OK, so here it is, please appreciate how difficult it is for me to say this, I can't even believe it myself, I mean this never happens to me, never, NEVER, I'm still a little bit in shock. Here goes, gulp .....I ... Made... A.... Mistake!
Wow, there it is. It's out there. Not just any mistake either, a mistake with colour, paint colour and paint colour is my thing! But I am a strong woman and I feel it only fair to share the error of my ways so that others may avoid the terrible situation I faced when after a weekend of relentless, tiring painting, I stood back and felt with such overwhelming certainty that I exclaimed out loud "I HATE it!".
I think the first error was abandonning grey, I know where I am with grey, we trust each other, we work well together. My foray into green (all be it grey green) was a risky strategy and I knew it. But after a number of weeks and trialling many many samples, I was sure I had found the perfect shade, a calming, olivey, muted hue that would surely induce the perfect nights sleep (we were painting the bedroom). As we started painting it felt good, not great, but good, so I thought best to perservere.
I had decided in advance that the chimney breast would be a different colour, to add depth, interest and a point of focus. This, my friends, is where it all started to crumble. I have recently become a fan of gloss paints, a wonderful light reflective, interesting, contemporary alternative to matt. I have seen many fine examples and it worked brilliantly in the downstairs loo. I love black, off-black even more and have often considered a room painted entirely in black, which I think is stunning. Similarly I've seen it work brilliantly on chimney breasts, mostly when paired with white.
Put two and two together and before you know it I have a black gloss chimney breast. Don't get me wrong, in theory I LOVE this. Moody, textured, reflective a statement of an accent. In practise, all wrong, wrong, wrong. The green looked yellow, the furniture (such as it is) went from grey to blue, Victorian somehow became 80's bachelor pad. The horror!
Clearly something had to be done and fast. There was only one thing that could save us now. After barely giving it enough time to dry out came the Downpipe (there is always a handy supply in stock). Sure enough the first coat brought an audible sigh of relief, the greens became more grey than yellow and the furniture its rightful shade, the room seemed to work harmoniously rather than having some kind of internal conflict. Once again praise be to Downpipe, the king of paint shades!
My pride won't let me post photos of 'black-gate' in full, but a few before and afters.
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