Saturday, November 05, 2011

So I Painted the Interior of My Door Black...

Hey friends! How are things? I hope you are all doing well and enjoying life. Things have been quite good around here. I haven't been doing many house projects, but it seems that every year around this time I tend to go a little crazy whenever I look around the house. As in, pretty much everything about it bothers me, and I can't rest until I make a few significant changes. 

Recently I decided that I am totally over my soft and calm and airy and restful hey look, everything's WHITE! phase. And so, it was only natural that I turned around to march in the other direction.

This part of the house has been making me clamp my teeth together and wince for, oooh, about a year now. It finally came to the point where I absolutely could not deal with it any longer about 4 days ago. Sorry, I wish I could have gotten a more vibrant photo, but this corner always gives me trouble.





































So yeah. I woke up on Tuesday morning, got on the internet, started my rounds, sipped my coffee, glared at the door, read a few emails, glared at the door, closed the computer [much sooner than usual], glared at the door again and eventually dropped to the basement to collect some tools and fuddled my way back up the stairs with my arms filled. Along with me came a tiny pot of Behr Stealth Black paint that I found on the mis-tint rack for $0.50 a few months ago. I threw on a knit cap and my cleanest dirty clothes, ran to the hardware store in town for painters tape and returned to tape off all the windows so I could start painting.





































And then there was black. Ahh, it was perfect. And warm. And cozy. I cant wait to watch the snow come down through those windows...the black will embrace it so much more than the white ever could. 

Later I pulled down the Halloween owl, hung the vintage tin sign and set my plant on the stool I had used when I was painting the door. I should also mention that I painted the trim in this corner to be the same color as the walls. The grey door within the white trim has bothered me since the day it was painted 2 years ago. Joe laughingly questioned my decision to paint only the trim in this corner, as opposed to all of the trim in the room. [Breeeaath.] Okay, so first of all, it's such a subtle change that you hardly even notice the difference in color. And second- who ever said there were rules for painting and why is this considered to be strange? [head shake. ugh.] 

The next day I decided that the black door felt too heavy, so I painted it again.

I'm totally kidding. But it did feel rather heavy since there isn't much black in the room, and it was too much of a focal point. So I decided to hang a print that I love [cole gerst|option-g] but haven't had a good place to put it. And as you can see, I hung it on the door. Which, of course, is another thing that will most likely be questioned by someone at some point. But again, there shouldn't be rules to this sort of thing, and I'll be sure to let them know how I feel. So anyway, after the print was hung, I thought that I needed some more yellow to balance it all out, so I grabbed the rug that had always been under our shoes, threw it down and called it a day.

I really really like it. A lot. It feels so much more stately and sophisticated now. And comfy cozy toasty. I've been wanting to raise my umbrella plant for some time, and the stool is only a temporary solution until I finish [start?] my tree stump table. I'm also going to get a new light switch cover soon. I'm pretty excited about it all, it was just what I needed to feel better about the space. Until a few minutes later when the TV wall got under my skin. But that's another thing that's bugged me forever, so I kind of expected that to happen.

Alright, that's all for now. I have a few more projects in the works as well. I hope this means I'm back...I miss it around here.

6 comments:

jw said...

that's wicked (i mean wicked as in "cool", not "evil"). some people seem to have this strange idea that painting a door or a wall black is morbid or menacing, but i just think it looks infinitely more interesting. i like your idea of watching snow through the windows...it would probably almost be like a moving painting, the way the specks of white would play off of the black.

Valerie Joy said...

Erin, I love the black! Where did you find that cabin sign? It's great.

Frau Haselmayer said...

Usually I'm a lover of all things white but it looks really great! So much better!

Erin Lang Norris said...

Thanks, everyone!

Yes, we are loving it so much more than the white. It's so much cozier for fall/winter and it will still look great in the summer. :)

Valerie- I found the sweet cabin sign in TN, actually! I swept it up during my 127 corridor road trip about 4 years ago.

Wolfie and the Sneak said...

Oh, it looks so good! Your eye for design is way better than any rule book on the "right" way to decorate your home.

Zookpr said...

love love love your door and now I know what to do with mine. I didn't want to leave it white, but the wall color seemed monotonous!