Benjamin Moore | bossy color blog

It’s gray’s day! Thanks, Washington Post!

August 12, 2012 5 Comments

Anyone tired of the 50 Shades of Gray references? I’m not! The witty and eloquent Elizabeth Mayhew debuted a column in The Washington Post on Thursday, and her first one was called, 7 Shades of Gray.

Bedroom with upholstered floral headboard and Benjamin Moore's Gray Owl paint

Benjamin Moore’s 2137-60 Gray Owl on the walls of Elizabeth Mayhew’s bedroom (photo by Annie Schlechter)

I was delighted to provide some thoughts for the article’s sidebar. You know I think gray can be tricky…and we’ve talked before about two of my favorite light grays, Benjamin Moore’s HC-172 Revere Pewter and HC-173 Edgecomb Gray. My dining room is currently a medium gray, AC-31 Hot Spring Stones (also by Benjamin Moore).

But this time, we’re going deep. We’re going dark. Sherwin Williams’ Iron Ore has captured my fancy of late: it’s a beautiful grayish black with a hint of brown in it – just a touch of warmth. I’ve been thinking about it for my new kitchen cabinets, as a matter of fact.

Black dark gray dining room with chandelier

Dining room painted in Sherwin Williams’ SW7069 Iron Ore, in the blog Ruth Burts Interiors

For those of us who haven’t quite had the courage to paint a room black, as Candice Olsen has been begging us to do for years, maybe dark gray would be a little less scary.

Tell you what: I’ll try it if you will, ok? We’ll just hold hands and jump.

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The New York Times to Real Simple and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

Filed Under: Bedroom, Benjamin Moore, Color, Dining room, Paint, Press, Washington Post Tagged With: Benjamin Moore, dark gray, dark grey, Edgecomb Gray, Elizabeth Mayhew, Gray Owl, gray paint color, gray room, gray walls, grey paint color, grey room, grey walls, Hot Spring Stones, Iron Ore, Megan Buerger, Revere Pewter, Sherwin Williams, upholstered headboard, Washington DC interior decorator, Washington DC interior designer, Washington Post article, Washington Post Local Living

Blue dining rooms. So here! So now!

May 1, 2011 15 Comments

I know Honeysuckle Pink is the color of the year, but I seem to be recommending blue for dining rooms these days.

Why is that, I wonder? I’ve never thought of blue as a particularly appetizing color, but it seems as though blue has been just the ticket for several dining rooms I’ve been working on.

For the client below, we (I) just couldn’t bring ourselves (myself) to paint the walls goldy beige, which was the original plan.

Oops.

But don’t the blue walls look great with the paisley drapes and Jaipur rug? The client is so pleased. And we all know that a happy client = happy bossy.

Blue and brown dining room Benjamin Moore Buxton Blue

Benjamin Moore's HC-149 Buxton Blue

Another client is moving into an adorable bungalow, and the winning color for that DR is Benjamin Moore’s 2062-50 Blue Jean. Not that ANY color wouldn’t have been a vast improvement over the Merry Marigold that’s in there now. (That name’s a guess.)

Dining room with Oriental rug

I think one of the reasons blue keeps presenting itself as The Dining Room Solution is that it pulls out the blues in Oriental rugs so nicely. This is a dining room I did for some super duper clients several years ago. The rug was a given, but we didn’t want neutral walls. We used Benjamin Moore’s HC-150 Yarmouth Blue, if memory serves…

Blue dining room Benjamin Moore Yarmouth Blue

I don’t go in for blues that are too periwinkle, as in this dining room:

Jamie Creel and Marco Scarani in Elle Decor

It’s my own bias, but periwinkle will forever remind me of Laura Ashley bedrooms. (It sure looks fab w/ those red/orange light fixtures, though, doesn’t it?)

Warmer blues are safer for a dining room.

Tony Fornabaio in Elle Decor

No, you have to be careful that a blue dining room isn’t too cold. My mother told me that her English mother-in-law had an ICE BLUE dining room, and the effect was, well, chilly. (Mind you, I bet Grannie looked fabulous in that room, which may not have been unintentional.) I can see how an icy blue dining room might be a 40s holdover, can’t you?

Steven Gambrel in Elle Decor

A client and I are planning to do a navy blue dining room this fall. (We’re renovating, or we’d be doing it tomorrow, we’re so excited about it.) In LACQUER, no less. Yum.

T. Keller Donovan in Elle Decor

First dinner guest caught licking the walls should win some sort of prize. Suggestions?

