design finch

Oddly, even though we sold our home in Austin a year and a half ago, I’ve recently received a ton of emails asking about the paint colors we used. (A ton of emails meaning three, at most.) Fortunately I saved all of the paint swatches in our home improvement file….because, yes, I’m crazy like that.

We bought an outdated fixer-upper and, over the course of the four years we lived there, wound up painting every single surface that would stay still long enough for us to attack it with our paint brushes. I wish I could say that we thoughtfully planned out the perfect color scheme for the entire house in advance, but that was not the case. What did happen, however, were 9,746 haphazard trips to Lowe’s every single time we painted a room….to get a different color, buy another gallon, find a better paint brush, etc. Because apparently that is how we roll (get it….ROLL?).

Anyway, we ended up with these nine colors based on a very scientific process I learned in Architecture school: grab a handful of paint swatches, close eyes, point finger….WINNER.

But sometimes, after spending an entire weekend painting, the winner turned out to be a big fat loser and the process started all over again. This is the stuff homeownership is made of, my friends.

Sources: Mountain Ridge by Behr, Pale Wheat by Behr

We chose these exterior colors to coordinate with the brick, although the outside of the house was actually the only part we didn’t paint ourselves. But we might as well have. It’s a loooong story, but let’s just say that the “painter” didn’t have the greatest work ethic. Come to find out, he also didn’t own a paint brush or a ladder. Or speak much English. Although he clearly communicated that the new paint color I chose looked muerto (dead).

Lovely.

Perhaps turquoise would have been more appropriate?

Sources: Soft Earth by Ralph Lauren,
Rugged Suede by Valspar, Stone Manor by Valspar

We ended up completely repainting the living room because I hated the first gray color we chose. It was a cool gray that had more blue undertones than brown, which made the space look like a prison cell. Thinking about it even now makes me shudder.

Needless to say, the next day we were back at Lowe’s picking a different color. Gray can be tricky, I tell you! But the Soft Earth / Rugged Suede / Stone Manor combo we arrived at for the entry / living room / dining room / kitchen was perfection. I feel like pictures don’t even do it justice because the difference between these shades seemed so subtle in real life which made for a seamless transition between spaces. Like it was totally planned or something.

Sources: Stone Manor by Valspar, Polar White by Behr

I’m a big fan of the Stone Manor color we painted the kitchen. I thought it was brown; Jason swore it was gray. We regularly surveyed our guests and, hands down, girls said brown while guys thought gray. So weird. Either way, Stone Manor was a keeper.

All the trim, baseboards and cabinetry throughout the house were painted Polar White. For the longest time I thought white was white. Wrong! Have you noticed how many shades of white paint swatches there are at Lowe’s? Talk about overwhelming.

Sources: Sand 5 by Laura Ashley, Ancient Marble by Sherwin Williams

The color we painted the master bedroom was Sand 5 in the Laura Ashley collection. It added a richness to the space that was hard to capture in photos. In certain light it looked brown, other times it had a golden glow. As a result, this was my favorite room in the house because I could admire its loveliness from the comfort of bed. Bow chicka wow wow!

Sources: Ancient Marble by Sherwin Williams, Emperor by Ralph Lauren

Oh, the saga of the master bathroom! You can read all about its complete transformation here. We first painted the space a teal shade in hopes of creating a spa-like retreat. Then, before putting the house on the market, we felt like we needed to tone it down a bit, so we repainted the bathroom in a more neutral color. Emperor was fun while it lasted, but I think Ancient Marble made the space feel larger and much brighter. That’s the good thing about paint – it’s easy to change the personality of room quickly and relatively inexpensively.

After making 9,853 trips to Lowe’s, of course.