The Perfect Blue and White Paint Color- ORC Week 2

Welcome back to week 2 of our basement bathroom makeover as part of the One Room Challenge. If you missed last week’s post that details our design plan, you can catch up HERE. This week we tackled the base painting part of the project. Remember this wallpaper?

It posed a serious challenge. I consulted with painting experts on the best way to remove it, but most were in agreement that if it was still in good shape that we should just mud the seams, prime and paint over it. So that is exactly what we did. I’ve done more that my fair share of wallpaper removal and Lord willing- I hope to NEVER do it again. We painted over it in our favorite white, Sherwin Williams 7008 Alabaster.

alabaster painted walls — Alabaster walls- that floor has to go!

Notice how the brownish tan floors make the walls look cream instead of white? I was hoping we could throw some rugs down over the floor and live with it a while because it’s really not in the budget to install a new floor. But is is throwing off my whole design. Hmmm, more on that later.

The Perfect Blue and White Paint Color

Now that the walls are white they are a great base for our hand painted blue and white mural design that Brooks will be painting. Blue and White is seeing a huge resurgence in interior design- inspired by the blue and white Chinese porcelain.

blue-and-white-porcelain — Color inspiration

So, silly me, I thought I could go to Pinterest and find several suggestions for a Blue paint color. NO-GO. I searched Pinterest and Google Images for “perfect Chinese Blue”, “Chinoiserie Blue Paint Colors”, “Blue and White Blue paint color.” All to no avail. I know I can’t expect to find the perfect paint color via Pinterest, but I was at least looking for a starting point. Because blue’s are hard.

So, I pulled out my Thomas Ard original painting and started pulling blues from my paint deck until I got close. I messaged Thomas on Instagram and he gave me this advice, “Find the perfect shade of blue for your room and then pick an accent color two shades lighter on the card.” So, that’s what I did. I ended up choosing SW 6811 Honorable Blue and SW 6809 Lobelia.

SW 6811 Honorable Blue and SW 6809 Lobelia as an accent color over SW 7008 Alabaster

When you pull up Honorable Blue the link actually says “purple paint color” Ugh!!! I did not want purple. But after trying 20 different blues, this seems to be the right one for my space. The perfect Chinoiserie Blue. So as a test, we painted the orange oak dresser in the Honorable Blue.

If I’m being completely honest, I’m not crazy about it with these floors. I’m trying out some white tile to see how that might help the situation. I think a new floor is in our future.

We also painted the orange oak vanity a deep black- Bondago Black by Perfetto. We added new white marble hardware from CB2. I love the black and white contrast.