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She’s also the creator of the “bossy basic,” a one-time service to jump-start the interior design process in your home.

Filed Under: Benjamin Moore, Client project, Color, Dining room, Paint Tagged With: Benjamin Moore, blue dining room, Blue Jean, blue lacquer, Buxton Blue, Elle Decor, Jame Creel and Marco Scarani, lacquer walls, navy blue dining room, navy blue walls, Steven Gambrel, T. Keller Donovan, Tony Fornabaio, Yarmouth Blue

Color or design question? Ask a Benjamin Moore Expert. (That would be me!)

February 2, 2011 20 Comments

What ho, Gentle Readers?! Holy cow – is it February already? Since when did January/February become crazy decorating season? It’s wonderful, of course, but I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting you!

A piece of exciting news: I’ve just been named an Expert on the Benjamin Moore Experts Exchange.

And what exactly does that mean?

Well, for YOU, Gentle Readers, it means another way for you to send your color, design, and decorating questions my way. (Or Jamie Drake‘s way. Or Celerie Kemble‘s. Or Darryl Carter‘s. I can’t guarantee that they’ll be answering your questions personally, mind you, but I sure will!)

Give it a try, would you? What question’s been nagging at you for weeks or (gasp) months? Put an end to your suffering and ask for help today!

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is a D.C.-based interior decorator, design blogger, and of late, humongous fan of Jeeves & Wooster. She’s also the creator of the “bossy basic,” a one-time service that jump-starts the interior design process in your home.

Filed Under: Benjamin Moore, Color, You asked... Tagged With: Ask bossy color, Benjamin Moore, Experts Exchange

Girl’s bedroom makeover: the dramatic conclusion

January 10, 2011 9 Comments

When we first moved into this house, our twin daughters were 6 months old.

Floor being refinished

(They’re fraternal, not identical, but they go through stages of looking very, very similar. Age 6 months was one of those times; try as I might, I have no idea who this kid is.)

Wallpapered bedroom We decided to keep the girls in the same room as long as we could – heck, they shared a CRIB for several months when they were first born, so sharing a room was a no-brainer.

We decided – after much deliberation, actually – that we’d give them the largest bedroom, which the previous owners had used as the master bedroom. The wallpaper was quite sweet; little blue-green flowers on a white background.

But you know that leaving well enough alone isn’t my strong suit.

Shutters

So we painted that room yellow and blue. You’ve seen pictures of that, but I don’t believe I’ve ever been bold enough (stupid enough?) to share these particular pictures, from when there were cribs in the room:

Yellow and blue kids' room

Shutters in yellow bedroom

The cribs were on your left as you entered the room. (Holy cow – the MESS!)

Then they got older, graduated to beds…

Then we were sucked in by the vortex that is the color pink – you remember that makeover, with Benjamin Moore’s 2089-60 Peach Kiss:

Girls' pink bedroom

Cubitec in pink room

AND THEN Ruthie wanted her own room. You remember that, too, I bet.

Light blue bedroom

Well, poor Georgie had to wait a while until the pink bedroom became her room. I think her patience paid off.

Pink bedroom with bunk bed

The order of things was a little backward, but that’s how life is sometimes, right?

1. Wall color/paint. We KNOW that ideally, that comes last

2. Window treatments. Roman Shades require so little fabric – usually about 2-1/2 yards – so splurging on fancy material is an option. This fabric was NOT a splurge, though: $7/yard on Fabric Row in Philadelphia.

3. Ikea Hemnes dresser. I’ve always loved this dresser, but some colors – gray, blue, red – are now made of SOLID PINE, not that horrible but often unavoidable MDF / particleboard.

4. Bedding. Cotton coverlets from The Company Store, 1 pink, 1 orange – it’s the Veranda Matelasse, which I LOVE. We have it in white on our bed in the summer.

5. Bunk bed color. The bed itself is from Ikea, and we used unopened Farrow & Ball paint from our LR fireplace (a loooonnnng time ago) to personalize it. It’s too expensive to waste!

Despite the pillow, the top bunk is Ruthie’s when we have guests and she’s kicked out of her bedroom. It was part of the “ok, ok, you can have your own rooms but…” agreement.

View from top bunk

Thankfully, the client is very happy with the way things turned out.

Green bunk bed

Annie Elliott, aka bossy color, is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She’s been doing more remote consultations as of late, so if you’re in Florida, Washington state, or Australia, help is just a phone call away.

