Let's Talk About Accent Walls

So I had this plan, see, to paint a dark accent wall in Ike's room, see. But then I got to thinking: is that a really dorky idea? I mean, I'm not indicting all accent walls, mostly because I already have one:

That would be the long wall spanning the kitchen to dining area. PS, I really need to reshoot this room because all the stuff piled on the chesterfield is making me stabby.

The other side of the wall. Don't worry, those sconces and their damned infernal cords are gone, baby gone.

So I feel like an accent wall can work well if you have something of architectural interest to highlight.

Anna of Door 16 just painted her fireplace wall black, and I think it looks smashing. Karly has a black fireplace wall, too, and it's the bee's knees. But those lovely folks have cool stuff in their rooms. What about an accent wall in a regular old box shaped bedroom, with regular old 8' ceilings, and regular old windows.

Nate Berkus seems to think it's ok.

But sometimes I can tell it's definitely not ok. Sometimes it looks like Trading Spaces got all up in the room and was like, hmmmmm... I like blue AND I like red... I just can't decide... I know! Let's use them BOTH!!!!

And the result is nothing short of vomity drivel. Although that is one hilariously spectacular photoshop job.

So, I ask you savvy readers, when is an accent wall ok? Is it ever ok? Tell me all your thoughts while I continue to repaint 18 different samples all over Ike's walls. Patchwork is in, right?

Down the Rabbit Hole of Repainting. Again.

Our house looks like an earthquake hit -- you couldn't find any survivors in here if you tore up the house with a crane. Perhaps I am waxing a little heartless and cruel (what with all the natural disasters going around of late) but I think you catch my drift. It's rully messy in here. Why, you ask? Because after a record shattering eight glorious hours of sleep, I decided in a fit spastic energy that we should convert our guest bedroom/Ike's nursery to Ike's nursery/playroom.

Doesn't it look like a kid lives here? No? You obviously get more sleep than me.

The whole conversion thing is really a pretty easy leap to make (unless you are very very tired), but it did involve lots of moving. And throwing away. And then... I decided to ditch the old cloying Smoke color and repaint the entire room. And now the sleep buzz has worn off but the mess is still here.

I am a walking natural disaster.

Anyway, finding the perfect gray is like finding your soulmate: get as close you can and then compromise on the rest. Sorry, HB, I'm just saying that a good relationship takes effort. I still like you.

Most of my house is painted Benjamin Moore's Abalone Gray:

So I thought to myself, slam dunk! This is going to be MF awesome. But, no. Gray is a bitch. She is a hooker by night and a puritan by day -- a chameleon in gekko's clothing. Who knows what that's supposed to mean, but I think you catch my drift. Maybe.

While lovely in no less than five other rooms of my home, Abalone looks like lavender crap in Ike's room. So today I'm going to visit Sanders again and pray that the god of paint (that would be Sanders) can help me solve this riddle wrapped in an enigmatic conundrum of a cookie. Or however that hackneyed phrase goes that I can't even properly recall. Guess it's not that hackneyed after all...

To sum it up: my house is a mess. I am busy. Please, occupy yourselves with the AMAZING transformative properties of paint, as evinced by Christiane Lemieux, the creative director behind Dwell Studio:

One room, three Benjamin Moore colors: Wrought Iron, Gentleman's Gray, Winter Orchard. I am completely totally obsessed with all three colors. The plan was always to do three of Ike's walls in Abalone, but since it sucks I'm hoping Winter Orchard will take the gold medal here. One focal wall will be in Wrought Iron (I think. Or I could change my mind entirely...). I would KILL to paint the entire room in Gentleman's Gray (or perhaps that Major Tom wallpaper I keep kissing when I think HB isn't watching?), which is oh so close to the ever popular Farrow and Ball Hague Blue:

Miles Redd kills it.

But it's really too dark and just doesn't make sense for this house. Next house. Promise.

Ok, now it's time to get busy and work my everloving ass off. See you when the rubble clears.

If you catch my drift.

Look! New Kitchen Pictures (Because I Have Avoidance Issues)

I have been working so hard at avoiding Christmas shopping that I deep cleaned my range top rather than making a list and checking it twice. Sure, my family will cry cartoon sized tears of sadness when they realize Santa must have found them to be naughty rather than nice, but at least our kitchen is clean. And to further squander my precious (nearly non existent) free time, I took pictures of our new Ikea shelves and artwork.

You may recall that we completely remodeled our kitchen over a year ago, but if you'd like to check out the whole story, click here. We finished the bare minimum literally a week before Ike was born, so we didn't have time to accessorize or even install the shelves I had planned for. It looked pretty barren over by the sink:

My spice rack wasn't even full. But at least the paper towel holder was a klassy touch.

Too bad our kitchen has the worst. lighting. ever. Hunny Bunny caught me with my tripod in the kitchen making 10 second exposures and asked me why I was shooting in complete darkness. Maybe someday if I have an even BIGGER issue to avoid, I will actually whip out my light kit and make real pictures. Anyway, you get the idea. Shelves: check. Thrifted tchotchkes that will likely be rearranged on a daily basis according to the whims and vagaries of my highly mutable temperament: check. No more paper towel holder: check.

I was feeling the primary colors when I picked up that nifty cubist painting (must be a long lost Picasso, right?) at Round Top for $30. I snagged the vintage lithograph of the Roman forum at le thrift store for $2.99. Look, I filled my spice rack. Also, it is 1:02 pm.

I'm still on the fence about the brass light. Ok, I'm not even on the fence. I picked up a huge vintage round glass fixture with a black chain that will be perfectish kitchen over the sink, but I've been too lazy to install it... so far. Christmas isn't here yet, right? I'm liking the shelves, though. We used Ikea's Ekby series, and the finish matches our cabinets perfectly.

That's really all I have for you today, but I'm trying to squeeze in more time to photograph mini house updates. I created a new category on the right column called Erin's House, where you can track the evolution of our humble abode over the last two and a half years (good gravy, I've been blogging forever!). I made a category for Karly, too, but she'll have to file all her own projects when she returns after the new year...

I can't put off this Christmas shopping forever, you know.