Well, don’t I wish this were me in my completely furnished, completely finished house. But no, this is a copy of a William Merritt Chase painting. I would love to own this, so much so that I may buy a copy. This can be yours, too, in a size pretty close to the original, for about $150, shipped from China. Kitschy? Absolutely, but I don’t care. Love has no pride.
The reason I bring this up now is that green color of the bedspread. It looks good there — good with the other colors, right for the period, which is the period of my house, an all-round good choice. So why, when a similiar color accidentally shows up in my entry, do I have such doubts about it?
This is Little Greene’s Pearl Grey, I think it is. When I did the sample board it looked for all the world like a flat, neutral, light gray. It sort of is, too but it has this green cast. I stand there in my hall feeling dubious while Kieron is saying, “I love that color. It’s even better upstairs.” It is better upstairs. In less light it looks more gray. Here it is more of a watery sea green. Is it a little too fifties? If I tart it up a la Chase, the yellow of the stone floors, pictures that are heavy on blues and reds, etc., will I feel better about it?
This is a big question. The color runs through the entry, up the stairs to the landings and the stairwell ceiling. Literally every other color in the house will be seen in relation to this. And most of those colors are grayed greens too, but distinctly muddy. I don’t know what to think.
In other news, I do have a stone floor. It is all in and mostly grouted. I’ll show you more floor when the grout is done. Upstairs the floor in all but one room is sanded and sealed. There is loose talk about moving furniture to final locations, maybe even unveiling some. We are crawling toward the finish line.
12 April update: Remodelista says celadon, which is basically what I have here, is a great color choice for right now. So I’m definitely going for it. Let’s hope it works. Thanks for encouraging me.
At Home in France 
I like that Pearl Grey, the hint of green makes it. Yes , dollops of red and blue & gold will lift it.
I LOVE that painting. Why not a copy ? If you love it, buy that copy and hang it with pride..
It screams Bizzyella’s Country Pad.
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Okay, then. Kieron will be happy. I imagine that eventually I will, too. If I could figure out what bothers me about it, I’d feel a lot better. Maybe it’s just that it makes those cool, muddy grays seem a little tired. Maybe the green is right and the mud is, if not wrong, just a little off. We shall see.
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It’s odd how something that seemed right for a space can totally throw you once it’s up.
You may recall the angst and the years it’s taken me to fix on the two neutrals (off white and grey) for the kitchen diner.
They are in the process of going up now… And I am having doubts. Just trying to imagine the colours with refinished furniture’s, pictures, mirrors etc
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Off white and gray. How neutral is that? It can drive you nuts, though, can’t it? No wonder people hire decorators.
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If you do not use the color here does that mean redoing all of the other places it appears in the house?
Also- once you have other things on the wall that may help.
Sent from my mobile (pls pardon the typos)
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Yes. It goes right from the front door up through a series of interconnected spaces that end up in a skylit ceiling. We’re talking a lot of paint, some of it in hard to reach places. We are also talking about natural light from both north and south and LED lighting. So it’s one paint color that will look several different ways, depending on conditions. My photo is just of the area where it looks the most green.
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In the pictures it looks quite grey and personally I love it. It’s the perfect light-giving backdrop for a hallway leading upstairs. Having said that, I tried it in my north-facing hallway in the UK and it was very green and didn’t work. I’d love to see it ‘tarted up’ with some strong colours
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That same color? Amazing.
One of the things that I like about good-quality paint is its luminosity. You slap on one color and you get three or five or whatever, depending on the time of day, type of light, the weather, everything. So far I have seen this paint only against white and in natural light. It will be interesting to see what happens when the LEDs come on, the furniture goes in, etc.
The strong reds and all that work so well in England would never go here. Obviously latitude has something to do with it, too.
Repainting would be a nightmare. I’m going to go with the watery green and hope it works out.
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My screen’s not showing any green….so it looks good to me…
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It’s a celadon green, very pretty. I’m going to go ahead with it. But wasn’t celadon popular about 50 years ago? So trying to imagine it with Fortuny lamps and all is a little tough.
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