Filed Under: Bedroom, Before and after, Benjamin Moore, Ikea, Kids Tagged With: bedroom, bedroom makeover, before and after, Benjamin Moore, bunk bed, children's room, Ikea, kid's room, kids bedroom, pink bedroom, twins

Benjamin Moore’s AC-26 Ozark Shadows (and a bossy basic) saved this meeting room!

January 7, 2011 10 Comments

I love small businesses. I mean, I know I am one, so that makes sense, but when a professional photographer and a letterpress owner /graphic designer said they needed a bossy basic for a new meeting space, I jumped at it.

They each have their own offices, but they decided to go in on a nice room in a central location where they could meet with clients. This is the room before. Not huge.

Bare windows

You can see from the view what an adorable neighborhood lies outside. It’s really a brilliant spot for a meeting room. Bare room In the upper left picture, you can see a little anteroom. We had to deal with that, too.

The look we wanted: sophisticated but not stuffy. Expensive (professional photographers and personalized stationery aren’t cheap; the room had to convey that). Modern but not scary. Stylish. Minimal. The last one was no problem, since space and budget were limited.

We set the priorities as:

Benjamin Moore's AC-26 Ozark Shadows 1.   Floor
2.   Paint
3.   Rug
4.   Meeting table & chairs
5.   Sideboard (for anteroom)

I suggested replacing the icky carpeting with a super dark brown hardwood floor. We lucked out: there was a lovely, weathered old floor underneath that revolting wall-to-wall, which we (the royal “we;” the clients did the work themselves) stained.

Paint colors were the next order of business. You know I’ve been gray-obsessed as of late, but even so, I thought a rich gray was the right move for this space. Fresh but sophisticated, soothing, not overwhelming. Allows clients to focus. Benjamin Moore’s AC-26 Ozark Shadows was the big winner, with OC-17 White Dove trim.

All I did was make recommendations, and they implemented them. That’s the beauty of a bossy basic; it’s a lot of bang for the buck if you’re willing to buy things on your own.

Here are the afters. The anteroom:

Stylish anteroom

The client thought to use Ikea cable hanging systems on the wall That makes it easy for the designer to display sample invitations and stationery. There will be some kind of coffee thing on that white piece, which is Italian.

Pictures on cable system

And the meeting room:

I love it! After we hit on dark brown for the floors, gray walls and an apple green rug popped into my head. A key with gray is to balance it with warm tones so it doesn’t get too cold. Thus the Natural Woven Roman Shades from Smith + Noble.

You’ll recognize the table and chairs, of course: the Saarinen Tulip table and Eames aluminum management chairs. (Knockoffs, I believe, but I have mixed feelings about those, so I didn’t pry.)

Gray meeting room

The George Kovacs aluminum pendant light and was extremely well priced – around $200.

Etched glass door

The final touch – which the clients thought of themselves – was to have the door etched in a pattern similar to the Madeline Weinrib Brooke rug. The light through this door makes such a beautiful pattern on the floor of the anteroom that I suggested replacing the animal print rug with something solid (or with an overall texture but not a large pattern). The shadow will become the pattern.

Best wishes, guys! I don’t know how anyone could NOT hire you once they’ve seen your gorgeous meeting space. Oh yes, and your work, too

Before pictures Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She’s also the creator of the “bossy basic,” a one-time service that jump-starts the interior design process in your home.

Filed Under: Art, Before and after, Benjamin Moore, Client project, Color, Contemporary, Floors, Lighting, Paint, Rugs, Wall-to-wall carpet Tagged With: before and after, Benjamin Moore, bossy basic, Eames chair, gray paint, Madeline Weinrib, office makeover, Saarinen tulip table

Built-in bookshelves – and Ben Moore’s AC-34 – MAKE the space

December 17, 2010 11 Comments

You say, “hallway,” I say, “library.”

This area a master suite was woefully underused. It’s too wide to be considered a true hallway, but it’s too narrow to be treated like a room.

Wide hallway

Hallway before built-ins

Since this client is a GENIUS with photographs and has roughly a gazillion, we thought it might be handy to have some shelves where she could store completed albums as well as unframed pictures in boxes. Open shelves and closed storage, in other words.

First, we met with the carpenter to talk about the design.

Built-ins elevation

Then we added a wool flatweave rug from Rugman.com.

Wool flatweave

Benjamin Moore AC-34 Cape Hatteras Sand And THEN we painted the walls Benjamin Moore’s AC-34 Cape Hatteras Sand in a matte finish. Aura paint, of course. It’s a lovely warm gray. (Hmmm, should have tried THAT for my dining room. Ah, well.)

