Accent-uation by Determination

Remember when Mom used to tell you "If at first you don't succeed, try try again?" Well, we've found the need to remind ourselves of this on several occasions, particularly on projects around the house that always seem to be more involved than originally planned for.  Maybe this is why one of my favorite things about paint is how forgiving it is...

Exhibit A - Our Sunroom Before = BEIGE and BORING

We love this cheery little breezeway between our living room and master bedroom because it gets tons of natural light from the windows on either side.  But after two years in the house, we got bored by how neutral it was.  It was practically screaming for some attention.  So then it dawned on me. Ding ding ding!  This is a perfect accent wall opportunity!  

Take 1 -A Step in the Right Direction

We started by painting only the raised panels on the board and batten wall (Benjamin Moore Davenport Tan) thinking it would create a subtle striped effect with some interesting depth.  And sure enough, the end result was definitely striped, but something wasn't right.

Take 2 - Closer, but Not Complete

We almost gave up and contemplated returning to a solid neutral again, but decided to give it another go by layering in another accent color.  We thought a pale green (Sherwin Williams Liveable Green) might be fresh and fun so we painted the panels in between each stripe.  As promoted, it was a very nice "liveable" green, but still, something wasn't right.

Exhibit B - Sunroom After = COLORFUL and FUN

Third times a charm!  Though I didn't hate the green, it occurred to me that it might look better to pull in an accent color that we used in both the master bath and on the master bedroom ceiling to give the layered spaces some unity.  We also thought it'd tone down the contrast of the bright green and tan.  So my very patient and wonderful husband tried yet again - and painted over the green using a subtle blue gray color (Sherwin Williams Comfort Gray)... and we finally nailed it!! 

We LOVE the way these colors bring life to the room and draw your eye in.  With all the natural light, it's fun to watch the color change at different parts of the day.  Thanks to Bryson's dedication and with lots of reassuring from me that this would be the LAST time he had to paint the same wall, we achieved exactly what we set out to do.

Best of all, we learned a valuable new life lesson: if at first you aren't HAPPY, paint paint again!