person who names the Ben Moore colors. Shelburne Buff, her ass.