The trim is OC-18 Dove Wing, semi-gloss, and the ceiling is OC-17 White Dove, matte finish.

And finally, the built-ins were installed.

Cherry built-in bookcases

Don’t they look beautiful? We’ll put a wall-mounted swing-arm reading lamp over by that little chair eventually, but this is where we are right now. (You know I don’t have the patience to wait until it’s ALL finished to show you the pictures!)

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The Washington Post to Real Simple and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

Filed Under: Before and after, Benjamin Moore, Bookshelves, Built-ins, Cabinetry, Client project, Color, Paint Tagged With: AC-34, before and after, Benjamin Moore, bookcase, built-in bookcases, built-ins, cherry, gray library, library, stained wood

Remember my client’s gray DR? It has an art wall now!

December 11, 2010 18 Comments

Not so long ago, I spoke with you about “art walls.” We started with WHAT to Hang, then moved on to how to FRAME it, and then how to HANG it.

Seems I got one of my clients all riled up.

There’s a gigantic blank wall in her cheerful gray dining room…

Gray dining room

…(remember this room? It’s painted Benjamin Moore’s AC-28 Smoke Embers, with a Thomas Paul Roman Shade)…

Thomas Paul fabric Roman Shade

…well, that big blank wall was starting to get on her nerves.

So she went on kind of an art bender. She gathered up every framed picture in her entire house AS WELL AS stacks of pretty cards a dear friend sent her over the years.

And then she called me to come make sense of it.

Postcards

It was a little overwhelming at first. But pretty quickly we decided to group the larger, already framed pictures in other parts of the house, and feature these postcards – which were not only pretty, but meaningful to my client – in the dining room.

Postcards

The postcards weren’t all the same shape or exactly the same size, but we determined that most of them would fit into an 8 x 8″ frame.

So we chose 16 cards with the idea that we would hang them in a grid: 4 up, 4 across.

8x8 picture frame Choosing was no small task. But we based the decisions on how well the cards worked together as well as how much we liked each one individually.

Then we ordered 16 square frames from a random online source. (Worked out fine.)

THEN – and this was the most expensive part of the project – we had an off-white mat cut for each postcard. I think it cost about $11 per mat. It was CRITICAL, though: the mats and the frames are the unifying element. Et voila:

Art wall hung in grid

There’s 1-1/4″ between each frame, in case you’re wondering.

We hung these while the client was at work, and later that evening I got a voicemail that said, “ANNIE! I just got home and I LOVE LOVE LOOOVVVEE lovelovelovelovelovelove the art wall!”

So I think she likes it

Art hung in a grid

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She’s also the creator of the “bossy basic,” a one-time service that jump-starts the interior design process in your home.

Filed Under: Accent wall, Art, Before and after, Benjamin Moore, Client project, Dining room Tagged With: art, art grouping, art wall, before and after, Benjamin Moore, dining room, gray room, salon hanging

Benjamin Moore’s AC-31 Hot Spring Stones, I love you

November 22, 2010 44 Comments

It looks beige in the color wheel. I have used this color as beige before. It’s pretty.

But I never thought of Benjamin Moore’s AC-31 Hot Spring Stones as gray.

Hot Spring Stones vs. Revere Pewter

Nonetheless, eternal optimist that I am, I was hoping against hope that somehow, in my south-facing-but-still-doesn’t-get-a-ton-of-light-thanks-to-the-porch-roof dining room that it would read as a warm gray, not beige.

Annie painting

I’m delighted to inform you that after much painting…

Annie and Uncle Jimmy painting

And a little goofing off…

Annie goofing off

Uncle Jimmy painting

It IS gray!

Gray dining room with floral drapes

A WARM gray!

Yellow painting in gray dining room

And I LOVE IT!!

Gray dining room with red and gold

The best part might be that we used Benjamin Moore’s Aura paint – which I usually do, these days – but it really only took one coat! We used a super cushy roller and were liberal in the application, and we made it with one gallon, one coat. It was awesome.

Anyway, back to Hot Spring Stones, the color. I think it looks great with the ceiling, and the art,

Yellow painting on gray wall

Andrew Turner church painting

And that challenging rug. The wall color ends up looking like a light version of the dark grey/brown in the rug, not like the camel in the rug. Does that make sense?

