Ask Sanders: Rossana's Pear Green Nursery

It's time for another installment in our Ask Sanders series, wherein some lucky reader has their decorating dilemma solved by our resident paint guru, Sanders Gibbs. It's a dream come true, because in case you don't already know, Sanders is a badass. But don't take our word for it -- if you live in Austin, go visit Benjamin Moore Hill Country Paints, where Sanders puts his talents to the test as store manager. Not in Austin? Catch up by reading this interview with Sanders here.

Without further ado, here's reader Rossana's question:

"My husband and I are in the process of painting the nursery. We have differing ideas about what this should look like, but we have at least found a nice compromise with the Ben Moore pear green. The gender is a surprise! The room is about a 10 x 12 room with lots and lots of windows and the one wall that is solid will be the one that we put the crib on, and this is the wall that we will paint Pear Green. Question is: what other color would be nice with PG?"

First of all, great choice! Pear Green is a bright and versatile shade that pairs (ahem) well with many colors. Sanders gave us a broad selection of gender neutral choices to pick from, and many can be mixed and matched to different effect.

pear green

Amp up the drama by mixing pear green with bold brights.

Or tone it down with neutrals. It works well either way.

For a baby's room, you could play it sophisticated by painting the crib wall pear green, the other walls off white (Sanders gave us Mountain Peak White), and then adding in other colors through accessories and bedding. Or you could funk it up by painting the other three walls a jazzier color, and then using accessories in more neutral shades. Let's take a look at some rooms with pear green and see how Sanders' choices work in them.

This playroom in the home of Avocado and Papaya's Jackie Kersh features a cute, classic palette of green, red and blue.

benjamin moore color palette

Here's Sanders' palette, which would work well in a gender neutral nursery: Pear Green with Chili Pepper Red and Peacock Blue.

Another playroom, via Cupcake Wishes and Unicorn Dreams.

And Sanders' corresponding choices are Pear Green with Stardust and Violet Stone.

I know it's not a kid's room, but the color palette in this kitchen would be fab in a nursery.

Pear Green with Banana Yellow and Florida Keys Blue.

And then there's this hotness -- who cares if the Pear Green is on a couch and not a wall? Use your imagination goggles to see that this color combo is off the chain... Loves it.

Pear Green, Mountain Peak White and Silver Dollar. DRAMA. Add a dash of black here and there and you've got a winner for all ages.

And here are a couple more pretty palettes, just because I made them up all nice in photoshop:

The bold and the beautiful: Tequila Lime, Juneau Spring, Banana Yellow, Tangy Orange, and Pear Green.

Oh so quiet and sophisticated: Mountain Peak White (loving this white!), Silver Dollar, Taos Taupe and Light Khaki. Brilliant.

That's it for this edition of Ask Sanders. Rossana, I hope there's some helpful information here, and hey -- maybe we inspired some of y'all out there to repaint. Or perhaps even have a baby... After all, what better excuse could there be to redecorate?

I'm leaving you with this picture of Ike and Sanders. Ike LOVES loves him some Uncle Sanders, mostly because Ike is obsessed with Sanders' nametag, but also because Ike has good taste in people.

If any of you out there would like some professional advice regarding your painting dilemmas, send in a request and we'll forward it to Sanders.

Thanks for sharing your expertise with us, Sanders!

Back Yard Sneak Peek

As you dudes know, Matty and I have been hard at work making our backyard inhabitable. Over the past several weekends we've ripped out the hot tub, trimmed back the deck, replaced rotting trim, repainted the trim, REPAINTED THE ENTIRE BACK OF THE HOUSE MYSELF NO HELP FROM MATT, installed sun shade, and planted some green things in the grass. For the very first time ever in my life.

Because this is only a partial view of the yard, I'm calling it a sneak peek, because that's what a sneak peek is, a preview. ahem, another blog.

Oh, this is also a before and after

Here is a nook at the back of my house as of last week. Before we took the hot tub house down I had never even ventured into this part of my yard. Once it was exposed I realized it needed serious work. First, Matt replaced most of the trim, I started doing some spot painting to fix dings and damage but quickly realized that I needed to repaint the entire thing. Had I known this from the start I probably would have repainted my house a new color but, as it stands, it's the same old green just so fresh and so clean clean.

Once the house was ready I was ready to put plants in the ground.

I've always been pretty good at keeping potted plants alive but never before in my life have I planted something right smack-dab into the earth.

I did 2.2 seconds of research online and half listened to Erin as she dished out advice, hopefully that was enough to keep these babies alive.

First I spray painted an outline around the semi-circle I wanted to dig out (hello, my genius idea!) then I dug about 1.5 feet deep. I then poured in alternating layers of native texas mulch and the dirt that I had dug out. I mixed as I poured so everything got tousled. Then, voila, I threw in some plants.

Here's what I planted (all plants are texas-weather friendly):
lily of the nile
fortnight lily
Canna lily
Stella de Oro Daylily
Australian Canna Lily
Bamboo Muhly (not bamboo) (also the coolest once it gets big)
Plumbago

The rocks that are outlining the little garden actually came out of the ground when I was digging. We've got a ton of limestone around here and while it's a pain to dig it up, I didn't have to spend a dollar on edging

If I'm a really good plant mommy, one day it should look like this Texas landscape. You know, in like a week or something.