I have been meaning to post this for months – an update on the progress in the house – but have gotten sidetracked with my many projects and forgotten. So here, after much delay is ‘the story of the lounge’.

When we initially moved in everything had been painted white.

This was great, except for the fact that they had done such a crappy job of painting and you could see the previous peach colour peeking through on the chipboard paper. Yum. Not.

As a result, we ended up painting 2 of the rooms before even moving in. As it was a last minute thing, the landlord said we could paint any colour (colour??? really?) and I was in a tizzy of packing, etc, I picked the wrong grey.

Wrong grey, you say? What do you mean?

Well dear friends, what happened was that instead of doing my usual maniacal research and agonizing over the hues, I went to Homebase and recklessly picked a grey that looked neutral under the store’s fluorescent lighting. I didn’t take the paint card back and test it in the room and I didn’t get a sample. (are you feeling my pain here?)

2 hard days spent painting the lounge while packing for the move only to find that the room looked blue, way too dark, and very dreary.

I tried to accept it…live on the dark side…like it, even…but eventually had to admit that while I admire Abigail Ahern‘s committment to dark rooms – I personally find living in them depressing. Maybe this harkens back to Canadian winters. Who knows.

The colour lasted 3 months then HAD to go.

Luckily the Bubs and I clocked into something that is both environmentally friendly and that thrills the pikey in me – recycled paint centres. We found one quite near to where we live called RePaint that not only sells regular emulsion for £1 a litre, but had brand new tins of Farrow and Ball which normally go for £75 for …£10. I danced a jig of joy and got the lovely Cornforth White, which is more of a griege-y, french grey.

After opening the tin I discovered why they had been discontinued as the VOCs were atrocious (Farrow and Ball have now switched to making water based paints which are low in VOCs). I am sure I have grown a tumour since using this for 2 days straight, but have to say the finish was immaculate. It covered everything completely, even the crappy hardware, and has stuck tenaciously. However we did have to live with the fumes for about 2 weeks, so be forwarned…cheap is not necessarily HEALTHY.

Anyhow, here is the B&A.

Darkest side of the room (you’ll note we took the door to the kitchen off to make room for the sofa. The room is tiny.) I am still trying to get a feel for where the art will go, but am taking my time with it.


Brighter side with window:

My advice to you all if you are at all sensitive to colour….test the paint hue in the room before committing!! It is a crapload of work and worth the few quid for a tester pot. Or even just put the sample card on the wall to get a feel. You have to live with it for ages afterwards, it is worth doing right the first time (haranguing myself here in the hopes I will remember this the next time around!).

Though this room will always be a bit dark due to it’s sandwiched location in the middle of the house, it now feels much warmer and cozier. Though Bubby hardly noticed the difference, as a painter hyper-sensitive to colour the room now just feels better to me. Finally. Phew.