Gray dining room with striped rug

What? What’s that you ask, Thanksgiving guests? You want to know why you’re being served Stouffer’s turkey pot pies and frozen peas that are still frozen? Well, look around you! Isn’t it obvious?! And wasn’t it worth it?!?!

On second thought, don’t answer that.

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The Washington Post to Real Simple and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

Filed Under: Art, Before and after, Benjamin Moore, Best of bossy's colors, bossy color's house, Color, Dining room, Paint Tagged With: AC-31, before and after, Benjamin Moore, dining room, paint, painting project

Gray is tricky

November 17, 2010 11 Comments

If ever there were a case to be made for putting giant swatches of actual paint on the walls before making a color decision, this is it.

With many, MANY thanks to all of the Gentle Readers who gave me their thoughts and suggestions, we’re working with these finalists for my dining room.

HC-172 Revere Pewter, the lightest of the 3,

Gray paint swatch

AF-100 Pashmina, which looks like it’s a nanoshade darker than the Revere Pewter (sheesh, let’s paint that radiator bronze while we’re at it, eh, Uncle Jimmy?),

Gray wall with gold floral drapes

and AC-31 Hot Spring Stones, which looks downright tan on the card, but I know from experience can look brown or gray, dark or light, depending on the application.

AC-31 Hot Spring Stones

I dismissed the AF-100 Pashmina right off the bat b/c it’s just a tad too dark.

Then we started really comparing the Revere Pewter and Hot Spring Stones. Below, you can see 2 overlapping swatches on the back wall: HC-172 RP is on the left and AC-31 HSS is on the right.

(HSS is also the “31″ on the short wall, but above it is Edgecomb Gray. A holdover.)

Ben Moore's AC-31 and HC-142

By the by, let me also tell you (why didn’t I blog about this?) that I also played around with a lot of deeper blue-greens. Almost teal, actually. A color I usually hate. But it didn’t look great w/ the drapes or rug, which I’m absolutely keeping.

Comparing Revere Pewter and Hot Spring Stones

And I LOVED your suggestions for an inky blue. If I lived by myself, it would already be done. Lacquered, no less, with a super light yellow on the ceiling. But I don’t live alone, and there’s only so far I can push my long-suffering husband. It’s just too dark for him.

So I think the AF-31 Hot Spring Stones is going to be the winner. It’s a bit warmer, and I think it will work better with the rug.

Gold DR with stripey rug

Will my ground floor ever attain the sophisticated bossiness I’m after through this gray and yellow palette?

From Elle Decor

From Martha Stewart

I’ll sleep on it, and tomorrow I’ll decide. My painter is ready to roll. (Literally.)

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. Look for her advice about jewel tones in the November 2010 issue of Real Simple. Page 155. Not that we have it marked or anything.

Filed Under: bossy color's house, Color, Dining room, Paint, Uncategorized Tagged With: Benjamin Moore, dining room, gray paint, paint

On to the dining room! Gray or green?

November 15, 2010 30 Comments

Now that I have a living room I LOVE (or almost love: Mitchell Gold’s Mona Sofette is on its way, and someday I’ll eradicate the orange on those darn chairs…)

Yellow living room

I have to repaint the dining room.

Gold dining room

I know, I know. WHERE DOES IT ALL END?? Well, I’ve assured my long-suffering husband that it ends after the DR is painted. But I might have been lying.

Anyway, you can see the problem, looking from one room into the other.

Orange and Schumacher chair

Bright yellow next to muddy gold. Eeeeww.

I was really sold on GRAY for the DR. As you know, we recently painted a client’s DR gray. Benjamin Moore’s AC-28 Smoke Embers, to be exact.

I was worried it would be too cool and/or too dark, but it works because:

The room gets a TON of light
We added a coral rug for visual warmth and color
Wainscoting covers almost half the wall, and
There is an enormous window that takes up almost one complete wall. So there isn’t actually that much gray.

However. MY dining room gets some light, but not a ton. And we have vast expanses of wall (well, vast to me, since all of our art now resides in the living room).

My husband has specifically requested that the room not feel like a cave. As has Uncle Jimmy. Since he’ll be doing the actual painting, I suppose his opinion counts.

I immediately went to my go-to gray: Benjamin Moore’s HC-173 Edgecomb Gray. Too light! (It’s on the L.)

Gray paint swatches

Benjamin Moore's Elephant Gray Then after many paper swatches and much deliberation, I put up a paint sample of Ben Moore’s 2109-50 Elephant Gray, thinking it would be the answer to all my prayers.